Willie Nelson
The IRS went after country legend Willie Nelson back in the 1990s to the tune of $16 million in back taxes, seizing most of his assets in the process. He ended up filing for bankruptcy shortly after. The musician saw it all in good humor, even releasing a double album the same year called The IRS Tapes: Who’ll Buy My Memories? All profits, of course, went to the IRS.
MC Hammer
MC Hammer was once valued at an estimated $33 million, back in the day when no one could touch him or his baggy trousers. By 1996, he had filed for Chapter 11 protection, having wasted $20 million building a mansion. The rapper claimed that his imprudent handouts to friends were to blame for his problems.
Toni Braxton
Toni Braxton blames most of her money troubles on shady deals and medical bills. The singer first went bankrupt in 1998 after seeing only $2000 from 40 million record sales. The second time came in 2010 when she landed herself millions of dollars in debt thanks to a cancellation of a Las Vegas residency.
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye is one of the most famous American singers of all time but even he struggled when it came to money. After his divorce from Anna Gordy, the sister of Motown Records founder Barry Gordy, Gaye agreed to record a new album titled Here, Here My Dear, the proceeds of which would all go to Gordy.
Don Johnson
1980s TV legend and father to actress Dakota, Don Johnson found himself up poop creek without a paddle back in 2006. On the very brink of losing his 17-acre estate in Woody Creek, Colorado, to foreclosure auction, the Miami Vice star coughed up the $14.5 million he owed in debts to the D.A.
Mike Tyson
Throughout his two-decades-long boxing career, Mike Tyson made around $400 million in earnings, and he spent every last dime of it. Come on, who can’t live without Bengal tigers or a $2 million bathtub? He filed for Chapter 11 in 2003, two years before his retirement. Since then, Iron Mike has relied on movie cameos and meet-and-greets for cash.
Natasha Lyonne
The American Pie and Orange is the New Black star Natasha Lyonne is on the mend today but very recently she was reported to be homeless and in significantly poor health. Prior to her comeback, she was said to be suffering from hepatitis C, a heart infection, and a collapsed lung. Lyonne allegedly underwent methadone treatment, usually reserved for heroin users.
Kim Basinger
What’s the price of backing out of a Hollywood film at the last minute, inconveniencing everyone from the studio heads to the extras on set? The answer is a whole lot of money. In 1993, Kim Basinger declared she was broke after losing an $8.1 million lawsuit to Main Line Pictures for backing out of Boxing Helena.
Fantasia
Don’t be deceived by the popularity of American Idol and its contemporaries, those shows often left 99.9% of contestants broke. And that’s counting those who won! Fantasia Barrino, who won the third season of the talent show, garnered three Grammy nominations for her debut Free Yourself. By 2009, her $1.1 North Carolina home was threatened with an auction for loan repayment failure.
Sly Stone
His longevity may have faded amidst his personal troubles, but make no mistake, Sly Stone is one of the most important figures in American music. What a shame it is that a series of crooked deals and dodgy managers left him flat-broke. Today, Stone lives in a van in an urban area of Los Angeles.
Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage lived the high life for quite some time, owning numerous homes across the world, including a castle in Germany. Reality came knocking in 2009 when the IRS alleged that the actor had failed to pay over $6.2 million in federal income tax for the year 2007. As a result, Cage’s New Orleans, Bel Air and Nevada homes were foreclosed and sold at auction.
Stephen Amell
The Arrow star Stephen Amell has been a household TV name for over a decade but that isn’t enough for him to retire just yet. Despite six seasons on the DC Comics show and a supporting role in 2016’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Amell has a net worth of just $2.5 million, which is plenty more than us normal folk, but low for a bigshot actor.
Stassi Schroeder
Stassi Schroeder, star of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills spin-off Vanderpump Rules brings a lot of drama to the show but clearly not enough, as her net worth stands at just $300,000. Compare that to Vanderpump, who is worth a massive $75 million and makes more per season than Schroeder has altogether.
Ezra Miller
Ezra Miller has made a big impression on DC fans for his portrayal of The Flash, despite starring in some pretty lackluster films over the years. The actor also starred in the Harry Potter spin-off series Fantastic Beasts. You’d think he’d be worth an awful lot. Nope. His net worth is a humble $500,000.
Kelly Rutherford
Kelly Rutherford was one of the most important cast members of the extremely popular Gossip Girl back in the day, but she only has $1 million to shout about for her efforts. She lost a heap of cash during a six-year custody battle over her children; Rutherford’s litigation fees totaled around $1.4 million and forced the actress to file for bankruptcy in 2013.
Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan hasn’t been in a hit film for years and years yet somehow manages to enjoy lavish holidays across the world. That’s good going for someone who has a net worth of just $500,000. Rumour has it that posing for Playboy and doing a series of in-depth interviews with Oprah Winfrey pulled her back from rock bottom.
Chris Tucker
Nowadays, it’s hard to believe that Chris Tucker was at one point the highest-paid actor in Hollywood following the success of Rush Hour 2 and Rush Hour 3. According to reports, the comedian racked up a mighty $14 million tax bill with the IRS. This whittled his net worth down to around $2 million. Rush Hour 4 can’t come quick enough.
Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt
Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt, Speidi to those who know, were reality TV royalty for a while there. Not anymore. The pair, who married in 2008, are worth around $20,000 each. “If we would have saved our money, it would have been better, but unfortunately we got way too caught up,” Heidi said. “What did we buy? Just clothes, hair, makeup, managers, publicists, agents, lawyers, at the end of the day it goes by really quickly.”
Alicia Vikander
You’d think, having stepped into the iconic boots of Lara Croft, that Alicia Vikander would be worth a ton. Compared to her predecessor, Angelina Jolie, who is worth $120 million, Vikander only has $4 million in the bank. Here’s hoping the Swedish actress manages to land on her feet and overcome this level of hardship.
Janice Dickinson
Janice Dickinson is known as “the first-ever supermodel” when really it should be “the first-ever supermodel to not come out of it a multi-millionaire”. Dickinson’s net worth is only $500,00, shockingly low given her contributions to the industry. She filed for bankruptcy in 2013 after racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid tax bills and medical debts for plastic surgery.
Sinbad
Sinbad: 1990s legend, 2020s washout. In a way… the guy is still worth around $2 million but compared to what he had, it’s a crying shame. Reports claimed that the actor was once in the red for $11 million which can’t have helped matters. In 2013, he told Oprah: “I didn’t buy Bentleys. I didn’t live large. I invested in me. I invested in a lot of other people. I would not change it. I would not go back.”
Lauryn Hill
The Queen of rap Lauryn Hill is revered not just by female artists but by male ones, too. Back in the 1990s, you couldn’t keep her off the charts as part of the Fugees or as a solo artist. Most of her fortune was wiped after serving time in prison for tax evasion. Never underestimate the IRS. They are very much real.
Michael Rosenbaum
Michael Rosenbaum is best known for his role as a young, handsome Lex Luthor on Smallville, which he starred in for seven seasons. That must have brought him some big money in, right? Well, as it turns out, no! Rosenbaum tried to pursue comedy and failed miserably. Today, he’s worth around just $1 million.
Dennis Rodman
All major athletes are flush, aren’t they? Not really. According to Forbes, an estimated 60% of NBA players are broke within five years of retirement. Now Dennis Rodman is not broke by normal people’s standards, but by celebrity standards, he very much is. He has managed to rebound his net worth to around $400,000 despite a string of financial troubles.
Honey Boo Boo
Remember Honey Boo Boo? That rambunctious kid on Toddlers & Tiaras? She’s got a lot of money for a famous child pageant contestant but not as much as you’d think. Boo Boo, real name Alana Thompson, is worth around $800,00 after starring in her own reality show on TLC for five seasons.
Jared Padalecki
We’ll tell you what’s pretty “Supernatural”: Jared Padalecki’s bank account. Does that joke work? Not really. Is Jared Padalecki’s bank account still disappointing? Yes. Despite leading the show for more than a decade, the actor is worth just $3 million.
Courtney Stodden
Courtney Stodden gained fame, or notoriety, as the 16-year-old wife of 51-year-old actor Doug Hutchison. The plan was for Stodden to have her own show and brand, much like Kim Kardashian. Things didn’t pan out. The public turned their already cynical back on Stodden, who is now worth just $500,000.
Kate Gosselin
At one point, Kate Gosselin was making an absurd $250,000 per episode for reality show Kate Plus 8. So why is she only worth a reported $200,000? “The majority of what we made, I, personally took and put in a college fund for (the kids) because they will go to college,” she revealed “So I use coupons, we don’t wear top brands. Those things to me really aren’t overly important, but college, school, and their house, where they live is important.”
Stephen Baldwin
The Baldwins are an acting dynasty, so surely they’re swimming in money? Alas, Stephen at least is worth just $500,000 despite some pretty decent film work. After failing to pay income taxes for three years, his attorney Russell Yankwitt said: “Mr Baldwin is a man of faith, and it’s difficult for him to get jobs in Hollywood that are compatible with his faith, and that’s one of the difficulties he’s had paying off the money.”
Kristen Schaal
Kristen Schaal has starred in many animated series including Adventure Time, BoJack Horseman, WordGirl and Gravity Falls. She also voiced Trixie the Triceratops in Toy Story 3 and Toy Story 4. Despite constant work in high-grossing projects, Schaal is only worth around $3 million. She’s on Bob’s Burgers guys, give her her flowers!
Jax Taylor
Jax Taylor is catnip for drama on Vanderpump Rules, cheating and partying his way through several seasons of the reality show. So why is he only sitting on a fortune of $500,000? Reality TV, unless you’re a Kardashian, just isn’t that lucrative. In fact, most people who feature on it hold on to their day jobs.
Bella Thorne
These days, Bella Thorne is more known for her meticulously curated Instagram than she is for acting, which kind of tells you all you need to know when asking: “Why isn’t Bella Thorne rich?” Unfortunately, she has only really been offered roles that correlate to her looks, which has limited her earning potential.
Johnny Depp
Sure, Johnny Depp isn’t dead broke but he spends like crazy, according to reports. In 2017, Depp sued his former managers at The Management Group for allegedly collecting $28 million in contingent fees that he never agreed to. Depp also apparently spends $30,000 a month on wine?
Pamela Anderson
Pamela Anderson is one of the biggest icons of the 1990s and the person who put Baywatch on the cultural map. Why then, has she earned so little from the show and her other pursuits in comparison to other huge TV stars? In 2009, she got into $1 million of debt after blowing tons of cash on a home renovation. Then there was some unpaid tax trouble in 2012.
Kim Zolciak
Despite a career in reality TV spanning over a decade and a marriage to NFL linebacker Kroy Biermann, Kim Zolciak is only worth $1 million. She was reportedly forced to sell her boat because of money problems in June 2017, while her new spin-off show with NeNe Leakes was canceled before the two even filmed an episode.
Gary Busey
Gary Busey, what a legend. Despite a nasty motorcycle crash that left him with significant brain damage in 1988 at the age of 44, he continued to put in great work on the big screen. Unfortunately, this hasn’t rewarded him with a lot of cash. In 2012, the actor finally filed for bankruptcy. Today, he’s worth around $500,000.
Charlie Sheen
Charlie Sheen was the highest-paid actor on TV at the peak of Two and Half Men’s popularity, earning roughly $40 million a year. Then he had a meltdown, wasted a fortune on booze and substances, and spent a few years acting out in all kinds of expensive ways. Sheen, once an in-demand film actor, now struggles to land indie roles.
Teresa Giudice
Teresa Giudice was making a whopping $650,000 a season on The Real Housewives of New Jersey until 2009 when she and hubby Joe filed for bankruptcy. In 2013, the couple was indicted on 39 counts of fraud and tax charges. They allegedly had spent roughly 10 years falsifying their income to secure exorbitant loans. They ended up spending nine years in the slammer.
Tori Spelling
Tori Spelling was one of the biggest names of the 1990s thanks to the help of her film producer father Aaron Spelling. Most known for her role as Donna Martin on Beverly Hills 90210, Spelling was expecting a big payout after the death of her father in 2006. However, due to an estranged relationship with her mother and estate executor Candy Spelling, Tori only saw $800,000 of it.
Noah Cyrus
The pressure applied to young Noah Cyrus as her older sister Miley’s career soared in the 2000s was significant. What was gonna become of her? Was she going to go into music like Miley, her brother Trace, and her father Billy Ray? Would she opt for acting instead? In the end, she got into a volatile relationship with rapper Lil Xan and is reportedly now worth just $1 million.
