Celebrities making mistakes and bankrupt are becoming commonplace. It is common every day to see celebrities in the headlines of newspapers and magazines.
But the life of luxury and glamour involves a lot of spending. And we are always seeing artists, singers and celebrities win the news when their fortunes slip.
We have prepared a list of the worst bankruptcies that some celebrities have ever suffered.
MC Hammer
MC Hammer (Stanley Burrell) became famous in the 90s with the song “U Can’t Touch This” (1990). The musician is one of those who does not know how to save money, spends everything he earns. He managed to burn a fortune estimated at 70 million dollars.
At the height of his success, MC Hammer had 2 helicopters, 1 jet, 17 cars and 21 racehorses.
But what destroyed his fortune was the purchase of a California mansion for $12 million.
The renovation of this mansion consumed an additional $30 million. Hammer decided to install items on the property that would make any oil tycoon jealous.
Starting with the property’s gold-lined gates, bowling alley, basketball courts, baseball and several tennis courts, recording studio, two swimming pools and of course a garage for its 17 cars.
Hammer also ordered statues of himself, which he spread around the mansion.
All floors were Italian marble.
When declaring his bankruptcy in 1996, MC Hammer had to dispose of the mansion. The amount reached was 6.5 million dollars.
The money was used to write off the $13.7 million debt to more than 200 creditors he has accumulated over the years.
Mike Tyson
Mike Tyson was one of the greatest boxers of all time, but he was unable to win the fight against spending.
In 2003, after legal problems related to accusations of sexual assault and life of extravagance, the former boxing champion went bankrupt.
After the bankruptcy, Tyson continued to fight, but retired his gloves in 2005. To recover, Tyson participated in successful films like ‘The Hangover’ (2009).
But it was with marijuana production in California that he was able to rise. According to The Sun, marijuana earns you more than $600,000 a month.
Tyson and some partners, in 2017, broke ground on the Tyson Ranch, a place in California for people to learn about smoke marijuana.
Toni Braxton
Toni Braxton managed to fail twice. The singer rose to fame with “Un-break my Heart”, but he was not enough to avoid his first bankruptcy in 1998. At that time his household expenses reached $40,000 a month. A few years later she managed to organize the budget. In 2000, with the release of a new album, Toni paid the bills and was asked to perform a weekly show in Las Vegas. The show ran until 2006, was a success and made a lot of money. Then the singer discovered a heart disease that would slow her career. As he canceled the shows at the Las Vegas hotel, Toni had to pay $10 million in severance fees. With that, in 2010, her debts exceeded 50 million dollars, and she had to file for new bankruptcy.
Donald Trump
Another who filed for bankruptcy twice (2004 and 2009) was current US President Donald Trump.
There are many successes in Donald Trump’s career. Profitable presence in films and the creation of the television program ‘The Apprentice’ is one of them. Their profits in some casinos and the creation of the global Trump brand are more publicized than their failures. But the professional life of the president-elect of the United States is fraught with problems that have caused financial holes in the millions.
Elton John
Elton John in his 30-year career has built a fortune worth $250 million. But it is estimated that, in the same period, he spent similar amounts on purchases and donations for AIDS prevention campaigns and other events.
Elton has a castle in Windsor and a house in London, as well as other properties around the world. This would be one of the problems that caused his bankruptcy. Elton spends on a compulsive way, he even offers his team members Cartier watches. In 1987, when he divorced, he disbursed US $15 million. In 1997, at the 50th birthday party, he spent $118,000 just on food for the guests. So much extravagance led him to insolvency, in 1999 he asked HSBC for a $40 million loan to settle his accounts. London’s tabloids said he was down, broke, in the gutter.
Stan Lee
Stan Lee is known worldwide for creating the most famous characters in the universe. Spider-Man, Iron Man, Black Panther, Hulk, X-Men and Thor are some characters he created.
But what few people know is that he also filed for bankruptcy.
His company “Stan Lee Media”, created with the aim of combining comics with the internet, went incredibly wrong. Lee went bankrupt and his partner was arrested for fraud.
Stan was acquitted and the court placed all the blame for the bankruptcy on his partner.
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Burt Reynolds
Burt Reynolds went bankrupt in 1996 after a divorce process with Loni Anderson that took $10 million. Their debts were already large due to the extravagant lifestyle and a failed restaurant chain. The actor owed the state of California about $225,000 in taxes. The actor died in 2018 without being able to pay off all his debts.
50 Cent
Actor and rapper 50 Cent filed for bankruptcy in 2015. He filed for bankruptcy with a debt of $48 million after former model Lastonia Levinston sued him for $7 million for publishing an intimate video. He managed to pay off his debts in two years, according to the American press.
Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson, in 2007, filed for bankruptcy because he failed to repay a $25 million loan. The loan went to his home, Neverland Ranch. The ranch was estimated to cost Jackson more than $10 million a year in maintenance.
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney has been nominated four times for an Oscar.
In addition to the screens, Rooney was also famous for his hectic love life. He was married eight times and divorced six. However, successive divorces ended up costing him dearly. The actor declared bankruptcy in 1962 and since 1978 has lived with his eighth wife, Jam Chamberlin. Rooney recently claimed to have mistreated his stepson Chris Aber and won $2.8 million in a lawsuit against him in 2013 for embezzling money from his accounts.
Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage, winner of the Oscar for best actor for “Leaving Las Vegas” (1995), went bankrupt due to the excessive spending on mansions, boats, and luxury cars. In 2012, Cage revealed that he owed $14 million in taxes and had to dispose of assets to pay the debt to the IRS.
Johnny Depp
Johnny Deep has always had extravagant spending.
Accused of domestic violence by his ex-wife, actress Amber Heard, faces a tough legal battle with his former trust manager Joel Mandel and The Management Group, which accuses him of suffering from a “compulsive buying disorder”.
Among the extravagances made by the star, is spending $3 million to fire a cannon with the ashes of the writer Hunter Thompson in Aspen, Colorado. It has been bankrupt since 2017.
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