Mickey Rourke is getting candid about how he prepared for his 2008 film, “The Wrestler.”
The 72-year-old had previously denied using the performance-enhancing drug to play wrestler Randy “The Ram” Robinson in the Oscar-nominated film.
On Wednesday, the actor admitted to taking the drug and confessed it took four to five years to lose the weight.
“Was just finishing up my nightly 2 hr trainning. [sic] I was thinking back to when I did a film called ‘the Wrestler,’” Rourke wrote on Instagram alongside a picture of himself in the movie.
“I honestly regret putting on 70 pounds to look the part.. I did not feel comfortable in my own skin and it took almost 4 or 5 years to get back to 180,” he continued. “It was not a great well thought out plan, I of course used steroids and ate enormous amounts of food 6 times a day.”
Rourke went on to say it was “very stupid on my part.”
“My, only real accomplishment was long hrs in gym. I regret it but I’ve made many dumb ass decisions in my life. I cringe when I see photos of myself. I never said I was the sharpest pencil in the box. Oh well I was thinking out loud and thought perhaps I could get this mesg out to some young dude who wants to get bigger and bigger.”
The sports thriller followed an aging wrestler (Mickey Rourke) who, although past his prime, still wants to perform in the pro-wrestling circuit.
Rourke earned himself an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor but in 2009, he clapped back at claims that he had used growth hormones or sports drugs to enhance his body.
At the time, he told Men’s Journal, per Daily Mail: “I did some stuff. You wouldn’t classify it as steroids, but I did some heavy duty supplements … but not the regular stuff.”
That same year, Rourke revealed to MailOnline that he did go under the knife for cosmetic surgery to fix past facial injuries.
“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,” the star confessed. “I had my nose broken twice. I had five operations on my nose and one on a smashed cheekbone.”
Rourke rose to fame in the 1980s after landing the part of John Gray in the erotic thriller “9 1/2 Weeks” opposite Kim Basinger’s Elizabeth McGraw.
However, the jobs started to fade until he starred in the 2005 crime action movie “Sin City” alongside Jessica Alba.
At one point, Rourke claimed that he was blacklisted in Hollywood for being too difficult to work with. He credited younger directors for being the reason his acting career was resurrected.
“The young guys are cool,” he told Fox News in 2022. “They don’t care about what they hear. They judge me by my acting ability, not my old reputation.”
“I have a love/hate relationship with acting. I enjoy what I’m doing at the moment because I can give everything that I’m taught. I have my confidence.”
