Mickey Rourke was warned about his fiery temper years before entering the Celebrity Big Brother house. The former boxer, 72, was given his marching orders from the ITV show on the weekend for his inappropriate behaviour and language, which left many of his housemates uncomfortable.
When he was told to pack his bags in the Diary Room, The Wrestler star apologised for ‘getting so hot’ and explained he’d been ‘trying his whole life’ to control his temper. Admitting that his “short fuse” has had a catastrophic impact on his career, Mickey confessed he’d been warned about his behaviour before as he lifted the lid on his testy temperament.
Acknowledging he’s “made mistakes” and now struggles to book jobs because of his bad boy reputation – the actor confessed he signed up for Celebrity Big Brother because he can’t face filming a “really bad independent movie”.
Telling The Sun his “career is in the toilet”, he said: “I’ve made mistakes, many. I have nobody to blame for my ship sinking except myself. My career is in the toilet and I’m not getting A-list movies. I’d like to be back where I can work on movies that have integrity.”
“There’s 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. But once it goes past a certain point, I’ve got a short fuse – there’s no turning back. It’s on.”
Mickey’s Celebrity Big Brother journey danced with danger from the get-go. His touchy-feely, toe-curling interview with host, AJ Odudu, when he entered the house appalled viewers – but Mickey was just getting started.
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Uncomfortable scenes then showed him using homophobic slurs and antagonising singer JoJo Siwa, who is lesbian, over her sexuality. He was later reprimanded for using a gay slur and for making offensive comments about JoJo’s sexual preferences.
He later left comedian Donna Preston rattled when he appeared to make a comment about her weight. And later still, he reduced EastEnders icon Patsy Palmer to tears when he criticised her cooking skills. Then he faced off with Chris Hughes and called him a c**t before being hauled into the Diary Room.
After finding out he had been asked to leave, Mickey apologised, admitting he was a “work in progress”. Explaining he’d been trying his whole life to control his temper, he conceded: “Yes sir. I did wrong. I apologise. I’m sorry.”
“I can’t take it back, you know, I stepped over the line. And I take responsibility for doing the wrong thing. ‘Cause I lost my temper, and I’ve been trying to work on it my whole life and I wish I would have had better self-control and I’m very sorry.”
The actor continued: “I’m ashamed of myself for losing it for a few seconds there. Nobody got touched or hurt. Maybe some feelings got hurt or maybe others have feelings about others getting upset but, you know, I’m sorry about that.
“I blame myself, I know it was my bad. You know, I’ve got a short fuse and I know I upset a lot of people out there, you know. And I’m sorry for that. I’m actually ashamed of myself for getting that hot. I went over the line, you know, I did wrong.”
* Celebrity Big Brother continues tonight on ITV at 9pm
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