It may seem hard to believe, but just because you're famous doesn't mean you won't run into
money trouble every now and again.
Whether it was a result of outside influences, financial fickleness or just plain bad luck,
these are the stars who all went broke this past decade.
In 2018, Lisa Marie Presley sued her former business manager, Barry Siegel, for allegedly
squandering a fortune of over $100 million she inherited from her father, Elvis Presley.
Presley accused Siegel of poorly investing money from her trust and of selling her assets
when the investments tanked, leaving her with just $14,000 — and landing her $500,000
in debt.
She also claimed that Siegel had purchased a $9 million home in England using the trust,
and risked her entire fortune when he failed to pay the house's $6.7 million balloon payment.
In documents later obtained by the Daily Mail, Presley claimed Siegel charged her $700,000
annually to manage the trust.
The documents noted:
"Had Siegel disclosed the trust's true financial condition to Presley and restricted spending
to the trust's 'income' rather than its principal assets, Presley would have lived comfortably
on an annual budget of between $1.5 and $2 million per year, after taxes."
Siegel denied the claims and said Presley's financial devastation was entirely her own
fault, adding that one of his investments paid $20 million of her previous debts and
netted $40 million.
Siegel insisted:
"Most of [that] she managed to squander in the ensuing years."
In January 2017, Johnny Depp sued The Management Group and 14 other entities for $25 million,
alleging gross misconduct that cost him tens of millions of his dollars.
TMG denied the allegations, saying that, for 17 years, they did everything they could to
protect Depp from what they called his "irresponsible and profligate spending."
TMG also alleged that Depp only repaid $800,000 of a $5 million loan from the company.
Regardless of how TMG managed his funds, Depp certainly didn't live frugally: In court documents
obtained by the New York Post, TMG alleged that Depp spent $2 million per month, including
$30,000 on wine alone.
He also blew $18 million on a yacht, $75 million in real estate, and hundreds of thousands
of dollars on full time staff.
“Welcome to the Caribbean, love."
Page Six reported that Depp also outright refused to sell his private jet to recoup
some cash.
TMG alleged that:
"[We bailed] him out of numerous legal crises, including making a series of hush money settlements."
The lawsuit between Depp and TMG was reportedly settled in July 2018 on undisclosed terms,
but Depp still faced numerous other legal entanglements — both civil and criminal
in nature.
You'd think that penning a timeless schmaltzy tune would set you up for life, but that wasn't
the case for "That's What Friends Are For" singer Dionne Warwick, who filed for bankruptcy
in March 2013.
TMZ reported that Warwick claimed just $25,000 in assets and $10.2 million in back taxes,
IRS penalties and interest.
Warwick listed her income as $20,950 a month, but her expenses as $20,940 a month, leaving
her with net gains of just $10 each month.
Her expenses included $5,000 on housekeeping and $4,000 on a personal assistant.
At the time, Warwick's rep said in a statement:
"In light of the magnitude of her tax liabilities, Warwick has repeatedly attempted to offer
repayment plans and proposals to the IRS and the California Franchise Tax Board for taxes
owed.
These plans were not accepted, resulting in escalating interest and penalties."
In 2015, The National Enquirer reported that Warwick's debts were all forgiven — except
her back taxes, for which she was ordered to pay $3.6 million.
In June 2017, actress-turned-activist Alyssa Milano sued her former business manager, Kenneth
Hellie, for $10 million.
She accused Hellie of "severe misconduct," including "failing to pay overdue bills and
taxes" and making, quote, "[poor] investments in businesses in which he also was an investor."
The latter was also a potential conflict of interest, of which Milano claimed she was
not informed.
Variety reported that Milano's financial troubles started with a $5 million renovation on her
home — which was worth no more than $3 million at the time.
Additionally, she incurred $376,950 in code violation fines and a lien.
She was also alleged to have incurred eight late mortgage payments within 13 months.
In fact, her credit was so poor that she was reportedly unable to refinance her home to
get out of the red.
Milano also claimed that, because Hellie never alerted her to her financial foibles, she
had to walk away from a $1.3 million salary for a third season of the show Mistresses.
Milano fired Hellie in June 2016, then accused him of forging a $26,000 check — which she
had only found out about when her account went into overdraft.
Hellie alleged that Milano and husband David Bugliari lived beyond their means and denied
any wrongdoing.
The suit was settled in June 2019.
Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott don't get a ton of TV work anymore, but they still seem
to splurge like they're making Friends money.
In May 2017, the couple lost a default judgment in a lawsuit from City National Bank and were
ordered to pay $220,000 after they failed to pay off a 2010 loan for $400,000.
A month earlier, Page Six reported that the IRS had emptied the couple's bank accounts
to recoup $704,000 in back taxes — stretching back only three years.
In January 2019, American Express sued Spelling for the second time for unpaid bills totaling
more than $88,000.
But Spelling and McDermott's debts didn't end there.
In March 2017, McDermott narrowly avoided jail time for not paying an alleged $100,000
in back child support to his ex-wife Mary Jo Eustace.
Spelling said in her 2013 memoir Spelling It Like It Is that her and McDermott's financial
troubles were the result of several factors: Her own expensive tastes, a real estate deal
gone wrong that lost almost a million dollars, and a number of unsuccessful business ventures.
In February 2017, actor Stephen Baldwin had his Rockland County home foreclosed and auctioned
to cover his massive debt on the property; In 2013, Baldwin's bank sued him, claiming
the actor defaulted on his $7,000-per-month mortgage and owed over $1 million on the property
at the time of the foreclosure.
By 2016, Baldwin's mortgage debt plus interest and fees had ballooned to nearly $1.1 million.
On top of those issues, Baldwin was also hit with $1 million lien for unpaid taxes and
fees on the property.
He has since moved into an apartment in Queens, New York.
This all went down after Baldwin had previously filed for bankruptcy in 2009, claiming that
he owed more than $2.3 million in mortgage payments and taxes — and was $70,000 in
credit card debt.
It seems that Baldwin's foreclosed home wasn't the only problem, either.
In March 2013, Baldwin pleaded guilty to failing to file personal income taxes for three years,
leaving him more than $300,000 in debt to the IRS.
The Associated Press reported that Baldwin paid off his back income taxes in 2014 — with
help from a loan from an unidentified pal.
Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins first declared bankruptcy with the rest of TLC back in 1995 — and
nearly lost her Georgia property to foreclosure in 2009.
Unfortunately, her money troubles followed her into the 2010s: the singer filed for Chapter
13 bankruptcy protection in October 2011 after failing to pay nearly $769,000 on her $1.2
million property in Duluth Georgia.
"But you know what's funny though, when Black people do it, we’re super broke, but when
a White person does it, they’re reorganizing."
“Right.”
In the filing, Watkins listed her assets at over $1.7 million.
Unhelpfully, she also had an ex who owed her $250,000 in back child support at the time
of her bankruptcy filing.
But in February 2012, Watkins' bankruptcy protection was dismissed after she allegedly
failed to complete the proper paperwork, allowing creditors and bill collectors to go after
her assets.
She sold her Duluth mansion in August 2012 for just $680,000 — at a loss of over $400,00.
In February 2012, TMZ reported that Gary Busey had filed for bankruptcy.
In the filing, the once-prolific film actor claimed he had roughly $50,000 in assets and
was between $500,000 and $1 million in debt.
Busey owed money to the IRS, UCLA Medical Center, a storage company, L.A. County Waterworks,
and Wells Fargo, as well as to a woman who sued him for allegedly attacking her at an
airport in Tulsa nine months earlier.
Busey's rep told the site:
"Gary's filing is the final chapter in a process that began a few years ago of jettisoning
the litter of past unfortunate choices, associations, circumstances and events."
Fortunately for the star, Busey settled most of his debts by December 2012.
He was let off the hook for about $57,000 in unpaid bills to some creditors, and allowed
to keep $26,000 worth of his assets.
However, he still had to pay $450,000 in back taxes.
Lil' Kim hasn't had a hit since 2005's "Lighters Up" from her album The Naked Truth peaked
at #31 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart — but that hasn't exactly curbed her spending.
In June 2018, Lil' Kim filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy protection, listing nearly $2.6
million in assets and just under $4.1 million in debt.
The Queen Bee of the Big Apple owed nearly $2 million to Uncle Sam in back taxes alone,
plus $186,000 in legal fees and another $2 million to a loan company for her New Jersey
property.
The "Jump Off" rapper also alleged in her bankruptcy filing that she receives no child
support from Jeremy Neil, the rapper known as Mr. Papers and the father of her daughter,
who she says she's raising alone.
And while that all sounds pretty dire, Lil' Kim also claimed a very healthy monthly income
of $43,000 for her business Queen Bee Entertainment.
From that gross, she claims to have approximately $25,000 in overhead, leaving around $18,000
left in profit.
The fleeting nature of fame hit Sinbad hard.
The actor and comedian filed for bankruptcy in 2013, with TMZ reporting that he was almost
$11 million in the red compared to his $131,000 in assets.
This was his second bankruptcy filing, having also applied in 2009 — but the case was
dismissed because he failed to file the correct documents.
For the 2013 filing, Sinbad's debts were largely down to back taxes — including $8.3 million
in state and federal arrears.
On top of that, the star owed $374,979 to American Express and another $32,199 to the
Bank Of America in outstanding credit card debt.
Sinbad told Huffington Post that his financial issues didn't come as the result of a lavish
lifestyle, but to poor business management — explaining that he spent a lot of cash
on salaries for employees and equipment for his company.
"Yeah, you're in hell alright.
Know what?
My name’s Sinbad, this Sinbad's house!”
Add on taxes, interest and fees, he said, and times got even tougher.
In the end, things just didn't turn around in time.
He admitted:
"I spent money, and I kept thinking, 'I get one more movie and I'll wipe these bills out,'
but that movie never came."
Singer Toni Braxton filed for bankruptcy twice — first in 1998, then again in 2010.
She said that her 1998 bankruptcy filing was due to her expensive tastes and a less-than-stellar
recording contract.
The "Un-Break My Heart" singer told ABC News that, despite selling $170 million worth of
her music around the world, she only pocketed $1,792 from royalties, after having to pay
back her record company's advances on music videos and touring costs.
In her memoir, Unbreak My Heart, Braxton also admitted to a penchant for Gucci flatware,
grand pianos, and designer gowns.
She suffered health problems too, including the autoimmune disease lupus, but didn't reveal
that to her record label because she was scared they'd think she couldn't perform.
Braxton rebounded with a new deal in 2000 and settled her debts, but the good times
didn't last long.
She filed for bankruptcy again in 2010, citing between $10 million to $50 million of debt
and only $1 million to $10 million in assets.
She told ABC News it was due to poor record sales, as well as canceled performances due
to illness.
TMZ reported that Braxton settled her second bankruptcy case in 2013 for just $150,000.
She reportedly purchased a $3 million home just months later.
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