In light of last night’s Oscar ceremony I thought I’d highlight one of the Best Actor nominees, Mickey Rourke. Rourke has been a star in Hollywood for years, of course, but during the 80’s his career began to fade until Rourke’s triumphant return to fame with this year’s critically acclaimed film, The Wrestler.
As Rourke’s problems with drugs and alcohol increased, his career continued to spiral further. And he hurt himself by turning down roles in movies that may have revived his career years ago. Rourke said no to such blockbusters as Rain Man, The Untouchables, and Pulp Fiction. During this period he became one of the many celebrities to fail at managing their money. To recover he had to make some tough choices:
“I had a motorcycle collection — and I sold all my motorcycles.
“Then I had a friend who was a successful hairdresser, and he’d give me a couple of hundred bucks a week to keep me going.
“Then the last thing I did was I had this really nice 1963 Mini Cooper that I bought and kitted up really nicely. I sunk a lot of money into it then sold it for a third of what I spent on it. It was things like that I did to get by.”
Regular Americans can learn some valuable lessons from the mistakes celebrities make. When you hit a period of good fortune, make sure to keep a budget, because if you go from the silver screen to starring in straight-to-DVD schlock it will be tough to pay for those expensive motorcycles, designer dogs, and astounding therapist habits.
