Featuring prominently in films helmed by legendary directors such as Francis Ford Coppola and Darren Aronofsky, the actor experienced a significant downturn in his career following a dramatic expulsion from Celebrity Big Brother due to startling comments, marking a steep decline from his previous acclaim.

At 72, Mickey Rourke is no longer the formidable figure he once was. Renowned for his rugged allure and intense presence, Rourke’s looks have been significantly altered, primarily due to the numerous plastic surgeries he underwent after suffering injuries from his time as a boxer.

Recent exclusive photographs by the Daily Mail captured Rourke emerging from his self-imposed seclusion on August 11, seen outside his luxurious Beverly Hills residence, which now shows signs of being unkempt. 

Overgrown grass, dead vines and a decaying front door point to a once-glamorous residence in clear need of attention.

Rourke appeared visibly aged, dressed in an unfastened gray hoodie that revealed his extensively tattooed chest and torso underneath – without a shirt beneath. 

He donned worn-out green athletic pants that hung loosely on his body, matched with shabby white sneakers. His previously thick hair had turned sparse and patchy, a stark white that added to his gaunt, aged look. 

The faded actor emerged from his doorway to speak with a technician from Premium Termite & Pest Control during a lengthy inspection that lasted over an hour. 

But day-to-day errands appear to be left to an assistant, who is frequently seen coming and going from the home, often carrying bags of food or a haul from Target.

This marked Rourke’s first public appearance in the US since his controversial exit from the UK edition of Celebrity Big Brother in April.

The once top-billed star was forced out of the house after leaving several housemates in tears, including JoJo Siwa, whom he targeted with a string of homophobic remarks. 

At one point, he claimed he could ‘turn her straight’ and repeatedly referred to her as ‘the lesbian,’ but Siwa stood her ground – later calling his behavior hurtful, yet expressing empathy by describing him as a ‘hurt man’.

He also left fellow housemate and The Only Way Is Essex reality star Ella Rae Wise in tears with a vile sexual comment, shortly before being removed from the house.

During a pirate-themed challenge, Wise, 24, informed the group of the rules, only for Rourke to dismiss her instructions with a crude sexual joke. 

Tensions escalated later when Rourke accused Chris Hughes of ‘eyeballing’ him and called him a ‘c***’, prompting Hughes to brush it off, while a shaken Wise broke down, saying his behavior made her feel deeply uneasy.

Big Brother later reminded Rourke that this was not his first warning over offensive language and ended up removing him from the show. 

Rourke has openly admitted that his career is ‘in the toilet,’ blaming his notoriously short fuse for damaging relationships with directors – a pattern of behavior that played out once again during his turbulent reality show appearance. 

He told The Sun this was why he had not been landing A-list movies anymore and that his short temper stopped him from booking ‘movies that have integrity’.

‘There are directors I want to work with and have them not be afraid of me and trust me for who I am today, not for the reputation I have,’ he said.

‘I’ve made mistakes, many, I have nobody to blame for my ship sinking except myself.’

At the height of his career in the 1980s and early ’90s, Rourke was hailed as one of Hollywood’s most magnetic and unconventional leading men with standout performances in 9½ Weeks, Angel Heart and Rumble Fish.

He earned a reputation for his brooding intensity and raw charisma, and gained respect for his serious role as the poet and alcoholic Charles Bukowski’s alter ego in the 1987 film Barfly. 

But by the early ’90s, his career faltered after he stepped away from Hollywood to pursue professional boxing, leading to numerous injuries that would dramatically change his face.

Rourke came from a martial arts background, winning his first big match at 12 years old. And in 1991, he re-entered the ring as a professional at the age of 39.

‘I went back because of shame,’ he told the Daily Mail in 2009. ‘I was a good amateur and took a year off due to a concussion. I grew up in a gym in Miami, the one where Muhammad Ali trained. I had 142 amateur fights and lost three.’

He had intended to return to the ring for just one bout, but that spiraled into eight, until he was advised to stop because of neurological problems.

‘I didn’t lose any pro fights, but I got properly kicked every day in the gym,’ he said.

The New York-born actor disclosed he had broken his nose twice – which led to five operations – and smashed his cheekbone.

‘I had to have cartilage taken from my ear to rebuild my nose, and a couple of operations to scrape out the cartilage because the scar tissue wasn’t healing properly. That was one of the most painful operations, but the worst was hemorrhoids.’

For years, Rourke’s face has attracted speculation, as many wondered if his varying looks were down to years of boxing or ‘bad surgery’.

‘Most of it was to mend the mess of my face because of the boxing, but I went to the wrong guy to put my face back together,’ he explained.

That same year, his first wife, Debra Feuer, claimed, while speaking to the Mirror, that his bouts of procedures were largely because he was ‘so insecure’.

Despite his looks changing and his bad reputation in Hollywood, Rourke was given another chance by Aronofsky to make a major comeback. 

And he delivered with a critically acclaimed performance in The Wrestler (2008), when he played Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson, an aging professional wrestler grappling with physical decline and personal regrets. 

The role would earn him a Golden Globe, a BAFTA and his first – and only – Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.

He would go on to act in Iron Man 2 (2010) and The Expendables (2010), but his career would fizzle out once again. 

This is reportedly due to his notorious attitude on set and his feuds with co-stars, the most famous one being with Hollywood legend Robert De Niro, whom he once admitted he idolized. 

Their long-standing feud in the media began when they worked together in the 1987 film Angel Heart. 

It was reignited in 2019 when he claimed famed director Martin Scorsese wanted him to be in his 2019 crime film The Irishman, but De Niro refused to work with him.

DeNiro’s reps were quick to respond at the time with a statement saying Rourke was ‘never asked to be in The Irishman nor was he ever even thought of, discussed or considered to be in the movie,’ in a Page Six article with the headline Robert De Niro: Mickey Rourke is lying about The Irishman snub. 

Rourke, then 67, took to Instagram in July 2020 and made a harsh promise to the two-time Academy Award winner:

‘Let me tell you something, you punk a**, when i see you i swear to God on my Grandmother, on my brother and all my dogs, i gonna embarrass you severally 100%.’