Mickey Rooney had sex with a 14-year-old Elizabeth Taylor, one of the actor's many ex-wives told her friend who passed the claim along to authors of the bio "The Life and Times of Mickey Rooney."
Pam McClenathan, a friend and caregiver to Betty Jane Rase, told book authors Richard Lertzman and Williams Birnes about the incident, reported the
New York Post.
"Betty Jane . . . told me she went to visit Mickey at (an LA film studio) around June 1946," McClenathan was quoted as saying. "She had (the couple's first son) Mickey Jr. in tow and was pregnant with [second son] Timmy . . . When she opened the door to the dressing room, Elizabeth Taylor was on her knees giving Mickey [oral sex]."
The book said they divorced after the incident. Rooney, who was in his mid-20s, and Taylor had starred together in the movie classic "National Velvet" in 1944.
Rooney was married seven times from 1942 to 1974, according to the
Los Angeles Times.
The Post said Rase, a backup singer for entertainers like Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra and Sam Cooke, divorced Rooney officially in 1949 and married composer Buddy Baker.
“I lived like a rock star,” Rooney is quoted in a
Simon & Schuster blurb on the book . “I had all I ever wanted, from Lana Turner and Joan Crawford to every starlet in Hollywood, and then some. They were mine to have. Ava [Gardner] was the best.”
According to the
National Enquirer, the book delves into Rooney's interest in teenage girls, gambling and drinking.
The book's authors said MGM worked tirelessly to keep their top box-office draw out of the gossip columns because the actor was far from the wholesome characters he played on screen.
"Countless people who have met Mickey have found his behavior reprehensible," the book says. "He could be not only crude and vulgar, but also a quarrelsome drunk; a shameless womanizer, especially when he was chasing underage girls; and a reprobate who spent too much time on the phone with his bookies."
"Was it possible … the only real Mickey Rooney was the guy who was on for the audience, on for the camera, or on for each of his wives and friends – until he was off?," the book says. "Was there no real person inside the created character that was Mickey Rooney? Simply put, was the secret of Mickey Rooney that there was no Mickey Rooney?"
Related Stories:
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.