actress haley mills is most famous for
her teen roles in 1960s disney films and
seeing as how her plucky teen comedy the
parent trap just turned 60 it's about
time we take a closer look at her life
and career while reflecting on how she
managed to rise to the top only to
essentially lose everything in this
video we'll see how she managed to make
and subsequently lose her 17 million
dollar fortune haley mills early life
and career haley mills was born april 18
1946 her father was prolific english
actor sir john mills and her mother was
actress and playwright mary haley bell
the acting bug must have infected the
whole family because her older sister
juliette mills was also a gifted actress
haley began her acting career as a child
and was heralded by the media to be a
promising young up-and-coming actress in
fact after appearing in the british
crime drama tiger bay in 1959 she was
honored with a bafta award for most
promising newcomer the following year
she received the academy juvenile award
for her role in disney's 1960 feature
pollyanna for that portrayal she was
also awarded a golden globe for new star
of the year in the early days of her
acting career mills appeared in six
films produced by walt disney most
notably in the dual role as the twin
sisters susan and sharon in the 1961
film the parent trap also in 1961 she
gave a powerful performance in the film
whistle down the wind which earned her
another bafta award nomination for the
category of best british actress mills
eventually left disney to take on more
mature roles hey if you're enjoying this
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stick around because we're going to
touch on haley mills's personal account
of working for walt disney learning
about taxes the hard way after spending
the majority of her childhood acting in
and promoting disney films mills fully
expected a sizable payday but as it
turned out the money she had earned from
her years with disney had been put into
a trust that she was told she would only
gain access to when she turned 21 but
once it came time to collect her money
males was hit with a bit of a reality
check the money she had made had been
heavily taxed by the british revenue
service at an unheard of rate of 91
in her memoir forever young mills
described the moment when she realized
most of her money was already gone she
said once her lawyer informed her of the
situation with the revenue service and
how they were essentially gobbling up
all of her earnings she felt the blood
drain from her face her lawyer told her
there was essentially nothing she could
do and in his opinion she might as well
leave the country he also told her that
she could have repudiated the trust
before she turned 21 but it was too late
for that mills fought back apparently
the revenue service hit her with such a
high tax rate because the money was
meant to be used to rebuild england
after world war ii while she was advised
by her legal counsel to either sue her
attorney or her father over the lack of
proper financial advisement with the
fund mills chose to do neither instead
she applied for a tax appeal and after
waiting nearly two years after making
the submission a judgment was ruled
against her not backing down quite yet
she appealed the ruling three years
later but again in 1971 she received
another judgment that wasn't in her
favor in 72 however mills finally got a
lucky break when her tax case came
before the master of the roles lord
denning after her lawyer explained she
had already paid taxes on her earnings
and shouldn't be required to pay a
surtax lord denning ruled that the money
did in fact rightfully belong to her
mills celebration was cut short while
mills likely walked out of that
courtroom feeling victorious the house
of lords ultimately decided to appeal
denning's ruling in 1974 and ruled it
was null and void mills claims in her
memoir she lost around 2 million pounds
which adjusted for inflation comes out
to about 17 million today in her book
she likened the state to a horde of
pirates who plundered her trust the
disney money all dried up before she
even got a chance to see it she always
knew it was waiting for her and one day
she expected to have it but in the end
it was all a dream in forever young
mills says that while she does
occasionally mourn the loss of the
freedom that her small fortune might
have afforded her she doesn't actually
miss the money itself mill's son
crispian mills who helped write his
mother's memoir told the la times that
the way his mother describes the
experience of losing all that money as
being very innocent from her perspective
it seems silly to feel sad for something
you never really had milsa's
relationship with walt disney talking to
vulture in august of 2021 mills revealed
that walt disney often visited the sets
of the films he produced he'd visit all
the sets and sound stages and introduce
himself to the cast and crew mills
further shared that walt had a very
personal investment in every one of his
movies and did his best to stay involved
with the production and all the actors
he was in love with the entire process
of filmmaking and was intricately
involved with every frame and every
aspect of his films he was also very
encouraging to everyone involved mills
had a tremendous amount of respect for
disney and he ultimately turned her into
a star despite the less than stellar
reputation that walt has received in
recent years mills has described him as
a lovely friendly warm sweet and genuine
human being while the world is all too
familiar with the horror stories told by
former mouse house child stars like demi
lovato and miley cyrus mills says she
never felt exploited while working for
disney as a child rather he was
reportedly quite protective of her image
and her activities mills told the la
times that walt was in many ways like a
father figure mills battle with bulimia
in her memoir haley discussed her
dealings with the eating disorder
bulimia talking to fox news she further
described what it was like going through
that experience she said that after she
reached her desired skeletal weight she
actually stopped getting her period and
developed skin problems she started
breaking out and had to take antibiotics
for several years at the time she didn't
know bulimia was a thing she even
quipped that she thought she had come up
with it all by herself her struggles
with eating started when she met a
famous horse racing jockey who informed
her that he would eat grass after meals
to make himself throw up so mills
started doing the same and kept it a
secret from everyone she knew
fortunately she has since recovered from
her eating disorder which is a blessing
since it can often lead to death mills
also says she's happy to live in a time
when people can express themselves more
freely without fear of judgment today
people dealing with eating disorders
don't have to hide them from others in
her time there was a great deal of
stigma associated with such things but
not as much today even though bulimia
and other eating disorders are still
very common if you or someone you know
is struggling with an eating disorder
you can contact the national eating
disorder association helpline by calling
1-800-931-2237 or by texting neda to
741-741
now it's time to hear from you what's
your favorite haley mills film roll let
us know in the comments section below
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