The stories of these bankrupt celebrities could decorate a collection of “How not to spend money.” Read and remember what not to do.
Johnny Depp
What can you spend $650 million on? Ask Johnny Depp. This famous spendthrift knows a thing or two about the lavish lifestyle: he spent his huge fees on private jets, mansions (including a castle in France), a 48-meter yacht, and expensive cars. Depp forked out half a million dollars a month to pay staff, security, and support for family members. And some other small stuff: $30,000 worth of elite alcohol, hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of collectible guitars… It would be wrong to say that bankruptcy fell on Depp suddenly: his financial advisors from The Management Group had been asking the actor to moderate his appetites for many years. No way! Ultimately, in 2016, the actor accused The Management Group of embezzling his money: they were supposedly messing with his head and profiting from his fortune.
Be that as it may, the actor managed to improve his affairs: in 2017, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales was released, which earned $800 million at the box office. Now Johnny is actively filming, touring with his band Hollywood Vampires, and earning income from his own production company Infinitum Nihil. His fortune is estimated at $150 million.
Kim Basinger
Kim Basinger, unlike her colleague Depp, never threw money around. However, she once found herself on the verge of ruin due to a lawsuit from the film company Main Line Pictures. In 1993, Basinger was ordered to pay $3.8 million in penalties for refusing to star in the film Boxing Helena, which amounted to more than half of her entire fortune. To pay off her debts, Kim had to sell off her real estate.
After this failure, the actress began to suffer from serious depression (as would anyone in her place). Only three years later, she found the strength to return to acting and even won an Oscar for her role in the 1997 film L.A. Confidential.
Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage is another famous spendthrift among Hollywood actors. This millionaire spent money like a billionaire, buying up mansions, planes, cars and yachts in bulk. And a solid part of his hard-earned money went to lawsuits with ex-wives. Cage woke up only when his bank accounts were empty. By 2015, he was effectively bankrupt.
Ultimately, the lion’s share of the actor’s property was sold at auction to pay off the lawsuits. But, fortunately, the crisis has passed. In an interview with GQ magazine in 2022, he said that he had paid off his debts, so he no longer has to grab any roles and star in B-movies. At least, we hope so.
Lady Gaga
Stefani Germanotta, aka Lady Gaga, admitted in an interview with Stephen Fry that she went bankrupt during The Monster Ball tour in 2009. At the singer’s request, the show’s format was changed on the fly: special effects were added, decorations were experimented with, and the sound was changed. To cover part of the costs, Stefani had to shell out three million dollars out of her own pocket. As a result, she was effectively bankrupt while her hits topped the world charts.
“I remember my dad saying to me, ‘I don’t understand… You’re on every radio station, everyone’s talking about you, and you don’t even have your own potty,'” Stefani said. The singer hoped to attract the attention of Arthur Vogel, a promoter who books concerts and shows for U2, Madonna, and other popular artists, with the scope of the show. And the bet paid off. Vogel’s company Live Nation became interested in the new show and offered the singer a generous contract.
Wesley Snipes
The star of the horror film Blade was considered one of the most popular actors on the planet in the 90s. Snipes had no shortage of roles or money. And it would have continued to be this way if it had not been revealed that he had been hiding taxes from the state for 17 years totaling $15 million. The result was a three-year prison term, which Snipes began serving in December 2010, bankruptcy and a natural fall from the cinema Olympus. After his release from prison in 2013, the actor starred in supporting roles and low-budget films in order to somehow improve his situation.
Evander Holyfield
Holyfield, like Mike Tyson, who had deprived him of a piece of his ear, squandered his millions in the 2000s. It all took its toll: three divorces, child support for 11 children from six different women, ill-considered investments in failed projects. The $200 million the champion earned in the ring melted away as if they had never existed. In the end, to pay off his debts, the boxer sold his 109-room, 17-bath mansion worth $100 million.
Holyfield is now 60 years old and is far from being in the best shape, but due to an urgent need for money, he continues to enter the ring. Thus, in 2021, Holyfield received $5 million for an exhibition fight against Vitor Belford, without lasting even two minutes.