Academy Award winning actor Mickey Rooney and his wife, Janice Chamberlin were married since 1978, yet when the actor died on Sunday, Chamberlin, who is his eighth wife, reported that she learned of his death through the celebrity gossip site, TMZ. According to reports from the Daily Mail, the singer had not seen her late husband in nearly a year.
Before his death, The Hollywood Reporter notes that the late actor lived with his son Mark Aber and his wife. The family was going through a difficult time and grew further apart, after Mickey accused Christopher, Janice Chamberlin's son, of "starving him and depriving him of medicine."
In a special senate meeting considering legislation to curb the abuse of senior citizens, Rooney testified in 2011 that under the care of Christopher he felt frustrated, scared and trapped. "But above all," he explained, "when a man feels helpless, it's terrible."
Toward the end of his life, fans knew Rooney to be an advocate for better treatment of senior citizens, often referring to his own life. "All I want to do is live a peaceful life, to regain my life and be happy," The Daily Mail reports Rooney saying. "I pray to God each day to protect us, help us endure and guide those other senior citizens who are also suffering."
Andrew Smith, commander of the Los Angeles Police Department informed the public when Rooney died at his North Hollywood home on Sunday, he was with his family, but without his wife.
Police also indicated that there were no additional details about his death and no suspicious activity in his passing.
Mickey Rooney began acting at a very young age, and appeared in his first feature film at the age of 10. He continued to make film and TV credits more than 80 years later.
"I always say, 'Don't retire — inspire,'' he once told The Associated Press in March 2008. "There's a lot to be done."
Rooney, an actor of many 1930s and 40s films, had a career that included silent comedies, musicals with Judy Garland and Broadway theater.
Clarence Brown, who directed his Oscar-nominated performance in the film, The Human Comedy, once said, "Mickey Rooney, to me, is the closest thing to a genius I ever worked with."
He won two special Academy Awards for his film achievements, and made the most money in Hollywood from 1939 to 1942, before he joined the army during World War 2.
In 1978, Rooney, who was 57 at the time, married singer Janice Chamberlin, 39. Chamberlin was his eighth wife.
Rooney passed away Sunday, April 6, at the age of 93.
