Mickey Rourke has turned to a fundraising campaign in an effort to avoid eviction from his Los Angeles home.
In late December, The Wrestler actor was sued by his landlord, who alleged that Rourke owed nearly $60,000 in rent on the three-bedroom Spanish bungalow just south of West Hollywood that he was living in.
With the actor facing the lawsuit and potentially eviction, Rourke’s friend Liya-Joelle Jones launched a GoFundMe to “Help Mickey Rourke Stay in His Home.”
“Life doesn’t always move in a straight line, and despite everything Mickey has given through his work and his life, he is now dealing with a challenging financial moment that has put his housing at risk,” the GoFundMe page states. “This fundraiser is being created with Mickey’s full permission to help cover immediate housing-related expenses and prevent eviction.”
The GoFundMe page added, “The goal is to give Mickey some stability and peace of mind during a stressful time so he can stay in his home and have the space to get back on his feet. Any donation, no matter the size, will make a real difference.”
At press time, the GoFundMe has raised over $53,000, more than half its goal of $100,000 and about $7,000 shy of the back rent Rourke owes.
“Mickey is going through a very difficult time right now, and it’s been incredibly touching to see how many people care about him and want to help,” Jones told The Hollywood Reporter of the fundraising campaign.
Rourke gained acclaim for his role as a fast-talking hustler in Barry Levinson’s coming-of-age comedy Diner. He later starred in Francis Ford Coppola’s Rumble Fish and 9 ½ Weeks with Kim Basinger. After a lull in his career, Rourke mounted a comeback thanks to roles in Sin City, Iron Man 2, and his Oscar-nominated turn in The Wrestler. While Rourke has continued to maintain a steady stream of roles over the past decade, he’s largely appeared in direct-to-video films.
Rourke signed the lease on his current Los Angeles home — where The Big Sleep author Raymond Chandler once resided in the 1940s — in March. The following month, Rourke entered Celebrity Big Brother UK, but left due to inappropriate language and behavior that he later admitted. In one interaction involving Jojo Siwa, he stated, “If I stay longer than four days, you won’t be gay anymore.”
