Mickey Rooney Abuse, The Hollywood Reporter has published a shocking exposé into the last years of Hollywood legend Mickey Rooney, alleging that he suffered awful abuse.
It’s said that the former child star, who died with only $18,000 to his name despite decades in the movie business, was not allowed to carry ID, was prevented from even buying food for himself, and was physically abused.
The article, penned by reporters Gary Baum and Scott Feinberg, and spanning interviews and testimony collected long before his death in 2014, paints an ugly picture of his life with eighth wife Jan Rooney, and one of her sons Chris Aber, who managed Mickey’s career in the late 90s and early 2000s.
Accusations of abuse first came to light when Rooney confided in Edward Nowak, an executive at Disney who he met while working on ‘The Muppets’ in 2011.
Jan Rooney, 76, has denied that she ever abused her husband, but admitted to ‘some minor pushing scuffles, tempers flared up when we were angry. Sometimes it was his fault, sometimes mine. We always made up’.
There is even a shocking video (see it below) of Feinberg interviewing Rooney in 2010, in the company of Jan and Chris Aber, during which Jan appears to kick her husband hard under the table when she becomes angry about his rambling answers to Feinberg’s questions.
Others also claim to have witnessed abuse going on first hand, including Hector Garcia, a caretaker who was appointed to oversee Rooney’s safety.
Garcia says that he once, after hearing a crash from the second floor of Rooney’s house, rushed upstairs to see Jan standing over him on the ground.
“I told her, 'You cannot be hitting Mickey; I won’t allow it’,” says Garcia. “She responded by telling me: 'Get used to it. I hit him because that’s the only way he learns — by hitting him like a kid’.”
Rooney himself was arrested many years before, in 1997, on suspicion of hitting Jan during a fight, but the case was dropped.
It’s also claimed that Rooney may have been subdued with the use of prescription drugs, administered by Jan.
Charlene Aber, who with her husband, Rooney’s other stepson Mark, looked after Mickey at their own expense following his separation from Jan, says she once heard her say 'I have to keep him high to be onstage, and I have to keep him quiet and subdued when he’s at home’.
But more harrowing still was an incident when Rooney’s caretaker Garcia took him for a visitation with Jan, following their separation.
On seeing stepson Chris outside that house, Rooney reportedly 'dropped down to the floorboard of the vehicle and literally started crying, shaking, scared. In fact, he soiled himself, and I had to go clean him’, says Garcia.
Aber responded to the accusation saying: “That’s ridiculous. Mickey had a problem soiling his pants all the time.”
It was after revealing the abuse that Rooney took on lawyer Michael Augustine, who accused Aber of stealing $8.5 million from Rooney over the years.
Court documents show that at a time that Rooney’s house was being remortgaged to withdraw equity, Aber owned four homes, two Mercedes and a Porsche.
Aber agreed to pay back $2.8 million in a civil settlement, but has so far reportedly not paid back a penny.
Rooney made a public denouncement of elder abuse in front of the US senate in 2011, as part of its Special Committee on Ageing.
“My money was stolen from me. I was eventually stripped of the ability to make even the most basic decisions… my daily life became unbearable,” he said.
“When a man feels helpless, it is terrible. And I was helpless… for years I suffered silently, unable to muster the courage to seek the help I knew I needed. I’m asking you to stop this elderly abuse. Stop it now. Now tomorrow, not next month, but now.”
He did not name names at the time.
Jan Rooney has denied any wrongdoing, insisting that a full transcript of the interview she undertook with The Hollywood Reporter surrounding the claims be published in full.
It’s said that the former child star, who died with only $18,000 to his name despite decades in the movie business, was not allowed to carry ID, was prevented from even buying food for himself, and was physically abused.The article, penned by reporters Gary Baum and Scott Feinberg, and spanning interviews and testimony collected long before his death in 2014, paints an ugly picture of his life with eighth wife Jan Rooney, and one of her sons Chris Aber, who managed Mickey’s career in the late 90s and early 2000s.
Accusations of abuse first came to light when Rooney confided in Edward Nowak, an executive at Disney who he met while working on ‘The Muppets’ in 2011.
Jan Rooney, 76, has denied that she ever abused her husband, but admitted to ‘some minor pushing scuffles, tempers flared up when we were angry. Sometimes it was his fault, sometimes mine. We always made up’.
There is even a shocking video (see it below) of Feinberg interviewing Rooney in 2010, in the company of Jan and Chris Aber, during which Jan appears to kick her husband hard under the table when she becomes angry about his rambling answers to Feinberg’s questions.
Others also claim to have witnessed abuse going on first hand, including Hector Garcia, a caretaker who was appointed to oversee Rooney’s safety.
Garcia says that he once, after hearing a crash from the second floor of Rooney’s house, rushed upstairs to see Jan standing over him on the ground.
“I told her, 'You cannot be hitting Mickey; I won’t allow it’,” says Garcia. “She responded by telling me: 'Get used to it. I hit him because that’s the only way he learns — by hitting him like a kid’.”
Rooney himself was arrested many years before, in 1997, on suspicion of hitting Jan during a fight, but the case was dropped.
It’s also claimed that Rooney may have been subdued with the use of prescription drugs, administered by Jan.
Charlene Aber, who with her husband, Rooney’s other stepson Mark, looked after Mickey at their own expense following his separation from Jan, says she once heard her say 'I have to keep him high to be onstage, and I have to keep him quiet and subdued when he’s at home’.
But more harrowing still was an incident when Rooney’s caretaker Garcia took him for a visitation with Jan, following their separation.
On seeing stepson Chris outside that house, Rooney reportedly 'dropped down to the floorboard of the vehicle and literally started crying, shaking, scared. In fact, he soiled himself, and I had to go clean him’, says Garcia.
Aber responded to the accusation saying: “That’s ridiculous. Mickey had a problem soiling his pants all the time.”
It was after revealing the abuse that Rooney took on lawyer Michael Augustine, who accused Aber of stealing $8.5 million from Rooney over the years.
Court documents show that at a time that Rooney’s house was being remortgaged to withdraw equity, Aber owned four homes, two Mercedes and a Porsche.
Aber agreed to pay back $2.8 million in a civil settlement, but has so far reportedly not paid back a penny.
Rooney made a public denouncement of elder abuse in front of the US senate in 2011, as part of its Special Committee on Ageing.
“My money was stolen from me. I was eventually stripped of the ability to make even the most basic decisions… my daily life became unbearable,” he said.
“When a man feels helpless, it is terrible. And I was helpless… for years I suffered silently, unable to muster the courage to seek the help I knew I needed. I’m asking you to stop this elderly abuse. Stop it now. Now tomorrow, not next month, but now.”
He did not name names at the time.
Jan Rooney has denied any wrongdoing, insisting that a full transcript of the interview she undertook with The Hollywood Reporter surrounding the claims be published in full.
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