Veteran actor Mickey Rooney on Wednesday urged elderly victims of abuse to speak up to anyone who will listen and described to a Senate panel his own suffering at the hands of a family member.
"If elder abuse happened to me, Mickey Rooney, it can happen to anyone," the 90-year-old actor said in testimony to the Senate Special Committee on Aging.
According to Reuters, Rooney accused his stepson Christopher Aber of intimidating and bullying him and blocking access to his mail. The documents also alleged Aber deprived Rooney of medications and food.
"My money was taken and misused. When I asked for information, I was told that I couldn't have any of my own information," Rooney told the committee. "I was literally left powerless."
Rooney rose to fame as a child star in the 1930s and 1940s when he made more than a dozen Andy Hardy movies. He appeared frequently alongside Judy Garland and, in his heyday, was one of Hollywood's biggest stars, receiving a junior Oscar in 1938.
Rooney continued to work in movies and television into his late 80s, appearing in the 2006 film comedy "Night at the Museum," among other works.
