Mickey Rourke has denounced a GoFundMe set up to help him pay the money he owes on his Los Angeles home after being threatened with eviction.
It emerged last week that the Oscar-nominated actor and former professional boxer, 73, had received a three-day notice to pay rent or vacate the premises on December 18 and failed to comply. He owes $59,100 in unpaid rent, court documents claim.
On Sunday, a fundraiser titled “Help Mickey Rourke Stay in His Home” was launched on GoFundMe with a target of $100,000, $97,854 of which it has already raised at the time of writing.
“This fundraiser is being created with Mickey’s full permission,” the campaign, set up in his name by his longtime manager Kimberly Hines, states.
However, on Tuesday, Rourke took to Instagram to address his fans and deny approving the fundraiser.
“Something’s come up that I’m really frustrated, confused and I don’t understand,” Rourke said in a video. “Somebody set up some kind of foundation or fund for me to donate money. A charity.
“And that’s not me. If I needed money, I wouldn’t ask for no charity. I’d rather stick a gun up my ass and pull the trigger,” he continued. “Whoever did this, I don’t know why they did it. I wouldn’t know what a GoFundMe is in a million years.”
Reflecting on his career, Rourke admitted he has “done a really terrible job” in managing it.
“I wasn’t diplomatic. I had to go to over 20 years of therapy to get over the damage that was done to me years ago. I worked very hard to work through that. I’m not that person anymore. I’m not that wild man I was 20 years ago,” he said.
Rourke went on to promise that any money donated to the GoFundMe by fans would be returned to them.
“I would never ask strangers or fans for a nickel,” Rourke said. “It’s not my style. You ask anybody who knows me. It’s humiliating and fucking embarrassing… I want you to get your money back. All things will pass.”
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter Tuesday, Hines attempted to clear up the confusion over the GoFundMe, the details of which she admitted Rourke may not have been completely clear on.
“In the last 48 hours, we moved him out of his house; we put him up in [a West Hollywood hotel]. The GoFundMe was done for Mickey. That money’s going to Mickey. It’s not going to me. And if Mickey doesn’t want this money now and decides, ‘I don’t want help, it’s like it’s charity,’ the money will be returned,” she told the publication.
She claimed that Rourke’s movers, hotel and new apartment in Los Angeles’ Koreatown neighborhood were being paid for by his management team.
Explaining how the actor may have misinterpreted their efforts to raise money for him, she said: “We said, ‘Mickey, there’s some people that want to help you out.’ He’s like, ‘OK, great.’ I don’t think he understood, and now it’s taken on this media frenzy, and he flipped out.”
She continued: “It’s putting me in a very bad position where now I’m financing his move and the hotel and the movers and his storage. Mickey was cool with getting help the other day. And now Mickey’s like, ‘I’m not taking charity.’”
Rourke signed a lease for the three-bedroom, 2.5-bath house for $5,200 per month in March; it was subsequently increased to $7,000 per month, according to court filings.
The property’s owner, Eric Goldie, is requesting compensation for attorney’s fees and damages.
Earlier this year, The Wrestler star appeared on Celebrity Big Brother UK, where he revealed he had to borrow $500,000 from the bank amid the Covid-19 pandemic and the actors’ strike.
Controversy surrounding the star began immediately after he “ogled” CBB presenter AJ Odudu, and he faced calls to be dropped after making homophobic comments to Dance Moms star Jojo Siwa.
The actor’s six-day run in the house came to an abrupt end after “threatening and aggressive” behaviour towards Love Island star Chris Hughes and the use of “inappropriate sexual language” towards Towie star Ella Mae Wise.
He was reportedly paid £500,000 for his three-week stint on the show, but the fee was dramatically reduced to £50,000 after he was kicked off, according to The Sun. ITV did not respond to The Independent’s request for comment at the time.
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