Mickey Rourke’s career has been defined by extremes, including self-imposed detours, legal drama, comebacks and recurring controversy.
Now, Rourke has found himself in legal trouble again. He was recently served an eviction notice after allegedly falling behind on nearly $60,000 in rent on his Los Angeles home. A member of Rourke’s management team seemingly launched a GoFundMe to help the action film star raise the money to stay in his home. The fundraiser had over $70,000 in donations after 24 hours. Rourke later denied he was involved in setting up the fundraiser and urged fans not to donate.
“Something’s come up that I’m really frustrated, confused, and I don’t understand,” Roruke said in a video shared on Instagram. “Somebody set up some kind of foundation or fund for me to donate money, like charity. And that’s not me, OK? If I needed money, I wouldn’t ask for no f—ing charity. I’d rather stick a gun up my a– and pull the trigger.”
He added: “Whoever did this … I don’t know why they did it. I don’t understand it. I wouldn’t know what a GoFund foundation is in a million years. My life is very simple. I don’t go to outside sources like that. Yeah, it is embarrassing, but I’m sure I’ll get over it like everything else.”
Here’s a look back at Mickey Rourke’s tumultuous career:
After seeing success in the film industry with “Body Heat,” “Diner,” “9 ½ Weeks” and “Angel Heart,” Mickey Rourke chose to take his talent a different route.
Rourke became a professional boxer in 1991.
The famed actor fought in the ring from 1991 until he chose to retire in 1994. He opened up about the injuries he suffered while boxing in a 2009 interview with the Daily Mail.
“I had my nose broken twice. I had five operations on my nose and one on a smashed cheekbone,” he recalled. “I had to have cartilage taken from my ear to rebuild my nose and a couple of operations to scrape out the cartilage because the scar tissue wasn’t healing properly.”
He claimed most of his cosmetic operations were “to mend the mess of my face because of the boxing, but I went to the wrong guy to put my face back together.”
Rourke was arrested in 1994 after he allegedly slapped his then-wife, knocked her down and kicked her during a visit to the couple’s publicist’s office.
Rourke later pleaded not guilty before the charges were dropped after Carre Otis failed to appear in court multiple times.
Otis later wrote about the passion she experienced while dating Rourke.
“Already in those early days, my craving for him was at its strongest when we weren’t together,” she wrote in her memoir, “Beauty, Disrupted.” “We’d be separated for a few hours, and I could think of nothing else but being with him again. We both loved the drama of it all, loved the fantasy of being head over heels in love, unable to be apart. When people ask why I would end up staying with him for so long, this is a huge part of the answer. The times we weren’t together were the times I wanted him most.”
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Rourke was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in November 2007.
A Miami Beach police report said Rourke had made an illegal U-turn while driving a green scooter, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He then swerved several times before he was pulled over.
“I’m not drunk, I didn’t even drink that much,” the report claimed Rourke told officers.
Rourke pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of reckless driving and was required to take an online driving course in addition to paying a fine, according to previous reporting.
Rourke seemingly caught a break in 2008 after landing a role in “The Wrestler.” Rourke’s performance in the Darren Aronofsky film is widely regarded as one of the most dramatic and celebrated comebacks in modern film history.
Rourke earned a Golden Globe, a BAFTA and grabbed an Academy Award nomination for best actor for his portrayal of Randy “The Ram” Robinson.
Rourke’s career continued steadily after his mainstream comeback. The former professional boxer appeared in “War Pigs,” “Killshot,” “Ashby,” “Take Back,” “The Commando” and “The Palace.”
He once said that he was blacklisted in Hollywood for being too difficult to work with.
“The young guys are cool,” he told Fox News Digital in 2022. “They don’t care about what they hear. They judge me by my acting ability, not my old reputation. So it’s been sort of a resurrection of being able to work with younger directors. I have a love/hate relationship with acting. I enjoy what I’m doing at the moment because I can give everything that I’m taught. I have my confidence. I went through the s— that I went through, so I’m able to use it in my performances. I could be standing across from any f—ing actor. And I know that motherf—er has not seen, done or been through what I’ve been through.”
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Rourke agreed to leave the reality TV show “Celebrity Big Brother UK” in April over controversial behavior.
“Mickey Rourke has agreed to leave the Celebrity Big Brother House this evening following a discussion with Big Brother regarding further use of inappropriate language and instances of unacceptable behavior,” a spokesperson for “Celebrity Big Brother UK” told People magazine at the time. No physical altercation took place, but Rourke reportedly used “threatening and aggressive” language.
Shortly before his exit, Rourke received a warning after his remarks about fellow contestant JoJo Siwa’s sexuality.
Now, Rourke is facing eviction from a bungalow in Los Angeles after he failed to pay nearly $60,000 in rent.
Rourke rented the property earlier this year, agreeing to pay $5,200 a month, which later went up to $7,000 a month, according to the complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court and obtained by Fox News Digital.
Rourke rented the property around the same time he agreed to leave “Celebrity Big Brother UK” earlier this year following a warning from producers over conduct they deemed inappropriate on the show.
A GoFundMe was started on Rourke’s behalf by a member of his team to help raise funds to pay his rent.
“Mickey Rourke entered American cinema like a force of nature—raw, fearless, and utterly original,” the GoFundMe reads. “In the late 1970s and 1980s, he wasn’t just a movie star; he was a symbol of something rare: danger paired with vulnerability, toughness paired with heart. From Diner to Rumble Fish to 9½ Weeks, Mickey gave audiences performances that felt lived-in, not performed, and left a permanent mark on American film culture.
“Mickey’s life never followed a safe or protected path. At the height of his success, he stepped away from Hollywood in search of truth and authenticity, choosing risk over comfort. Boxing—real and punishing—left lasting physical and emotional scars, and the industry that once celebrated him moved on quickly,” it continued. “What followed were years of struggle not defined by spectacle, but by survival: health challenges, financial strain, and the quiet toll of being left behind.”
“Today, Mickey is facing a very real and urgent situation: the threat of eviction from his home. This fundraiser is being created with Mickey’s full permission to help cover immediate housing-related expenses and prevent that from happening. Mickey Rourke is an icon—but his trajectory, as painful as it is, is also a deeply human one. It is the story of someone who gave everything to his work, took real risks, and paid real costs.”
