When we think of celebrities, we always think of them as having tons of money. Money that will buy them luxury cars, destination homes and so much more. But that’s not always the case.
Many celebrities go from being famous and having it all to being bankrupt almost overnight. In some cases, this may be due to multiple expensive shopping sprees or being involved in messy lawsuits. Here’s a list of celebrities who lost all their money (and possibly gained it back) at least once in their life!
Michael Jackson
When this famous pop singer comes to mind, bankruptcy is probably the last thing that you’d think of. However, it was found that The King of Pop was approximately $400 million in debt at the time of his death in 2009! He took out several loans to facilitate all his spending and never paid it back, and his financial problems got even worse when he was involved in a number of lawsuits.
Johnny Depp
Actor, producer and musician, Johnny Depp is one of the most versatile actors I know. According to his agent, Depp earned approximately $650 million over the course of his life but ultimately spent it all. To make matters worse, he ended up suing his agents for their mismanagement of his finances!
Nicolas Cage
Cage is still one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, as well as one of Hollywood’s biggest spenders. Cage is known to purchase many homes, cars, and a rare artifact. He once bought a dinosaur skull for $276,000, after outbidding Leonardo Di Caprio for it. The same skull was found to be stolen and had to be returned to the Mongolian government. Cage found himself in trouble with the IRS when he had to pay $6 million dollars for failing to pay his taxes one year. He had to ultimately sell many of his belongings and take multiple film roles to bring himself out of debt. Cage lays the blame on his money manager.
Lindsay Lohan
Known for her role in the popular movie ‘Mean Girls’, Lindsay Lohan has been in the spotlight recently for her troublesome life that’s slowly but steadily spiraling downwards. Despite getting actor Charlie Sheen to help her out with her debt, she still owes $500,000 and cannot find work on screen. Lindsay Lohan better keep an eye on her credit score and remove judgments that may have possibly arisen with her confusing financial history!
Mike Tyson
Although he earned $300 million over the years, the heavyweight champion was $23 million in debt in the year 2003. He had to declare bankruptcy, The former heavyweight champion was even jailed for cocaine for which he went through rehab before becoming financially stable again. His divorce settlement of $9 million and the child support that he had to pay didn’t help much with that though!
Tyson believes that he came out stronger after his financial issues. Now he is earning a decent wage, not as much as he was earning earlier. But he finds that after going through therapy and bankruptcy, he is more careful with his money.
Larry King
Larry King is also another celeb who went on expensive spending sprees despite a modest salary. King was arrested and charged for grand larceny when his business partner reported him for stealing $5000 from him. Even though the charge was dropped, King was fired from his radio jobs. Later, King was unable to find any work and was forced to declare bankruptcy in 1978. In the same year, he got the work hosting a late-night show. He’s obviously doing a lot better now and is known as one of the top broadcasters on television!
Courtney Love
Courtney Love, Kurt Cobain’s widow received a whopping $27 million by inheriting the rights to the band Nirvana but lost it all by excessive partying and unnecessary spending. Love was also sued by her lawyers for $518,640.66 of outstanding fees for defending her for various lawsuits. To everyone’s surprise, though, she claims to actually enjoy living frugally!
50 Cent
The famous rapper has a diverse business empire where he gets all his earnings. However, he got into a bit of financial trouble when his stocks took a dive in 2008. In 2015, he was $32.5 million in debt and declared bankruptcy in 2016. However, one year later in 2017, 50 Cent was able to get himself discharged from bankruptcy. He paid off his five-year bankruptcy plan early by paying $8.7 million from his own money and $13.6 million from a legal malpractice lawsuit. There is a popular theory that those $8.7 million was earned by investing and earning from cryptocurrency.
The example of all these celebrities shows that money is temporary. You could find yourself in financial problems if you aren’t careful of how you spend your money. Spending sprees have left even the most famous celebs in big fixes. Live a simple life. Enjoy what you have!