2020 hasn't been a great year for anyone, and while most celebrities have escaped
the year pretty much unharmed, financially speaking, some haven't been so lucky. From
riches to relative rags, these are the celebs who lost a ton of money in 2020.
Although it may seem like a hundred years ago that everyone was talking about Tiger King,
the truth is that all happened as recently as March 2020. And although
it feels like we've lived through what feels like a hundred Marches since then,
Joe Exotic himself only rose to fame just as the pandemic took hold. Since then,
the zookeeper's career has peaked… and plummeted again. C'est la vie, eh, Joe?
Although it's unclear how much the convict made from his documentary,
his net worth has reportedly sunk to negative $1 million since then,
and he has few hopes of getting back on his feet — not for the next 22 years, at least.
"I am never gonna financially recover from this."
The story began when Exotic was ordered to pay $1 million to his mortal enemy Carole
Baskin following a 2013 decision in a trademark-infringement lawsuit.
So Exotic hired a wannabe hitman to kill Baskin for $3000. As you do.
Baskin is still kicking, of course, and Exotic is currently serving 22 years in prison. He was
sentenced in January 2020 after being found guilty of 19 different charges, including
violating numerous wildlife laws and Baskin's "murder-for-hire plot." Though he's currently
said to be begging Donald Trump for a pardon, the fallen star has been unable to capitalize on
his newfound fame from behind bars — and is likely missing out on a huge chunk of change as a result.
It's no secret that the pandemic hit the restaurant industry particularly hard. New
York City alone has seen at least 1,000 closures since the initial shutdowns in March 2020. And
while many owners, managers and staff members have had their livelihoods irreparably damaged by the
pandemic, one actor-turned-restaurateur shouldn't have had much trouble turning things around.
"You talking to me? Are you talking to me?"
Unfortunately for Robert De Niro, he hasn't just been struck by a pandemic — he's also wrestling
with a tricky divorce. Allegedly, the actor's estranged wife Grace Hightower is demanding 50%
of his $500 million estate, even though she signed a prenup that
reportedly limited her to $6.5 million in cash and property, as well as $1 million
in "annual alimony." Beyond this, Hightower is said to have asked for an emergency order,
claiming that the actor, quote, "unfairly cut her monthly AmEx allowance from $100,000 to $50,000."
Of course, it doesn't help that his filming schedule was delayed, while his restaurant
and hospitality businesses are suffering at the same time. In March and April, Nobu reportedly
lost almost $5 million, and the Greenwich Hotel struggled as travelers avoided NYC,
the then-epicenter of the virus. On top of this, the actor allegedly had to borrow
money to pay out $500,000 to investors. De Niro's attorney recently revealed:
"If everything starts to turn around [...] [De Niro] is going
to be lucky if he makes $7.5 million this year."
Thoughts and prayers.
Most of the Spice Girls have been itching for a full-fledged reunion lately. In June 2019,
they made a triumphant return to London's Wembley Stadium, which brought each of them $18 million.
Unfortunately, the reunion was short-lived, as the girls allegedly cancelled their Australian
tour when Geri Horner wouldn't commit. Other reports suggested the world tour faltered because
Mel B revealed in her memoir that she hooked up with Horner back in the group's heyday,
a claim Horner publicly denied. So yeah — standard dramatics, basically.
Either way, the tour can't come soon enough for Scary Spice, who appears to be in a very scary
financial situation indeed. According to tabloid sources, the singer was ordered to pay $500,000
to her ex-husband Steven Belafonte, but her income was hit so hard by the coronavirus
pandemic that she claimed it bankrupted her. Beyond that, Scary Spice left Los Angeles in
2019 to move back home to the UK, and has since become embroiled in a legal battle trying to
bring her 10-year-old daughter with her. In the end, she reportedly had to give up on the fight
because she didn't have the funds to continue. On top of that, Mel B is reportedly already paying
$15,000 per month in spousal support — and owes $2.5 million to the IRS. Yikes, indeed.
As a performer supporting a newly-released record, Post Malone was hit hard when the live
entertainment industry screeched to a complete halt in 2020. The rapper
was pulling in an estimated $1.3 million a night when rumors surfaced that Live Nation
was canceling all of its upcoming tours in the wake of the pandemic.
Nonetheless, Posty held on for one more gig in Denver, performing at an
18,000-capacity venue and subjecting himself to a well-deserved volley of criticism.
"While it's not clear how many people actually showed,
the concert went on despite red flags and a jump in Colorado COVID-19 cases today."
Post's tour was eventually — for lack of a better word — postponed,
with the five remaining dates left up in the air. If Forbes estimated his earnings correctly,
that means he likely lost out on around $6.5 million, and that's not including his
scheduled festival appearances. The singer was expected to appear at Rolling Loud,
Hangout Fest, and Something In The Water Festival, all of which were canceled or postponed.
Post's financial losses could have been padded if he released new music, however,
and in January 2020, he told Rolling Stone that he hoped to have a new record out that year.
Though he was reportedly working on music during quarantine, the fans are still waiting.
The coronavirus pandemic hasn't been kind to department stores,
and plenty of iconic brands have been forced to close their doors in recent months. In 2020,
Sonja Morgan found herself caught in the middle of an unfortunate bankruptcy,
leaving the fate of her fashion label up in the air.
Morgan first debuted Sonja by Sonja Morgan in 2015, but the brand didn't hit department
store shelves until December 2019. The star told Page Six that she had been "looking
for the right place" to stock her line for years. After some minor hiccups and
the occasional fashion faux-pas, she finally inked a deal with Century 21.
Unfortunately for Morgan, less than a year after the launch, Century 21 was forced to
file for bankruptcy. The company reportedly claimed it was owed approximately $175
million in payouts from "business interruption" insurance, but it never received those funds,
which led to a catastrophic financial implosion. It's not clear how much Morgan's deal was worth,
but it's likely that she lost a significant amount of her own money because of the closure.
The star told Page Six that she was going to be the brand's Chief Lifestyle Officer and
was too disappointed to make a final trip to the store to shop their liquidation sales. She said:
"I can't even bring myself to do that."
"And I learned so much about coronavirus. And one thing that's for certain:
don't let it dominate you."
Donald Trump may have just about survived his bout with the novel coronavirus,
but his bank account can't say the same. According to Forbes, the president's
fortune dipped by $1 billion in under a month after his commercial real estate holdings and
other assets dropped in value in the wake of the pandemic. This, while the rest of the world's
billionaires were squeezing half a trillion dollars of net worth out of the same pandemic.
Of course, Trump has a whole wealth of alleged financial issues regardless of the pandemic,
but COVID-19 in particular put a major strain on some of his key business endeavors. Per Forbes,
the reality star-turned-politician held $1.9 billion in commercial real estate
prior to the pandemic. In March, that value shrunk to $1.2 billion,
largely driven by the "125,000 square feet of retail space" he owned near Manhattan's
Fifth Avenue — right in the heart of a city that had become a ghost town.
In addition to the retail space, Trump also reportedly owns more than 500 rental properties
across the United States, at a time when 31% of people reportedly can't pay their rent. He also
owns a number of hospitality holdings, at a time when travel bans and advisories have become the
norm. The Trump Organization has reportedly been trying to unsuccessfully sell its Washington D.C.
hotel, and according to Politico, Mar-a-Lago's profits have waned in recent years. Meanwhile,
USA Today reports that the soon-to-be ex-president awaits "a number of lawsuits
and investigations" as soon as he leaves office. And that ain't gonna be cheap, either.
Obladi, oblada, life goes on — especially when you've got an estimated net worth of $1.2 billion.
It's safe to say that Paul McCartney probably isn't sweating the massive financial losses
he's seen in 2020, but that doesn't mean it's not mind-bogglingly enormous anyway.
According to Forbes, the former Beatle made more than $100 million playing solo shows in 2019,
which somehow only landed him as the 11th highest-grossing act that year. Nonetheless,
he wasn't anywhere near the top 10 in 2020.
McCartney was still riding the wave of his 2018 album Egypt Station when the novel coronavirus
effectively ended live entertainment. The album was his first chart-topping record in more
than 36 years, but he was forced to cancel the summer European portion of his Freshen Up Tour.
As of June, the magazine claimed that the singer-songwriter had only made $37 million
so far for the year. Following the trajectory of the previous year, that means that McCartney
is looking at a loss of $26 million compared to 2019. If you could call that a loss at all.
Wendy Williams is facing the unfortunate consequence of getting into business with
a philandering husband, and it's looking like she's out nearly a million at least.
The talk show host's divorce from Kevin Hunter has proven to be expensive,
if only because it forced her to sell her home at a very poor time for real estate.
Williams kicked off the year that just won't end by finalizing her divorce.
She initially shelled out $250,000 to help her estranged husband find a new house after they put
their New Jersey home on the market. Beyond that, Williams was awarded their joint bank account and
Hunter's shares in her company, but she also had to pay him an undisclosed sum from those
accounts and severance from Wendy, Inc. Wendy was also on the hook for her own legal fees,
and the knife was really jabbed in deep when their home finally sold at a $700,000 loss.
Mohamed Hadid didn't exactly have a great 2019,
and it looks like his financial woes really are the gift that keeps on giving.
Hadid's problems stem from a staggeringly poor real estate investment. In 2019,
the star was reportedly sued by his neighbors and ordered to tear down his half-built, $100 million
mega-mansion in Bel-Air because it posed a public health and safety risk. Apparently,
the house was erected on an unstable hillside, and the construction wasn't up to safety standards.
Basically, even if they had managed to get it finished before anyone was hurt or killed,
the whole thing probably would have careened down a hillside and taken out the neighbors.
And, as we're all well-aware, tearing down a mega-mansion isn't cheap. In fact,
TMZ claims it would cost $5 million. On top of that, Hadid was ordered to pay $500,000
to a receiver to supervise the demolition, which his attorney said he couldn't
afford. When 2020 rolled around, Hadid was reportedly still fighting against the fee,
claiming he may never have enough money to demolish the structure. This time around,
he claimed he lost $60 million on the mansion, owed $15 million in court judgments,
made no money from the caviar and champagne products that carry his name, and was forced
to "drastically downsize" to a more modest home. Can't you just hear those tiny violins?
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