With a Golden Globe and BAFTA-winning performance in The Wrester set to boost his film career, actor Mickey Rourke can finally pay back the doctor who treated him for free for over a decade.
The therapist, whose name has not been disclosed, was a psychiatrist.
Rourke credits him, and his loyal dogs, for saving his life during a time when he had started to feel hopeless.
The actor says that he had not money to pay for his treatment, but still the analyst helped him for free up to five times a week.
"When I self destructed and everything came apart about 14 years ago. My wife had left, the career was over, I took a movie just for the paycheck, and felt like I w**red myself out,” Contactmusic quoted him as saying.
"Fourteen years of therapy. For the first five years, it was three days a week. I didn't have the money to pay him. I think at one point I owed 68,000 dollars. He said, ''I've never let anyone do this, but I know you'll pay me back," he added.