Hollywood stars who once met with Putin ‘pray’ Russian president ends Ukraine war

nypost.com:

Statista. And over the years, celebs have met with Russian President Vladimir Putin while visiting the country for events, like professional fights and concerts.

Here’s a look at some celebs who either once hobnobbed or briefly met with Putin.Mickey RourkeIn an interview with Fox News Digital, Mickey Rourke recalled meeting Putin when Rourke had a “professional fight four years ago” in Russia.“I had the time of my life,” Rourke told Fox News Digital about visiting the country. “The people couldn’t have been nicer, more polite, more respectful.

I actually went with Putin. He took us to a very famous museum in St. Petersburg.”Rourke said he also visited a children’s cancer hospital. “And we went in there and visited the really, really sick, little, tiny, tiny kids,” Rourke recalled. “And, you know, I looked over at him and I saw him and — nobody’s going to want to hear this — but I saw a man with empathy and who was really moved by what these children are going through.”Now Rourke, who once wore a shirt with Putin’s face on it and reportedly spoke kindly about him at the time, feels differently, calling what’s happening in Ukraine a “nightmare kind of scenario.”“Then now there’s this whole other thing that’s happening,” the former boxer said, noting that he prays to God that Putin will end the war.“When I pray at night, I pray, ‘Please God, … let him find something inside his soul to just say, ‘Okay, that’s it,”” Rourke said.Leonardo DiCaprioLeonardo DiCaprio was once photographed alongside Putin after the two attended the International Tiger Conservation Forum at the Mikhailovsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg in 2010.In the wake of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, DiCaprio donated to humanitarian groups CARE, International.