Posted on 10/21/2015 9:15:48 AM PDT by Signalman
He was one of Hollywood's greatest actors, someone whose estate could have been worth hundreds of millions when he died in summer 2014. Instead, he endured beatings, humiliation and poverty at the hands of his eighth wife and one of her sons, both accused today of elder abuse and destroying a legend.
Mickey Rooney shrieks in pain. Is he OK? "No, I'm not," he says, choking back tears. It's July 2010, inside The Grill on the Alley in Thousand Oaks, and in the midst of an interview with one of the authors of this piece, the diminutive 89-year-old has been kicked under the table by his eighth wife, Jan, as confirmed by his stepson, Chris Aber, who also is at the table. "She kicked him real hard," says Chris with a laugh. Rooney's offense? Rambling in his answers.
This meeting took place because the interviewer (who, as a then-freelance writer, was gathering material for a book) agreed to requirements set forth by Jan and Chris and conveyed to him over the phone by Kevin Pawley, Rooney's Kentucky-based manager: Bring a check for $200 and slip it to Chris when Rooney wasn't paying attention (ostensibly because financial transactions make him uncomfortable) and treat the three of them to lunch at the restaurant (Jan later ordered dinners to go for each of them).
A flip cam at the end of the table rolls as Jan, theatrically seeking the source of what caused her husband's pain, peers under the table for a moment and then turns to Chris and scolds him for confirming, in part, what the general public only would learn later: In his final years, Rooney was the victim of ongoing elder abuse.
(Excerpt) Read more at hollywoodreporter.com ...
he should have willed his entire estate to Boys Town.
Very sad. Mickey deserved better in his old age. Hope he’s in a better place now. RIP
The Mick once threw a television set at a friend of my husband’s. He was a stage manager for Sugar Babies.
A great performer; a loon of a person.
bfl
I bet this happens a lot.
We need to protect our elderly better.
We have a hard time in our own family. Both mom and dad have Alzheimers and mom can be mean to dad. Even with four round the clock aides it can be hard to stop every yell or slap. And mom doesn’t know what she is doing.
Maybe men should think twice about the much younger trophy wives. The older wives might be more loyal..
I used to work in the credit dept for a major retailer and Mickey had an account with us, one day calls and asks for a credit line increase. I pulled his CBR and was shocked to see the staggering debt. I had to decline him.
If you don't want a virtuous woman, don't marry.
Men, think with your bigger brain. Here on FR is the wimmin-haters club if embittered ex-husbands. Did you seek a mate, or did you just buy a pair of perky boobs, some highlighted hair and a baby face? Did all that pall quickly, and fall apart?
People in general need to think real hard before they jump
at the “trophy” wife or the “cougar pet” husband. - You
better get yourself a good wife or husband when you’re
young, and STICK with them. If you’re unlucky enough to
have bad health issues later in life; the “trophy” is
gonna be moving on to greener pastures. - A friend’s husband
decided to ditch her and shack up with the “tv dinner”
queen who “did not cook”. A little while later, he became
ill with a degenerative disease which required many
surgeries and much care. The “trophy” soon ditched him
and tried to hook the owner of the company she worked for.
Never did know what became of that wonker; but the guy
was married & had a family, too. No problem to her!
So, he’s SOL and richly deserving of being SOL. (His wife
begged him to stay for the sake of the kids; but in his
mind, he was too much in “love” and too HOT to do that.
In retrospect, his wife was probably better off in the
long run.)
I didn’t know about that, but Mickey Rooney, especially when he was older, came across to me like a fairly contentious, pugilistic kind of guy.
Wow, I wonder, do have the same standard for women that marry eye candy too? pretty amazing if you really believe that only men are guilty of thinking with what is between their legs. Mickey Rooney was not a really nice guy, but no one deserves to be so abused, it may be karma but it’s still wrong.
So Mickey Rooney who was barely 5’ 2” and probably weighed not much more than 100 lbs picked up a heavy CRT TV set and threw it across the room at someone? And you believe that? LOL
Thanks for posting. I just read the whole thing. Now I am depressed and behind on my work. LA does funny things to some people. Celebrity isn’t easy.
I read it too nd started to cry.
Elders should be cherished.
I don’t know how someone with a heart could do this to someone in their family.
I fear it will get worse as the baby boomer part of the population ages.
Left in the wake of this were 10 children with whom Rooney elected to have little contact; indeed, in his 1991 autobiography, he devoted more words to his pets than his kids.
Another casualty of the "War On the Family."
What you say has a lot of merit Mamzelle, but women are just as bad; they have come to demand a handsome man, in addition to plenty of money, when they seek a mate. I guess they consider equality means the right to be just as stupid as men with their motorcycles and tattoos.
If you want to be happy for the rest of your life never...
Rooney's first wife was Ava Gardner, he should have stopped right there!
First of all, it is a younger woman who’d prefer looks over substance in a man. I thought my remark equally critical of status- and money-seeking women, cognizant of the market value of their youth and beauty, as of men who are distracted by “hotness”—a term I have come to detest. If you seek a hottie, make sure virtue comes alive by with it. I’d have to warn that the woman who projects a lot of sex appeal is less likely to have virtue.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.