The ‘hero’ who claimed to have saved the three women held captive by Ariel Castro for a decade in his Ohio home has said that his life has been ruined by fame – even though he is set to earn roughly $50,000 as a result of the attention.
In his first interview since the days after the women escaped Castro’s dungeon, Charles Ramsey told MailOnline: ‘I’m broke bro, and that’s the truth’ and said that he is homeless because no landlord wants the hassle of taking him in.
He claims he can’t hold down a job because of the attention he receives. He said when he worked in a kitchen so many customers would barge in to shake his hand that he was fired.
Sources tell MailOnline, however, that Ramsey’s income in the two months since the girls escaped is around $30,000, including fees from lucrative corporate speaking engagements and $15,000 donated by well-wishers. He has been booked in for another four speaking slots and can expect his earnings to reach $50,000.
He has bought an $8,000 BMW, bragged about being rich and started a business selling T-shirts with his face on them for $25 each.
But Ramsey’s former neighbors claim he exaggerated his role in the rescue of the girls.
Ramsey, 45, became an overnight celebrity in May when he claimed to have helped save Amanda Berry by prying open the door to the home in Cleveland, Ohio where she was being held when she banged on it for help.
When police arrived they discovered Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight inside as well.
Ramsey’s expletive-ridden 911 call and his colorful account of setting aside his McDonald’s meal to help went viral, while a CNN interview he gave was turned into a song by the Gregory Brothers called ‘Dead Giveaway.’
One oft-repeated line goes: ‘My neighbor’s got big testicles because we see this dude (Castro) every day.’
But, as Ramsey tells it, his selfless act has brought him nothing but misery – even though he would do the same thing again ‘100 times over.’
A fake Charles Ramsey set up a Facebook account in his name and got 10,000 followers until the real Ramsey called in the lawyers.
A Chinese company made a video game of questionable taste in which an animated version of Ramsey throws McDonald’s hamburgers at Castro. The company had offered him a year of its Bic Mac hamburgers for free.
Despite Ramsey’s efforts to get the game banned, it’s still on sale.
Since the rescue, it also emerged that Ramsey’s ex-wife Rochelle divorced him alleging he beat her and didn’t pay child support.
Speaking to MailOnline, Ramsey said his life over the past two months had been a ‘rollercoaster that just hasn’t stopped yet’.
In the days after the girls escaped he moved out of his home next door to the House of Horrors because he says he did not want the attention any more, and moved into hotel outside of Cleveland.
Attempts to find permanent housing were rebuffed: at least a dozen landlords didn’t want the attention so he has supposedly been couchsurfing for weeks now.
Ramsey bought the BMW, which he was forced to sleep in for a few nights, paid off debts and before long the $15,000 raised for him in an online fund by well-wishers was gone.
Ramsey says that he has gone for jobs as a prep cook, restaurant worker and a dishwasher, which was his old job before he became famous.
But once word gets around of where he is working, it becomes impossible because of all the interest, even if he is out of sight of the public.
It all adds up to an unenviable paradox: Ramsey is too famous to lead a normal life, but not famous enough that he can make a career out of it, he says.
‘I don’t have an address, I don’t live anywhere. I go from house to house, to friend to friend, to family member to family member,’ he said. ‘What I’ve been doing for the past four weeks is wearing out my welcome with everybody who knows me.
‘Some places I don’t think I’m allowed to go back, I don’t know why, I don’t do nothing.’
He pleaded: ‘Just give me a job.