Mickey Rourke is thanking his dogs again. When Rourke won his Golden Globe for Best Actor (for his performance in The Wrestler), he gave a very special shout-out to his dogs saying “I’d like to thank all my dogs. The ones that are here, the ones that aren’t here anymore because sometimes when a man’s alone, that’s all you got is your dog. And they’ve meant the world to me.” And thus, every dog lover in America started rooting for Mickey Rourke’s comeback.

Rourke is one of the Oscar nominees who is interviewed by Barbara Walters for her annual Oscar special. People magazine has early details of the interview, including Rourke’s admission that he was suicidal at one point during his 14-year-long downward spiral. Now Rourke is a very real position to win the Best Actor Oscar. But win or lose, Rourke still has his beloved dogs – he was even photographed with them for the New York Times “Great Performers” photo series. People has more:

Mickey Rourke, who thanked his dogs during his Golden Globes best actor acceptance speech, says his pooches received a shout-out for one simple reason: They were there for him during his darkest hour more than a decade ago.

“I sort of self-destructed and everything came out about fourteen years ago or so … the wife had left, the career was over, the money was not an ounce,” Rourke, 56, reveals during the Oscar night edition of The Barbara Walters Special, of which PEOPLE has an exclusive preview. “The dogs were there when no one else was there.”

But the star of The Wrestler says his split from ex-wife, actress-model Carre Otis, 40, further exacerbated his personal turmoil. “What happened was, I was not in a really good place in my head and my heart, and I think when the wife left, it all came down and I didn’t want to be here.”

But when asked by Walters if, at the time, he was suicidal, Rourke said, “Look, there’s always a weak way out. I’ve always known that. Yeah, I didn’t want to be here, but I didn’t want to kill myself. I just wanted to push a button and disappear.”

And at the point, Rourke turned to his dogs.

“I think I hadn’t left the house for four or five months, and I was sitting in the closet, sleeping in the closet for some reason, and I was in a bad place, and I just remember I was thinking, ‘Oh, man, if I do this,’ ” he tells Walters. “And then I looked at my dog, Lowjack, and he made a sound, like a little almost human sound. I don’t have kids, the dogs became everything to me. The dog was looking at me going, ‘Who’s going to take care of me?’ ”

From People

I’ll admit that simply reading this has me choked up. If you’ve ever been in a bad place, and you’re sitting beside your dog and he just looks at you with calm, understanding eyes, you totally know what Rourke is talking about. Dogs really do know! They comprehend when their pack leader is in a rough state, and they respond with compassion. God, I love dogs. And Mickey Rourke. I was ambivalent before, but now I really hope he wins. Dog lovers, get behind Rourke!

Note by Celebitchy: Mickey Rourke’s beloved chihuahua Loki has passed away at the age of 18. He was a cherished dog and was often seen out with the Oscar-nominated actor. Our thoughts are with Rourke at this tough time. It is heartbreaking to lose a pet and we know how much Rourke loved that dog.

File photos of Rourke out with one of his dogs, thought to be Loki, thanks to WENN.