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People often assume celebrities, with their lavish lifestyles and multiple properties, are financially stable people. And while that’s usually true, in the wise words of the late Notorious BIG: mo money mo problems.
Unexpected medical bills, legal bills or simply becoming accustomed to a lifestyle that makes it difficult to pull back when times get tough are some of the biggest factors that lead high-profile figures to declare bankruptcy.
It is worth noting, however, that bankruptcy does not mean someone is completely broke. Often, it’s used as a legal protection against total financial insolvency, by “providing financial relief in the form of a restructured debt repayment plan or a liquidation of certain assets to pay off a portion of your debt,” according to Experian.
From Michael Jackson to Sharon Stone, we’ve compiled a list of 14 celebrities who lost their fortunes.
1. Michael Jackson
In 2004, years before Michael Jackson’s untimely death at age 50, his financial advisers had declared that he was all but broke and would be unable to repay a $70m loan to the Bank of America.
Despite his poor financial state, Jackson was said to have remained flippant about his luxurious lifestyle, continuing to rack up monthly bills of $2m on new cars and other items.
At the time of his death in 2009, the “Thriller” singer owed more than $500m to various creditors, court documents revealed.
2. Sharon Stone
After suffering a severe stroke in 2002, Sharon Stone recently revealed that amid her years-long recovery, “people took advantage of me.”
“I had $18m saved because of all my success, but when I got back into my bank account, it was all gone. My refrigerator, my phone – everything was in other people’s names,” the Basic Instinct star told The Hollywood Reporter. “I had zero money.”
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After being one of the biggest stars of the Eighties and Nineties, Stone said she was “forgotten” by the industry after having to take time out.
However, rather than holding on to any “bitterness,” she said: “I live for joy now. I live for purpose.”
3. Drake Bell
Despite having been one of Nickelodeon’s biggest child stars, Drake Bell ended up filing for bankruptcy in 2014. In the legal documents submitted, the Drake & Josh alum claimed he was $581,000 in debt.
After declaring bankruptcy, Bell lost his $2m Los Angeles home when it went into foreclosure. According to legal filings obtained by People, he listed the property for $1.575m. In the breakdown of his expenses, the actor said he made $2,820 a month, but his expenses were a total of $18,771. It was also reported that he owed money in taxes.
4. Mike Tyson
In 2003, The New York Times reported that heavyweight superstar Mike Tyson had officially filed for bankruptcy after years of financial struggles.
Despite earning $400m over the course of 20 years, court documents revealed he spent $400,000 a month to maintain his lifestyle. From 1995 to 1997, he spent $9m in legal fees. In total, the former heavyweight champion had $27m of debt in his bankruptcy filing.
“I have been in financial distress since 1998, when I was burdened with substantial debt to Showtime, taxing authorities, and parties to litigation,” Tyson said in an affidavit. “Since that time, although my fight income, various asset sales, and litigation recoveries have enabled me to pay a lot of my debt, I am still unable to pay my bills.”
Speaking about his financial issues at the SALT Conference in 2017, Tyson said: “I didn’t think I’d make it through my 30s.”
5. Aaron Carter
Before he turned 18, Aaron Carter had already made a reported $200m sum from his music career and various acting jobs on TV and Broadway.
However, he later claimed that his parents had mismanaged his finances and left him with only $2m in his bank account. He also owed $4m in taxes. In 2013, he declared bankruptcy in the hope of getting a clean slate.
At the time of Carter’s tragic death in 2022 aged 34, he had not set up a will, so all of his assets likely went to his son, Prince. His net worth was reportedly $400,000 at the time of his death.
6. Cyndi Lauper
Cyndi Lauper is among the industry’s real-life rags-to-riches stories. In the years before she burst onto the music scene as a solo artist, the “True Colors” hitmaker was part of a band named Blue Angel.
Their debut album was a flop and Lauper filed for bankruptcy in 1981.
She then turned to restaurant and retail jobs to sustain herself while she continued making music. Lauper finally found prosperity with her 1983 album, She’s So Unusual, which included classics such as “Time After Time,” “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” and “All Through the Night.”
7. Kim Basinger
Back in 1993, Kim Basinger faced both reputational and financial ruin when she dropped out of starring in the 1993 romance thriller Boxing Helena. Sherilyn Fenn was later cast in the lead role.
Main Line Pictures claimed it had lost nearly $6.4m in potential ticket sales due to Basinger’s last-minute exit. They sued the actor for breach of contract, and she was ordered to pay the company $7.4m to cover the predicted lost revenue.
Basinger filed for bankruptcy, with her lawyer saying that she “just didn’t have the assets to satisfy this kind of outrageous award.” The case dragged on for a total of four years before the My Stepmother Is an Alien actor and the production company ultimately settled.
8. Kelly Rutherford
15 years ago, Gossip Girl’s Kelly Rutherford was embroiled in a tumultuous – and expensive – custody battle with her ex-husband, German entrepreneur Daniel Giersch, over their two children, Hermes and Helena.
In 2013, she declared bankruptcy after spending nearly $2m in legal fees.
Reflecting on that difficult period years later, Rutherford told People: “Sometimes we just need to retreat and be with our kids and just heal and take time for ourselves.”
Legendary “Walk on By” singer Dionne Warwick filed for bankruptcy in 2013, citing tax debt that dated back to 1991 and equated to more than $10m.
“Due to several consecutive years (the late ’80s through the mid-’90s) of negligent and gross financial mismanagement, Dionne Warwick has realized the current necessity to file personal bankruptcy,” her publicist, Kevin Sasaki, said in a statement at the time.
In the petition, Warwick, the cousin of the late Whitney Houston, claimed her monthly income was $20,950, while her monthly expenses were $20,940. Sasaki said that the singer had already paid back the taxes and that, at that point, it was just the interest and penalties that had accrued. The case was dismissed in 2019.
By 1992, the Oscar-winning director Francis Ford Coppola had filed for bankruptcy three times in the span of nine years. His financial troubles stemmed from his 1981 box office flop, One From the Heart, his spokesperson said at the time. In the documents, Coppola listed that he had $98m in liabilities and $53m in assets.
He’s been able to stay out of financial catastrophe since, although, earlier this year, he took a major $120m gamble on his self-funded epic, Megalopolis. It remains to be seen whether Coppola will turn a profit on the movie; however, early reviews for the movie have been lackluster.
11. 50 Cent
Rapper 50 Cent rose to fame with his appropriately titled debut album Get Rich or Die Tryin. With the record’s overwhelming success, he was able to purchase a million-dollar mansion once owned by Mike Tyson.
The “Candy Shop” artist continued his success, dropping a handful of records over the years that accumulated a total of over 30 million sales. However, after a few poor investment decisions, 50 Cent’s financial challenges came to a head, and he filed for bankruptcy in 2015.
By declaring bankruptcy, he saved himself from total financial collapse. “Businesspeople will do that in a heartbeat before losing money,” he explained of his decision in 2020. “Because it means they have the ability to be secure and invest again.” He was able to start fresh and, as of today, maintains an estimated net worth of $40m.
12. David Crosby
During his early years in the music industry, the late David Crosby struggled to launch himself as a solo artist, and in 1985, he was forced to declare bankruptcy.
It wasn’t until the Seventies and Eighties, when he became a founding member of Byrd and later as part of the supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young that the singer and guitarist enjoyed a lucrative career.
He still faced financial troubles in the final years of his life, revealing that his income had taken a hit after Covid left him unable to perform. “I’m trying to be grateful that I can still play live and pay the rent and take care of my family. But along comes Covid and I can’t play live. That was it. Now I’m broke. I don’t want to lose my home, man,” he told Guitar World in a 2021 interview.
13. Toni Braxton
After signing her first recording contract, R&B singer Toni Braxton pocketed just $1,972 once she had paid back the label for various costs.
“What happens is they give you advancement on the next record and then the next record,” she explained in 2015. “So you kind of stay in debt, in a sense.” She declared bankruptcy in 1998.
10 years later, the “Un-Break My Heart” artist suffered a series of health problems, including microvascular angina and a benign breast tumor, which forced her to cancel a series of Las Vegas shows.
Braxton spent months trying to work with creditors to secure payment plans to pay off her debts, but finally, with the foreclosure of her $2.6m Duluth, Georgia home, she decided that filing for bankruptcy a second time in 2010 would be the best option for her family.
