Tearjerker Alert! If you’re a classic cinema fan, the name Mickey Rooney is one that will require little introduction.
Best known for his movies with tragic screen gem Judy Garland back in the 1930s, the short-statured actor starred in more than 300 films and was even given an honorary Lifetime Achievement Oscar for his lengthy career on screen. But Mickey, now 90, told US lawmakers on Wednesday that he “suffered silently” for years while enduring abuse at the hands of his eighth wife and stepson, who allegedly withheld food, kept the star a prisoner in his home, denied him medication, and made off with a substantial portion of his fortune.
“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,” Rooney told the Senate Special Committee on Aging, who is holding an inquiry into elderly abuse across America.
One of our nation’s most beloved Pepaws has been a “prisoner in his own home” for years, according to Wednesday’s damning testimony. The father of nine says he felt “helpless” as he was repeatedly emotionally abused by wife Christina Aber and her son Christopher, 52, over the course of several years.
During the hearing, the Bill actor suggested lawmakers pass a measure to make the abuse of seniors at the hands of family members and caregivers a crime.
“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,” Rooney implored of Congress members. “Stop it now. Now tomorrow, not next month, but now.”
As Mickey was delivering that heartbreaking testimonial in Washington, a judge in Los Angeles was extending a restraining order that bars Aber access to Rooney until a scheduled court hearing set for April 5.
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