One time Hollywood A-lister Mickey Rourke, 73, has allegedly turned to GoFundMe for help in covering a bill of $59,100 in back rent on his Los Angeles home.
According to People Magazine, Rourke’s landlord served notice demanding the amount or that the actor leaves the property within three days.
At the time of writing this article, the GoFundMe page was up to $50,000.
What we know so far
In March 2025, court documents highlight that Rourke signed a lease on a home at $5,200 a month. The rent then jumped to $7,000. In the same report from People Magazine, it is stated that the landlord, Eric Goldie, on top of the back rent is seeking attorney fees and an end to the rental agreement.
On the GoFundMe page it reads “Help Mickey Rourke Stay in His Home” and that “Life doesn’t always move in a straight line.” It also describes a “challenging financial moment” that put his housing at risk.
This is a crisis many families have faced, and will continue to face. Yet there is something different about seeing a movie star hit with the same problems.
Over at the Los Angeles Times, the property in question is described as a “nicely upgraded Spanish bungalow,” with a surprising footnote about author Raymond Chandler once living there. The report also notes the three-day notice is dated December. 18, 2025, and the case is filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.
The GoFundMe itself
It appears that Variety was the first to report the GoFundMe page. The big question, how would people react to paying a rent-related bill for a celebrity like Mickey Rourke?
By January. 4, 2026, the page was live with a $100,000 goal and language stressing it was created with Rourke’s “full permission.”
Entertainment Weekly said that it had already climbed past $8,000 that day, TMZ reported that it was nearing $24,000 at the time of its post, and The Guardian later wrote it had reached about $33,000 as the story kept spreading. All of this within a single 24 hours. Clearly, people were willing to help this movie star.
Liya-Joelle Jones, who has been described by multiple sources including People Magazine and Entertainment Weekly as a friend and part of Rourke’s management circle, framed it as “incredibly touching” to see how many people want to help and that this GoFundMe is a push for short-term stability.
The timeline:
- December. 18, 2025: three-day notice to pay or vacate.
- December. 29, 2025: legal complaint filed.
- January. 4, 2026: fundraiser goes live with a $100,000 target.
- As of January 4, the GoFundMe was at $50,000.
Mickey Rourke in a snapshot
There was a time when Mickey Rourke was a big name in movies, from 9 1⁄2 Weeks to the later comebacks in Sin City and then again in The Wrestler. He has frequently vanished and then come back with commanding performances.
However, in TMZ’s coverage they stated that the actor looked frail in recent photos outside the home. It’s a detail that makes another comeback less likely and this GoFundMe plea harder to shrug off as just another celebrity with a money problem.
This comes after a controversial April 2025 exit from Celebrity Big Brother in the UK. After which the actor’s name kept bouncing between entertainment coverage and legal talk. People Magazine reported his team had discussed legal action over an alleged pay dispute, arguing that the producers of the show knew exactly the kind of rebel they were booking.
As we watch as this unfolds, it does look like the GoFundMe will hit its lofty target of $100,000, as it’s already halfway with only one day gone.
However, this story is a shock. A GoFundMe for a famous actor’s rent feels like another sign of how strange modern celebrity culture has become, where personal crisis, legal filings, and fan money collide in public, and we all get to see it in real time.