Mickey Rourke Claims ‘Unacceptable’ Living Conditions Made Him Withhold Rent on L.A. Home He Was Evicted From

NEED TO KNOW

• Mickey Rourke is speaking out about the alleged condition of his Los Angeles home after defaulting in his eviction case

• His comments come after a March 9 judgement reviewed by PEOPLE showed the case was resolved with a default judgment in favor of his landlord Eric Goldie, resulting in Rourke’s lease being canceled

• Rourke was first served a notice in December to either pay the nearly $60,000 he owed in back rent or vacate the home within three days

Mickey Rourke is speaking out about the alleged conditions of his Los Angeles home after he defaulted in his eviction case.

The actor and former boxer, 73, recently opened up about his reasons for withholding nearly $60,000 in rent to his landlord, Eric T. Goldie. Per December court filings previously obtained by PEOPLE, Rourke was first served a notice that ordered him to either pay the back rent or vacate his home within three days.

Most recently, a March 9 judgement reviewed by PEOPLE shows the case was resolved with a default judgement in favor of Goldie, and as a result, the landlord was granted possession of the residence where Rourke had been living.

Now, the Sin City actor is saying there’s more to the story.

“The reason I stopped paying rent was because the living conditions in the house had become unacceptable,” he told E! News following the judgement.

“For months there were serious problems that repeatedly went unaddressed despite my efforts to have them fixed,” he claimed.

Some of these alleged problems include “ongoing rodent issues” and having to make “repeated requests for repairs” regarding his bathroom and plumbing, he told the outlet.

Despite requests, he claims the issues were not addressed and “basic maintenance was never properly handled.”

He added that his decision to withhold rent was not something he took “lightly.”

“I simply could not continue paying for a house that was in such poor condition after so many attempts to have these issues corrected,” he claimed.

PEOPLE has reached out to a representative for Rourke and Goldie’s attorney for comment.

According to court documents obtained by PEOPLE, the March 9 judgement in favor of Goldie was entered “by default,” meaning that Rourke likely failed to respond to the complaint or appear to defend himself within the required time under California law.

This resulted in Goldie being granted possession of the property and Rourke’s rental agreement being canceled. Thus, the actor no longer has a legal right to occupy the home.

Following the December notice to pay the back rent or vacate his home, Rourke was photographed outside of his home in January, seemingly moving his belongings out of the property. His manager Kimberly Hines later told The Hollywood Reporter that he was living in a West Hollywood hotel until he could find a more permanent place.

A GoFundMe was launched to support Rourke by a woman named Liya-Joelle Jones, who described herself as the assistant to Hines. Shortly after the fundraiser was made public, Rourke took to his Instagram on Jan. 5 to claim he had no knowledge of it.

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At the time, he claimed he was “confused” as to why someone would create a GoFundMe campaign on his behalf and that he would never go to “outside sources like that” for help.

Hines then cleared things up while speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, telling the outlet, “We said, ‘Mickey, there’s some people that want to help you out.’ He’s like, ‘OK, great.’ I don’t think he understood, and now it’s taken on this media frenzy, and he flipped out.”

Read the original article on People