Mickey Rourke is denying any involvement in setting up the GoFundMe page that was allegedly created to help him avoid eviction.
“Something’s come up that I’m really frustrated, confused and I don’t understand,” the actor, 73, began in a lengthy Instagram video shared on Monday, January 5. “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 ass and pull the trigger.”
Rourke added that he isn’t sure who set up the crowdfunding page, which appeared online earlier this month and has raised more than $102,000 so far.
“Whoever did this … I don’t know why they did it. I don’t understand it,” he said. “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.”
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The Wrestler actor went on to admit that he’s “done a really terrible job” managing his Hollywood career, which waned in the 1990s as he pursued boxing.
“I wasn’t very diplomatic. I had to go over 20 years of therapy to get over the damage that was done to me years ago,” Rourke said on Monday. “I worked very hard to work through that and I’m not that person anymore, but I can’t be the one to say that — you gotta talk to the last several people I’ve worked with. Talk to Robert Rodriguez, talk to Francis [Ford] Coppola, talk to Darren Aronofsky. I’m not that wild man that I was 20-something years ago, but you pay the price for your past.”
After saying that he plans to talk to his lawyer about what to do, Rourke urged fans to stop donating and advised those who had to ask for refunds. He also revealed that he borrowed money from a friend in the recent past after “COVID and the writers’ strike killed” his funds.
As for the allegation that he is behind in rent, Rourke claimed that he intentionally stopped paying rent because his landlords weren’t making repairs on the property.
“Everything was good for five or six years, and then two scumbags from New York bought the house and they wouldn’t fix anything, so I said, ‘I’m not paying rent,’ because there’s mice, there’s rats, the floor is rotten, one bathtub there’s no water, in two different sinks there was no water,” Rourke alleged. “But I would never ask strangers or fans or anybody for a nickel. I mean, that’s not my style. It’s humiliating and it’s really f***ing embarrassing.”
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The Sin City star concluded by saying he’s “grateful” for what he does have.
“I have a roof over my head, I’ve got food to eat. Here, look, I got bananas,” he said with a laugh, grabbing some fruit from out of frame. “Everything’s OK. Just get your money back, please. I don’t need anybody’s money and I wouldn’t do it this way. I got too much pride, man. It ain’t my style.”
The GoFundMe page initially made headlines this weekend when The Hollywood Reporter published an article on Sunday, January 4, alleging that the page was created by Liya Joelle-Jones, who was described as a “friend and member of Rourke’s management team.”
In an interview, Joelle-Jones told the outlet that “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.”
According to the GoFundMe page’s description, the fundraiser was “created with Mickey’s full permission to help cover immediate housing-related expenses and prevent [eviction] from happening.”
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Last month, the Los Angeles Times reported that the actor was issued a “three-day eviction notice” on December 18, 2025, after signing a lease on the property in March of that year for “$5,200 per month.” Rourke’s rent was reportedly later raised to $7,000 per month.
While Rourke denied signing off on the fundraiser, his manager, Kimberly Hines, told Deadline on Tuesday, January 6, that her team created the page after the actor was threatened with eviction.
“We’re trying to do the best that we can,” Hines told the outlet. “My assistant started it to help Mickey as a nice gesture because he was being forced out of his home. It was not done with any mal intent. The money has not gone anywhere. If Mickey decides he does not want it, the money will be returned to his fans.”
