Neal McDonough says Luke Perry offered his home when he was 'a mess'

Neal McDonough never went to West Beverly Hills High School, but he found a Hollywood friend in Luke Perry.

McDonough, a devoutly Catholic actor who has previously spoken about being ostracized from the entertainment industry for his conservative views, revealed that the "Beverly Hills, 90210" star let him move into one of his homes during a period of career instability.

In a January 2019 interview with Closer Weekly, McDonough claimed he was fired from the ABC dramedy "Scoundrels" for refusing to kiss his costar and perform sex scenes. "I won't kiss any other woman because these lips are meant for one woman," said McDonough, who has been married to wife Ruvé since 2003.

McDonough, who was cast as Wolfgang West opposite Virginia Madsen and Patrick Flueger, was reportedly fired three days into production on "Scoundrels." He was later replaced by "JAG" alum David James Elliott.

"Luke saw me one night at a premiere, and he saw I was a mess," McDonough, 60, told Fox News Digital in an interview published Tuesday, May 26. "He's like, 'What's going on with you? I hear things aren't going so great.'"

McDonough said he opened up to Perry about his professional and financial troubles, which included losing his home. He said Perry quickly offered to let him and his family move into his vacant home in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Hancock Park.

"'Stay there for as long as you want,'" McDonough recalled Perry saying. "I was like, 'You mean it?' And he was like, 'Yeah, here's the keys.'"

Perry, who played rebel Dylan McKay on the iconic teen drama, died in March 2019 at age 52 following an ischemic stroke.

From 2010 to 2011, McDonough had a low profile in film and TV, largely appearing in voiceover roles and minor performances in "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" and "Captain America: The First Avenger," according to the actor's IMDb page. In early 2012, McDonough began a showbiz comeback with a recurring role on the neo-Western series "Justified."

"No one would hire me because they thought I was this religious nut bag, which is that I love my wife so much. And no one can understand it, no one could understand it," McDonough told Fox News Digital, adding that his alleged blacklisting from Hollywood weighed on him, even after he began finding steady work.

"I still didn't think I was worth anything because I failed to my family," McDonough said. "I failed Ruvé, my five kids, that I lost our house. I lost all the beautiful things that were the shiny widgets that I had accumulated, were all taken away from me. And that crucifixion caused me so much inner pain because I made it all about me. How could I let the team down?"

McDonough credits his marriage to longtime wife Ruvé for helping him turn things around. The couple has produced several films together, including "Homestead," "The Last Rodeo" and McDonough's upcoming movie, the Jimmy Stewart biopic "Jimmy." Ruvé even played McDonough's love interest in "The Last Rodeo," which allowed the actor to make an exception to his no-kissing-costars rule.

"It's just a cold, hard fact that God gave me an amazing, incredible, most amazing woman that I've ever met," McDonough said. "I can talk forever about it, but she's my good luck charm, and she got through me hell, and now here I am, in a fantastic place in life that we're producing movies together. And I can't tell you how amazing that feels."