Mickey Rourke insisted he never set up a GoFundMe to seek help with eviction and back rent, and his manager recently came forward to detail the events surrounding the fundraising effort.
The legendary actor is reportedly $59,000 in arrears on his rent payments and allegedly failed to comply with a demand to pay. He was apparently issued an eviction notice, and his fans rose to the occasion by donating their dollars. It sounded like a success story, until Rourke vehemently refused to accept the funds in a video message shared Monday on Instagram.
He claimed he had nothing to do with the GoFundMe page set up to assist him, but his manager said otherwise in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that was published the next day.
“If I needed money, I’d wouldn’t ask for no f*cking charity. I’d rather stick a gun up my a** and pull the trigger!” Rourke said in his video statement.
The famous actor denied having any connection to the crowd funding page designed to save him from eviction, and he urged fans to get their money back if they donated.
“I wouldn’t know what a GoFund foundation is in a million years,” Rourke told fans.
“My life is very simple, I don’t go to outside sources like that.”
“This thing is very embarrassing… don’t give any money, and if you gave money, get it back,” he said.
“I would never ask strangers or fans or anybody for a nickel,” he added.
HOLLYWOOD, CA – AUGUST 19: Actor Mickey Rourke attends the premiere of Dimension Films’ “Sin City: A Dame To Kill For” at TCL Chinese Theatre on August 19, 2014 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Manager Kimberly Hines told the Hollywood Reporter that she and her assistant informed Rourke of their efforts to help him, and that he was on board with the idea. However, she suggested he may not have understood the public exposure associated with crowd funding.
“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,” Hines told The Hollywood Reporter.
She confirmed the legitimacy of the campaign and insisted the funds were dedicated to Rourke, and they would be returned if he continued to push back against her efforts to assist him.
Hines claimed Rourke’s situation was dire, and she swooped in to assist when time was of the essence.
“They were changing the locks at his house on Tuesday. We just wanted to get him out of there. He got to the hotel. We got the dogs out. We got him set up. We got what he needs for the next week. Then we organized movers. Then we got everything, all his clothing packed up. I rented a U-Haul,” she said, claiming she personally funded everything out of concern for Rourke’s well-being.
Hines said mold contamination in the rental home destroyed Rourke’s furniture and many of his belongings could not be salvaged.
“My assistant was there, Eric, with his best friend, Frenchie, and they went over and there was actually even a camera guy who filmed it all. There was black mold. No running water,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. (RELATED: Fans Dish Out Cash To Save Mickey Rourke From Eviction)
LOS ANGELES, CA – APRIL 23: Actor Mickey Rourke poses during Paramount Pictures & Marvel Entertainment’s “Iron Man 2” photo call held at the Four Seasons Hotel on April 23, 2010 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images)
Rourke reiterated his refusal to accept the funds donated on the GoFundMe page that had reached nearly $102,000 by Tuesday morning.
“I don’t want anybody’s money, I don’t want anybody to send me money, I want you to get your money back,” he said.
“I wouldn’t do it this way, I got too much pride, man. This ain’t my style.”
