Celebrities Who Have Gone Broke – There is an old saying: “Easy Come, Easy Go.”
Well, celebrities can definitely agree. Maybe it didn’t come that easily, but the quickly earned money can surely disappear as fast as it came.
After earning dozens of millions during their careers, it is hard to imagine how in the world these famous people manage to lose their fortune.
After earning dozens of millions during their careers, it is hard to imagine how in the world these famous people manage to lose their fortune.
It seems that you need to have a special kind of talent to declare bankruptcy after obtaining that much money. You can probably guess the cause – bad management, a crisis in the world of finance, divorces, not paying taxes or just being greedy; the fact is solid – all these celebrities went bankrupt at least once.
Their stories can teach us lessons: every time you face financial problems, you can say something like: “This is nothing. If 50 Cent can lose all those millions and be just fine, why should I stress about 2,000$?” It can be a good stress reliever; don’t you think? These celebrities prove that being rich and famous doesn’t necessarily go hand in hand.
If you ever come to the point that you wish to be in their place, consider questioning yourself. They also have problems like we do, they make bad decisions, and face difficulties managing their money.
Anyone can face money issues sometimes. You can’t avoid that, and if you have more money, more problems might emerge. That’s another thought to keep you worriless. Why worry if it’s still gonna happen? Here are 12 celebrities who went from filthy rich to penniless:
1. 50cent
50 Cent, who’s real name is Curtis James Jackson III, Who used to be worth over $400Million filed bankruptcy last June days after a New York jury awarded fellow rapper Rick Ross’ baby mama, Lastonia Leviston, $7 million in a legal battle over her leaked sex tape. Which he has yet to fork over.
The lawsuit stemmed from a 13-minute video that appeared online in 2009 featuring a wig-wearing Fifty as a narrator dubbed Pimpin’ Curly.
The character made explicit remarks about Leviston and taunted rap rival Rick Ross, who at the time was trading barbs with Fifty via video, lyrics and interviews.
50 Cent got the 2008 tape from the man in it – Leviston’s boyfriend at the time.
The 40-year-old rapper also lost a legal battle with his ex-business partners over a failed headphone deal and was slapped with a $17 million judgement in that case.
According to his Chapter 11 petition, Fifty claimed he had assets between $10 to $50 million but that his liabilities were in the same range.
Few months back, he filed documents in the bankruptcy stating he only had $16 million in assets.
2. DMX
In the spring of 1998, there wasn’t an album rap fans like myself were more intensely anticipating than DMX’s debut.
Everybody seemed to love DMX. He had the hardcore East Coast aggression, the radio-friendly hooks, and the “tear da club up” energy that resonated with all of the disparate camps at my school. We all had It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot that spring.
The first time Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins filed for bankruptcy was in 1995, after a famously short-shifting record deal from LaFace Records. The second time was in 2011. Watkins doesn’t have a history of living a lavish lifestyle, at least according to her public profile, however she hadn’t been working much to supplement her reported $1200 a month in royalties.
Three years later, TMZ uncovered court documents that revealed Tucker owed $11 million in back taxes from 2001, 2002, 2004-2006, 2007. Tucker was forced to sell two Florida mansions and another in L.A. to pay down his debts. Last year he reportedly paid nearly $1 million toward the debt.
Everybody seemed to love DMX. He had the hardcore East Coast aggression, the radio-friendly hooks, and the “tear da club up” energy that resonated with all of the disparate camps at my school. We all had It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot that spring.
But Now, there’s an entire generation of music fans who only know DMX as this middle-aged troubled figure who was once, apparently, a very big hip-hop star.
Almost immediately after he became a star, DMX was making headlines for bad behavior. There were drug and weapons possession arrests, and charges of animal cruelty. He’d been ordered to make public service announcements and he’d gone to rehab, but DMX’s demons never seemed to subside.
One of the most notoriously bizarre moments happened in 2004, when DMX and an accomplice broke into the parking lot of New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport after X told an attendant he was a federal agent, then attempted to commandeer a man’s SUV, with X telling the shocked driver he was working for the FBI. According to court documents, DMX then physically removed the driver from his vehicle—while the man’s 12-year-old daughter was in the car.
Upon his arrest, police found a handgun, nightstick, 20 rocks of crack cocaine, Oxycodone, and Diazepam, and the rapper was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of a controlled substance, criminal mischief, driving under the influence, menacing, impersonation, and endangering the welfare of a child. He struck a plea deal where he only ended up serving under six weeks behind bars for violating parole.
He became a celebrity pariah more renowned for his bad behavior than catchy hits: the drug addiction, the seemingly endless litany of arrests, and his crumbling marriage to now-ex-wife Tashera Simmons (she separated from X in 2010 after he was incarcerated three times that year). X has also fathered 15 children with several women, he declared bankruptcy due to outstanding child support payments, and in July 2015 was sentenced to six months in jail for owing over $400,000 in back child support.
3. Toni Braxton
Toni Braxton has sold more than 40 million albums in her career so far. But she’s filed for bankruptcy twice – in 1998, due to an abominably one-sided new artist contract with LaFace Records; and in 2010, after abruptly canceling a one-woman Las Vegas show because of her unexpected battle with lupus, leaving her with up to $50 million in debt.
Braxton has since launched a comeback with a hit reality TV series, The Braxton Family Values, a Lifetime movie, a Broadway stint, and a new collaboration album.
Braxton recently made the news when she purchased a $3 million home in the exclusive gated community in Calabasas, California, just six months after settling her second bankruptcy.
4. Terrell Owens, NFL legend
Owens earned an estimated $70 million throughout his football career as a wide receiver. By 2012, he had blown through most of his fortune. Financial setbacks forced Owens to sell several of his high-priced homes for under market value; he was inundated with child-support payments upwards of $50,000 a month to four different women; and he was recently hit with a tax lien of nearly $500,000.
Owens has succeeded in reducing his child support payments. According to TMZ, last April he sued his financial advisers for “opening a bank account without his knowledge and then forging his signature, and leading him to really bad investments, including a failed Alabama casino.”
The talented football player has tried his luck at a comeback, but no NFL team has been willing to take a gamble on him.
10. T-Boz of TLC
The TLC singer filed for bankruptcy in 1995 and in 2011. Then last year, a judge dismissed her third bankruptcy case because T-Boz reportedly made no effort to settle her affairs, pay off her debts or appear at a creditors’ meeting. Hopefully her recent TLC network show, Totally T-Boz, generated some cash!
The first time Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins filed for bankruptcy was in 1995, after a famously short-shifting record deal from LaFace Records. The second time was in 2011. Watkins doesn’t have a history of living a lavish lifestyle, at least according to her public profile, however she hadn’t been working much to supplement her reported $1200 a month in royalties.
In addition, Watkins had been burdened by medical bills after suffering from a brain tumor and sickle cell anemia. Her ex-boyfriend and child’s father Mack 10 has not settled on the reported $250,000 due in delinquent child-support payments.
The multi-platinum artist had a much better year in 2013 when VH1 premiered the biopic “CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story.” Watkins also joined her bandmate Chilli to release new songs.
5. Evander Holyfield, heavyweight boxer
Holyfield earned over $200 million dollars during a career that spanned more than two decades. The boxer had been teetering on the brink of financial ruin for sometime when his 109-room mansion in Atlanta went into foreclosure in 2008. He would hold off the foreclosure for a few years, but was forced to put the home on the auction block in 2012 to pay off $14 million he owed to financial firm JP Morgan Chase.
The home sold for $7.5 million. Holyfield owed $200,000 in back taxes and over $500,000 in child support payments as of 2012.
5. Chris Tucker, actor
Chris Tucker had become what few actors could brag about – the face of a successful franchise film. In 2007, Tucker negotiated a $25-million film deal to appear in Rush Hour 3, which made him the highest paid actor in Hollywood at the time.
Three years later, TMZ uncovered court documents that revealed Tucker owed $11 million in back taxes from 2001, 2002, 2004-2006, 2007. Tucker was forced to sell two Florida mansions and another in L.A. to pay down his debts. Last year he reportedly paid nearly $1 million toward the debt.
The “Friday” actor has been working steadily, including in a critically acclaimed role in the 2012 film “Silver Linings Playbook.”
6. Wesley Snipes, actor
Wesley Snipes was perhaps the most bankable Black male actor next to Eddie Murphy in the 1990s. Snipes continued to star in feature films in the early part of the millennium, however he filed for bankruptcy in 2006. That same year, Snipes was indicted for tax fraud for failing to pay over $12 million in taxes over the course of six years.
Snipes was released from prison in April 2013 after serving three years.
7. Gary Dourdan, actor
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