EXCLUSIVE: The Child Abuse Heartbreak at Center of Mickey Rourke's Tragic Downfall — And Why He'll NEVER Reveal His True Age
Rourke's troubled childhood continues to haunt him.
April 14 2025, Published 1:46 p.m. ET
Mickey Rourke's tragic downfall began when he was just a little boy, RadarOnline.com can reveal, and came at the hands of an abusive stepfather.
The actor, who was just removed from the Celebrity Big Brother household after "inappropriate behavior," previously shared how his troubled childhood was the precursor for a complex life.
The Oscar nominee just left the 'Celebrity Big Brother' house.
Rourke turned to reality TV as a last ditch effort to save his floundering career but did not last long. It was just the latest in a life of setbacks, which the Iron Man 2 star recently traced back to his childhood.
His father left the family when Rourke was around six. After his parents divorced, his mother married a Miami Beach police officer with five sons of his own. Rourke and two younger siblings moved with their mom to South Florida, where he suffered from abuse.
Rourke detailed his rough childhood in the book One Can Make a Difference: How Simple Actions Can Change the World.
He wrote: "My stepfather used to crack my head just because he felt like it. He was big, very big, and mean. And he was physically abusive to my mother.
"I hated the f---er for hurting her, for making her afraid. For years, I wanted nothing more than to take him down."
Rourke has spoken about his troubled childhood.
Rourke would find a way to release his anger through boxing – something he thought he was destined to do until his acting career took off.
"I couldn't beat my stepfather, so I guess I started taking it out on everyone else over time," he continued. "When I was an adult, I would fight everywhere, anywhere, for anything.
"Look at me sideways and you're gone. I didn't care about the consequences. I was drinking and taking drugs. But more than that, I was angry and crazy and ashamed of how I'd been treated. I'd been kicked around a lot, so I figured the way to fix this was to lash out."
He thought he would be a professional boxer before finding an acting career.
Rourke continues to be guarded and on alert to this day. It's why he won't reveal his actual age or birth year. While credited as being 72, he previously told Piers Morgan he doesn't want to be measured by his age.
The actor justified: "In athletics, or the business I'm in, they use (age) against you so I don't talk about it. As soon as a running back in the NFL hits 30 years old, they're 'over.' So they put up they put a stigma on it, and I don't really think it matters."
However, his hopes of reviving his career have taken a huge hit since his behavior reportedly led to his eviction from the house.
The Oscar nominee for 2008's The Wrestler first clashed with his housemates after making offensive, homophobic remarks toward 21-year-old singer JoJo Siwa.
Viewers watched in horror as the Hollywood star called Siwa a "f--" and insinuated he could "make her straight" during their time in the house.
Several other incidents, including allegations of groping or threatening to fight some of his fellow housemates, gave the producers no other choice.
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ITV issued a statement when the actor was removed, which read: "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."
Hours before his exit, an insider confessed: "The production team is concerned Mickey is going to push it too far. He’s completely off the scale in the house, and he’s not calming down.
"He had been called into the Diary Room on multiple occasions because of his language or his behavior. None of this has been shown on camera because it would end up like The Mickey Rourke Show."
