Having forked out £25million on three divorces, John Cleese admits he has been careless with his cash over his career.
The Fawlty Towers star, 82, is currently on a Q&A tour and has performed almost 40 shows across the world.
He said: “I never understand money and I don’t find it very interesting, which is a real disadvantage in the world that we live in.
“I advise anybody who is a bit vague about it to become less vague because it has cost me a lot.
“I never knew how much money I had. I remember in America someone asked me where my investments were and I said, ‘I have no idea at all.’ I have just relied on people and in one or two cases that has been very good, but in one or two others, it has been disastrous.”
The star also insists that he hasn’t earned as much from his career, which spans seven decades, as his fans think.
He claims that he and the rest of the Monty Python troupe – Michael Palin, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, the late Terry Jones and Graham Chapman – were paid £4,000 a series by the BBC for hit 1960s sketch show Monty Python’s Flying Circus.
He says he was paid £6,000 for writing and starring in sitcom Fawlty Towers, but does receive royalties.
“I only did three series of Python and a couple of series, just 12 programmes, of Fawlty Towers, and I used to say I did a lot of work for charity, most of it for the BBC,” he told the ShowTALK podcast.
“People say, ‘Oh, you were in James Bond.’ Yes, I did four days filming in four years, that was my contribution.”
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John is currently married to fourth wife Jennifer Wade, 49, having also wed Fawlty Towers co-star Connie Booth, model and actress Barbara Trentham – who died in 2013 aged 68 – and author Alyce Eichelberger, 77.
Alyce hired Fiona Shackleton, the divorce lawyer who acted for Prince Charles and Paul McCartney, with the settlement costing comedy legend Cleese around £19m.
