Fortunes Gained Then Squandered or Swindled

Johnny Depp

Joan Crawford and Bette Davis both went belly up financially in the fifties...

Richard Dreyfuss

Mike Tyson.

Nicholas Cage

Oprah Wi...wait, just kidding...I’ll never be broke like you tired broke ass motherfuckers...

Hkllj

Didn't Elton John go bankrupt?

I’d love to see someone like Bezos go broke.

Mike Tyson has been through more than one fortune, right?

Toni Braxton.

Debbie Reynolds’ lousy husbands squandered her fortunes.

Doris Day's husband mismanaged her money, leaving widowed Doris penniless and in debt to the IRS.

My LA and New York apartments have been PALATIAL, you little gay boys! How dare you ever suggest that I have been reduced to relying on rent-control and attention-grabbing sales to stay afloat financially!!

Marlene Dietrich spent every cent she had

Elton John has been squandering away his whole life, but always earned enough to cover his expenses. Except for that time his manager was caught out helping himself, I think that was in the 1990s, and maybe recently.

There was a story out that he needed money, and planned to earn enough to retire and raise his kids with one last world tour. But his voice was going to hell and the pandemic hit, and apparently he wasn't insured for pandemics... so the story I read was that he'd been frantically cutting expenses and laying people off, because he'd taken a financial hit he couldn't afford. Haven't heard anything since then.

I wonder if he was really worth $60 million. He may have earned that in his career (which seems high) but thats before taxes, agency, management, and legal fees.

Even this small amount of information about him suggests crazy spending. Multiple homes require multiple staff members and an estate manager. A helicopter is very very expensive.

Even Robin Williams, who was earning $20 mil per movie for the better part of a decade and working constantly ended up having to sell his wine country estate. At best, this type of lifestyle only works if you're earning $20 mil per year or more but these people never pull the reigns in when they stop earning. And agents, managers, and the financial managers they have actually prefer them in debt because it requires them to keep working.

And then there are the child stars, most of whose parents helped them squander their fortunes.

Lindsay Lohan, Aaron Carger, Corey Feldman and Corey Haim, Gary Coleman, soon to be joined by Millie Bobby Brown...

Debbie should have ditched the merkins to live with Agnes Moorehead

They didn't exactly go belly up, r2. Neither ended up like Margaret Elliot...

R17, I know Williams sold that wine country estate, but I don't think he ever lived there. I think the Napa hills estate was either an investment or because of fire risk (those hills have been burning every summer). He actually lived in nearly Tiburon, a quiet and fantastically expensive little town in Marin County. I believe this is the home where he lived with his last wife and kids, views like this don't come cheap!

If he went through some financial consolidation in the last years of his life, well, he had increasing worries about his health and several sets of kids to think about if anything happened to him (as it did). My guess is that he left a considerable estate behind.

Just to be clear, some of these extra-home purchases (like Tom Ford’s multi thousand acre ranch outside Sante Fe) aren’t really third or fourth homes; they are investments used to park money.

They sell them, not because they are going broke, but because they’ve found a better use for the cash that was locked away in property. (They want to buy a yacht or reward a playmate.)

That said, some celebrities really do fuck up and face financial ruin because they couldn’t manage their way out of a paper bag.

Take Donald Trump

Sammy Davis Jr., Nic Cage, his uncle Francis Ford Coppola.

A lot of athletes. They make a shit-ton of money, but usually for a relatively short time (the average NFL career only lasts a few years)

MC Hammer

Peter Frampton had one of the most successful albums of all time (Frampton Comes Alive) and was, for a short time, a hugely adored, in demand rock star. But due to poor management (his cocaine addiction and mercenary ex-girlfriend didn't help either) he lost it all. He said in an interview that his finances dwindled to not just nothing, but "even less than nothing." That is, his money was gone but he still had major debts.

Judy Garland was a huge star but was mostly broke during her entire adult life. That was due to her total lack of responsibility when it came to money; she always unscrupulous, incompetent men handle her finances. And she spent recklessly, whether she had money or not.

After years and years of letting her slimy husband take care of her money it was finally revealed to Shirley MacLaine that her nubby was a con artist who had stolen and squandered her money. She said in one of her memoirs that she was "in my forties, and I had to start all over again."

Michael Jackson spent money like a maniac. He was broke a long time but still had rich benefactors who were willing to provide him with a lavish lifestyle. His final "This Is It" tour was supposed to have gotten him out of the hole he'd dug for himself. But I don't think it would have. He would have gone on like always, throwing away money like it was nothing.

Poor Aunt Jemima really had to cut corners when she lost her job recently. I hope she was squirreling something away for a rainy day.

Robert De Niro is notoriously bad with money. I knew some of his legal counsel back in the late 80s/early 90s, and he was already digging a financial hole for himself even then.

His bad decisions have shaped his career and turned into another "just mail the check" actor. He's still luckier than most to be so sought after.

Donald J. Trump, obviously, burned through all the money his father gave him, then proceeded to live from grift to grift, losing all the way. Mary Trump said that his current fundraising is making him the most money he's ever earned. @13:20

I seem to remember hearing Playboy pinup Queen Pamela Anderson was in financial trouble for a spell. She spent so much of her money on a Malibu home renovation that she was financially unable to live in it and had to lease the home to prevent foreclosure.

R30 I think she mush have gotten some money from overseas the way she is always pushing the foreign talking points.

Lots of these guys had multiple wives & children. So they have to maintain residences for each wife and the kids, pay child support, college tuition & in some cases pay alimony. What jackasses. And they’re probably the same people who say racist things about black baby mamas & baby daddies.

In the 70s, dinner theater was the child support go-to for multiple-marriage sitcom stars who had no idea they had a 10 year expiration date from the pilot episode of their first series.

Helen Reddy's husband had three mortgages out on their house even though they had paid cash for it originally. He was putting money up his nose and gambling at the high stakes tables while she was performing.

You are a sole proprietorship when you’re working. From a business standpoint, you are a much higher risk than somebody with a corner store with dependable income.

This means it’s harder to obtain credit. When you obtain credit it’s at a higher rate and requires more equity because creditors build in stricter recourse should you go balls-up.

Willie Nelson

Alice Austen grew up in a wealthy family on Staten Island and took up photography as a past time of rich young woman at the end of the Victorian era. The stock market crash hit the family hard and they lost most everything, but a cottage that she lived in for decades with her female partner. But in old age she was completely broke and placed in the country old age home in complete poverty. A magazine researcher found her glass negatives and then was shocked to find she was still alive. With funds from reproduction rights she was recused from substandard care and spent her remains days in a more supportive environment. Her cottage became a museum, probably one of the few lesbian homes that have been preserved.

[quote]Poor Aunt Jemima really had to cut corners when she lost her job recently. I hope she was squirreling something away for a rainy day. —They Call Me MRS. Butterworth!

Yeah, they now call it "Pearl Milling Company." Seriously? What's whiter than a pearl?

Pepsico, be less white!

I fear Justin Bieber may be on this list in 10 years. A garage full of rusty, exotic cars and him sleeping in the backseat of his custom Rolls.

Hulk Hogan had $60 million before his divorce and his wife took a lot it and his lawyers took the rest. In an interview he said he used to wrestle because he liked it, but now was wrestling because he needed a paycheck.

Ric Flair is another wrestler who was raking money in and pissing it away.

r38 Bieber's perfume money alone has outgrossed the entire careers of some of the names mentioned on this thread. literally hundreds of millions already and those go on for years. even if they're sold at Ross.

Van Johnson had to keep working into old age because he lost money in a bad divorce. That's what you get for bearding!

A celebrities teeth R37.

Aaron Carter, Boris Becker, Dionne...

Veronica Lake ended up working as waitress.

Judy Garland

TLC & Toni Braxton

Apparently the Burden family fortune is no longer. I think a Vanderbilt heiress married a Burden in the early 20th century. Tad Friend’s memoir “Serious Money” described the family’s decline.

Dorothy Hamill had to file for bankruptcy in the mid 1990s.

Truman Capote. Made a bunch of money from In Cold Blood and the movie rights. Then tried to live the high life and gave his current boyfriends money. Ended-up living (dying) with a friend.

Michael Jackson had zillions but at onre point in the aughts was living in a renovated barn (or something, belonging to a fan somewhere in the United Kingdom) with the kids in tow. Big switch from renting out 3 floors of a hotel. Went through money like water.

R28 I'm gonna get accused of being a "woman hating gay" for saying this, but there was gossip that the reason he's divorcing his current wife is because of how much of his money she's wasted. I believe it because if you look at his filmography, he picked much worse projects after marrying her.

He also supports his many children, some of whom are in their 40s now.

R8 My favorite Elton John quote is something he said during a court hearing about his claim that his manager mismanaged Elton's money. When Elton was asked by if it was possible during a 20-month period that Elton spent £293,000 ($450,000) on flowers alone, Elton answered, "Yes, I like flowers."

Too lazy to link, but DL fave Lisa Whelchel had to file for bankruptcy after investing in a shopping/office plaza back East that went belly up in the 90s. She's blogged and spoken about it, so it's not anything she's ashamed of. If anything, she was warning others not make the same mistakes she did. She took the good and took the bad, if you will.

Tragic 60s British tabloid star Viv Nicholson.

“Vivian Nicholson was a British woman who became famous when she told the media she would ‘spend, spend, spend’ (also the title of her autobiography) after her husband Keith won £152,319 (equivalent to £3,362,478.00 adjusted for inflation to 2019) on the football pools in 1961. Nicholson became the subject of tabloid news stories for many years due to her and Keith's subsequent rapid spending of their fortune and her later chaotic life.“

In the 80’s her image was used for the cover of The Smiths’ “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now” single.

[quote] MC Hammer

You mean MC so broke I can’t afford a Hammer

Didn't the Osmond family go broke when their recording studios and almond orchards went bust?

R55, you're correct. One or a couple of the brothers invested the money in the orchards, and of course the TV studio they built in Utah for 'The Donny & Marie Show' was a white elephant once the show was cancelled.

For every story like this one and the Lisa Whelchel one, though, (I'm R52 ) there's other stories like one of the Brady kids (I think Jan) investing in real estate and doing very, very well. I believe Mindy Cohn invested in real estate as well and lives off the profits. One just has to have trusted advisors who know what they're doing. It's how Jessica Simpson has made billions on her shoes and pocketbooks...she hired one of the best footwear experts she could afford, and who knew what they were doing to manufacture and merchandise her brand.

R52 reminded me of another. Donal Logue admitted to being pretty bad off a few years ago because of an expensive divorce and some bad investments. He started a trucking business with a friend and was even driving trucks between acting gigs for a bit there. Like Whelchel, he never acted ashamed.

[quote] was a white elephant once the show was cancelled.

I’ve got my eye on you.

Gary Coleman owns this thread. So does Danny Bonaduce and Corey Feldman.

[quote]the TV studio they built in Utah for 'The Donny & Marie Show' was a white elephant once the show was cancelled

When John Candy left SCTV he got another show called "The New Show". One thing he hated about SCTV was that the recording was moved from Toronto to Edmonton out in the middle of nowhere. "The New Show" was suppose to be filmed in Los Angeles but ended up being filmed at the Osmond studios in Utah. At one point that was the only production filming there. John Candy said he went from one desolate location to another with fewer laughs in the process.

[quote] Gary Coleman owns this thread.

Gary Coleman’s greedy parents squandered his fortune, he didn’t.

Lionel Bart, composer, lyricist, and librettist of OLIVER! (1960 London, 1963 Broadway) squandered all his money and ended up a broken down alcoholic.

In April 1970, he sold the rights to his published music for the next six years, and the stage and film rights to Oliver! to a production company. He got just £300,000 for them. (A few years later they were worth £2 million.) Then he filed for bankruptcy to pay off his debts.

He never came to terms with his homosexuality. He also had a thing for young men. While he was in the US, working on the film adaptation of OLIVER!, his 21-year old boyfriend backed up a truck and cleaned out his home.

‘Do you know why I never committed suicide?’ he once asked. ‘Because I would simply hate to be found in any condition other than utter splendour.’

r46 TLC didn't have fortunes to blow through. They signed a bad contract when they were young and most of the money they made went to management and the record company. Unlike others mentioned in this thread, the members of TLC didn't actually get a chance to spend the money they earned until they filed for bankruptcy, made another album and started touring.

[quote]Judy Garland was a huge star but was mostly broke during her entire adult life. That was due to her total lack of responsibility when it came to money; she always unscrupulous, incompetent men handle her finances. And she spent recklessly, whether she had money or not.

Many female entertainers of Judy Garland's era did that. They let their husband du jour handle their finances and of course the husbands pissed it all away. Doris Day, Debbie Reynolds and Peggy Lee were just a few others, there were a lot more. Of course, none of the men entrusted with the money had any financial or money management background.

Later generations of women in the Industry learned from this and their money was put in the hands of competent financial professionals.

Then you have the kids who are supported throughout adulthood. How many celebs have had kids that are total brats who never bothered to earn their own living? Cameron Douglas is a recent example. Of course, the government took him off his father's hands and provided for him for several years 😂

Read the thread title R61. Coleman was swindled out of his money.

Randy Travis has had recent financial issues.

Wow, I didn't know that about Lionel Bart

Johnny Depp just plain squandered his money, blew it on private islands and multiple mansions which he wouldn't sell in time, and funerals for drinking buddies that cost him millions. Then he tried to get some of it back by filing multiple lawsuits against his management and money handlers, and as he seems to be losing every single suit that's probably cost him millions he doesn't have. AND the resulting bad publicity has made him unemployable as an actor, so he can't even do what Nick Cage has done and take any role that will pay him a few bucks.

He makes Elton John look like a brilliant financial manager.

A lot of singers, especially in the old days, got taken advantage of the record companies big time

Frankie Lymon was one

Sammy Davis, Jr. left behind huge debts that caused his widow Altovise enormous hardship and eventual homelessness.

R66, my apologies. With all the posts about excessive spending leaving them broke I got lost in the shuffle.

I was wrong and apologize. I did re-read the thread title now.

Altovise was never homeless R71.

[quote] Debbie Reynolds’ lousy husbands squandered her fortunes.

After the first husband squandered her fortune, I didn't feel sorry for Debbie. She should have learned from that first experience. Debbie also made fun of Eddie Fischer's dick size (after the divorce). I'm sure she knew the size of it before she married him. You're saying something about yourself when you criticize ex-partners.

Charlie Sheen & Martin Sheen have been shilling some type of pharmaceutical product. Charlie made so much $ on 2.5 Men. I guess he blew it all on shakedowns.

R71 Interesting about Sammy Davis, Jr. He was constantly working, why was he broke?

Here's Michael Jackson blowing money on some really ugly stuff in Las Vegas.

Don't any of you worry. I'm making sure my future will be secure.

R74, and yet DLers still blame the woman when a straight couple gets divorced. No one ever says "Shouldn't these guys have known better?"

The child actor Jackie Coogan (he was the adorable little kid in Charlie Chaplin's "The Kid") made a fortune that was squandered by his mother and stepfather. According to Wikipedia:

As a child star, Coogan earned an estimated $3 to $4 million ($44 to $59 million in 2020 dollars). When he turned 21 in October 1935, his fortune was believed to be well intact. His assets had been conservatively managed by his father, who had died in the car accident five months earlier.

However, Coogan found that the entire amount had been spent by his mother and stepfather, Arthur Bernstein, on fur coats, diamonds and other jewelry, and expensive cars. Bernstein had been a financial advisor for the family and married Coogan's mother in late 1936. Coogan's mother and stepfather claimed Jackie enjoyed himself and simply thought he was playing before the camera. She insisted, "No promises were ever made to give Jackie anything", and claimed he "was a bad boy". Coogan sued them in 1938, but after his legal expenses, he received just $126,000 of the $250,000 remaining of his earnings. When he fell on hard times and asked Charlie Chaplin for assistance, Chaplin handed him $1,000 without hesitating.

The legal battle focused attention on child actors and resulted in the 1939 enactment of the California Child Actor's Bill, often referred to as the "Coogan Law" or the "Coogan Act". It required that a child actor's employer set aside 15% of the earnings in a trust (called a Coogan account), and specified the actor's schooling, work hours, and time off.

[quote] [R74], and yet DLers still blame the woman when a straight couple gets divorced. No one ever says "Shouldn't these guys have known better?"

I would hold a man to the same standard, especially if he's on his 2nd golddigger-type situation.

R73, She most definitely was. She relied on friends just to keep a roof over her head. She would stay with a friend for a week or two and then stay with another for a week or two and so on and so on.

After Sammy's death, the IRS took everything, leaving Altovise with nothing.

Redd Foxx

Apparently you don't know what homelessness is R82. You should read Pamela Sherrods biography on Altovise and Sammy.

R76 he started off as a trio with his father and uncle and even though they retired, his uncle wrote the contract in such a way that Sammy had to pay him 1/3 of his earnings in perpetuity. His uncle owned multiple buildings and had contracts with other singers while Sammy was going broke even as far back as the 1960s.

Peter Lawford was another Rat Pack member who died broke.

No shit, r85?

About Peter Lawford I mean.

Wow. I didn’t know that.

I read on DL that poor "Half Pint" no longer has a pot to piss in.

When Lawford wasn't able to get Frank Sinatra a meeting with John Kennedy, Sinatra banished him from his circle of influence was persona non grata. He did a lot of TV work and cameos and some low budget movies. His ashes were interred in a cemetery mausoleum but the cemetery was going to evict the remains because the funeral bills were never paid.

Wow! Thanks, r88.

I’m actually shocked because of his relationship with Sinatra, but I’d forgotten he blamed the JFK thing on him.

[quote]Doris Day's husband mismanaged her money, leaving widowed Doris penniless and in debt to the IRS.

She didn't find out until after Marty Melcher died that he signed her up to do [italic]The Doris Day Show[/italic] behind her back, locking her into a five-year contract with CBS. When the five years were up, she quit the show even though it was still getting okay ratings, because she had done her time and she wasn't going to do anymore. She did manage to secure creative control, which explained why it was essentially a different show from season to season.

I saw Tyson and Jackson mentioned, but I believe Michael Jordan squandered his fortune at least once gambling, or maybe was swindled.

Thanks, R51, I remembered that Elton John spent a fortune on flowers every month but couldn’t recall the amount.

Fifty Cent lost his fortune and went bankrupt. His house in CT was on the market for ages.

Michael Jordan is still very wealthy.

R84, Homelessness is when you are not able to keep a roof over your head without the charity of others. One does not have to be living on the streets to be considered homeless.

You're either mentally challenged or suffer from a brain injury.

R88, Indeed, Lawford’s ashes were returned to his widow by the cemetery for nonpayment.

None of his adult children or anyone within the Kennedy family came forward to pay the bill.

His widow arranged with The National Enquirer to have Lawford’s ashes spread at sea, provided they received the exclusive photo rights, which his widow agreed to.

Helen Lawson

Bette Davis supported her entire family and had little left over for herself. If Bette hadn't cut off her useless daughter and son-in-law when she did, she would've died broke.

Fuck off R93. " homelessness is formally defined by the United States government as when a person “lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, and if they sleep in a shelter designated for temporary living accommodations or in places not designated for human habitation." I am so sick and tired of the stupidity of people here.

Baby Peggy had a rough go / she died at 101 just before the pandemic hit...

A person who lives by couch-surfing is considered to be homeless, under the current social policy in my state I just had to review. And if Altovise Davis was indeed living by house-sitting in her later years, she fits a legally valid definition of homelessness, even if the couches in question were probably luxurious.

Now this is something I don't get... if Davis spent his whole career under a financial cloud due to a bad life-long contract... why the fucking hell wasn't he financially responsible enough to live within the means he had? The man earned BIG bucks, and if he didn't live within his means when Sinatra wasn't around, and get paid off the books or through dummy corporations or change citizenship to someplace financially advantageous and hire the best tax accountants on Earth and do all the other things rich people do to get richer...

Then we can count him among the squanderers.

R91: If memory serves me, Michael Jordan's gambling "problems" were said to have resulted in his father's mysterious death.

Celebrities are like lottery winners. All of a sudden they have fame and money and don't know how to handle either. I have a friend that has the attitude I buy because I can, she grew up in poverty. Real wealth is not how much you can buy, but how content you can be with what you have. If you can afford to buy a luxury vehicle go ahead and buy it, but you don't need to buy multiple luxury vehicles or change cars every year.

R99, "The man earned BIG bucks, and if he didn't live within his means when Sinatra wasn't around . . ."

Sammy died in 1990, Frank in 1998.

R97, Perhaps you could find someone to read this to you . . .

"A person who lives by couch-surfing is considered to be homeless, under the current social policy in my state I just had to review. And if Altovise Davis was indeed living by house-sitting in her later years, she fits a legally valid definition of homelessness, even if the couches in question were probably luxurious."

[quote]Bette Davis supported her entire family and had little left over for herself. If Bette hadn't cut off her useless daughter and son-in-law when she did, she would've died broke.

I think she had less than $1 million in the bank when she died. She had a nice apartment in West Hollywood, though.

It is outrageous that a star of Bette Davis's stature died with less than $1 million in the bank. She should've been loaded.

Rule #1 for famous people: Don't let your relatives leech off of you because you'll go broke.

Don't let your relatives leech and don't let your relatives run your business.

One thing regarding Debbie and Doris and Judy and all those women who got ripped off by husbands in the 60's, things were very different then. Most credit and property as well as any bank accounts had to be in the husband's name. In the case of young women it would be in her father's name. Women never handled financial matters, or at least it was extremely rare. All that came along later, in the 70's and even then a lot of women didn't deal with finances.

The world has changed.

Peter Lawford snorted a lot of his earnings. I'll never forget reading in a Liz Taylor bio that while Lawford was at Betty Ford at the same time as Liz, he'd run off property and meet a helicopter somewhere to get his coke fix, which he paid for with his AmEx. The whole story sounds so Kitty Kelley-ish and made up, but I've also read Christopher Lawford's books and he confirms this and similar stories about his father's addiction.

As has been covered in many DL threads about Blondie and Debbie Harry, she and Chris Stein found themselves broke and in debt around 1981/82 after the band bitterly split up and their last album bombed. Bad management and unscrupulous financiers had fucked them over, and the IRS seized their property. They became yet another show biz cliche of artist not seeing a dime after being a world-famous successful, money-making act for years. Debbie began taking acting and appearance jobs for cash, while also nursing Chris back to health from a rare disease. But they would eventually climb their way back and claim their legacy, which certainly exists today.

Maggie Rizer's stepfather blew the money she made modeling + money left to her dead father on lotto tickets and alcohol. Her biological father was gay, and by her own admission refused to have a relationship with him for many years (which she said that she deeply regrets), though they made up before his death and she is now close to his partner.

She's never said so, but I think the stepdad played off her daddy issues to scam her.

The numeric figures vary widely, but some say Barbara "Poor Little Rich Girl" Hutton was worth only about $3,500 when she died. Contrast that with the $50 million she inherited when she turned 21 ($1 billion in today's market), and it's baffling to wonder what she blew it all on. Between seven husbands, booze, drugs, and keeping up her jet-setting lifestyle, she also had to contend with her lawyer making some very bad deals. Poor thing--literally--died alone when she was 66.

I invested wisely in oil wells and real estate. AND I had the same car for 30 years.

DL fave Natalie Schafer (Lovey Howell on GILLIGAN'S ISLAND) left an estate of $10 million when she passed away in 1991 at age 90.

[quote]It was reported that she left part of her fortune to her Gilligan's Island co-star Dawn Wells and her dogs

She built her fortune over time with smart real estate investments. It's a remarkable achievement for someone who cobbled together a long, uneven career as a B/C level character actress and then 3 seasons on GILLIGANS ISLAND. While GI has been in syndication forever, Dawn "Mary Ann" Wells estimated they'd make about $50K per season (in today's dollars!) with NO residual payments.

You go, Lovey.

Looks like Paulina Porizkova let her husband handle her money, he then cut her out of his will. Oops.

[quote] and then 3 seasons on GILLIGANS ISLAND.

Every time I see this I shake my head and say I can’t believe it only ran for three seasons. Just seems like so much more.

Billy Joel has squandered more than one fortune, which is why he kept touring for so long. I think he got ripped off by his management at one time, too.

Why didn't Sammy Davis Jr. hire a flesh-eating lawyer to get him out of that contract? Surely something could have been done.

Madonna and Janet Jackson. They got smarter now.

Yes but billy joel has made back his fortune.

Michael Jackson was broke when he died. He made money after his death

Some of the sites linked here are fascinating.

The Maggie Rizer story is just awful: the poor girl was swindled by family and, in a way, by her entire hometown. Does anyone know if she's working now? Hope she's recouped some of her losses. Events like that would make me homicidal.

The Bette Davis apartment is actually pretty grim. It looks tiny, for a 3-bedroom. The photographs seem designed to obscure as much detail as possible re: dimensions, layout, etc.

[quote]Celebrities are like lottery winners. All of a sudden they have fame and money and don't know how to handle either. I have a friend that has the attitude I buy because I can, she grew up in poverty. Real wealth is not how much you can buy, but how content you can be with what you have. If you can afford to buy a luxury vehicle go ahead and buy it, but you don't need to buy multiple luxury vehicles or change cars every year.'

I think that's the case with Johnny Depp. There are a few celebs who grew up in poverty, but seem to manage money well like Keanu Reeves.

[quote] Toni Braxton.

Toni Broketon!

"Unbounce my check! Say I'm not in debt!"

[quote]The Bette Davis apartment is actually pretty grim. It looks tiny, for a 3-bedroom. The photographs seem designed to obscure as much detail as possible re: dimensions, layout, etc.

Bette Davis's cunt daughter and useless son-in-law leeched her dry for many years. They never worked but Bette paid for them to live a very comfortable lifestyle. Bette would take a shit part in a shit movie or tv show just so she could send them money.

Katharine Hepburn was smart to never have children. She knew she would've been a terrible mother so she didn't even bother.

"Why didn't Sammy Davis Jr. hire a flesh-eating lawyer to get him out of that contract?"

Or some of Santra's pals, you know, the ones who weren't in showbiz?

Seriously, it sounds like Davis was both fucked by bad contracts early in his career, AND bad at managing money.

The sad thing is seeing these custom-built houses. The now-broke celebrity thinks they can recoup all the $$$ that they poured into these stupid customizations. In reality, these mansions are teardowns, too much bad customization.

"The numeric figures vary widely, but some say Barbara "Poor Little Rich Girl" Hutton was worth only about $3,500 when she died. Contrast that with the $50 million she inherited when she turned 21 ($1 billion in today's market), and it's baffling to wonder what she blew it all on."

She blew it all on high living; parties, mansions, clothes, travel, jewelry, husbands. Especially jewelry; she bought lots of it and of course it was all obscenely expensive. She acquired jewelry that had once belonged to Marie Antoinette and the Romanovs and other assorted royals. As she aged she became more and more involved with sleazy characters and some of her costly baubles got stolen. She would sometimes give pieces of jewelry away on a whim; she gave some servant of hers a sunflower brooch featured a nice sized diamond. Barbara Hutton was a total mess, a train wreck.

I wonder if any modern entertainment conglomerates are doing what the Hollywood Film Studios used to do - encourage the performers under contract to spend every cent on lifestyle? Supposedly the publicity would help their careers, but the moguls wanted the actors broke because it made them easier to push around.

Bela Lugusi was one who fell into that trap and never got out, when he hit it big with "Dracula" he thought he was a big star and the money would never run out, and he lived like a king even though his primary source of income was a low-budget genre done at a low-budget studio. Which was run by the kind of assholes who encouraged him to live beyond his means and borrow money - and then they cut his salary because they knew he was financially desperate. He ended up poor, and so far gone into alcoholism that he'd drink formaldehyde when booze stopped doing anything for him.

His last days were recreated with surprising accuracy in the Tim Burton film "Ed Wood", which BTW is a terrific movie and I recommend it to the entire Datalounge.

R120 She married a wealthy guy, has four kids and a clothing boutique in Manhattan. She's also on Instagram!

She got heavily involved in gay rights and AIDS activism after her father's death, and some of my NYC friends know her through that work and speak very highly of her.

R127 I heard that a lot of B/C list folks end up wealthy because they don't feel the pressure to "live the life."

r18 Lindsey never had a fortune. She was at best worth $2 million at the hight of her fame as actually wealthy Paris Hilton friend Brandon Davis once proclaimed to the paps one fun 00s night. This was before calling her a fire crotch.

R130 At one time, she made $7.5 million a movie.

George Washington Vanderbilt II the idiot built the Biltmore Estate in the middle of no-where to show off to his family. He didn't even have a relatively large Vanderbilt inheritance, yet spent as if he were the Commodore's son. Three major problems. 1. He built that thing in the middle of nowhere but wanted world class fixtures so the shipping costs alone ballooned the project. 2. He didn't understand the concept of money, as in there is always a limit. He ran short on funds before it was complete which is why the gardens didn't live up to the original plans. 3. He had to fill that place so naturally he looted Europe for fancy shit in old palaces. Expensive.

In the end we have a nice oversized home of little significance that his heirs can still relax in but is of no use to the modern age. I'm sure his decedents would have preferred a larger cash inheritance over a whale like Biltmore.

They always say you should be nice to people on the way up, because you're probably going to meet them again on the way down.

Edie Sedgwick could have married a Coca-cola heir but chose to move to NYC and before a drug addict IT girl for Warhol. She married some junkie before overdosing. Before slinking away from NY she blew through her modest trust fund. By Trust fund standards she was never rich rich, but she had enough money to live comfortably while she found a husband, the traditional plan. At least she got a lot of dick before she kicked the bucket.

She could have lived off of the interests of her $80,000 trust ($560,000 in 2021)

r130 no at that time Mean Girls was just out and she was making $2 or less. The she did Herby and Georgia Rules making slightly more. Might have been more films but it's all a blur. During Mean Girls she lost focus. The director even mention on the DVD commentary that Lindsey looked tired in a shot because she was likely out the night before. After the success of Mean Girls she was commanding a higher salary but she was also failing to put in good performances so those $7.5 million checks came then quickly disappeared as Hollywood learned how toxic she became from the drugs and partying.

Now she's living the life of a Madam or Instagram Thot turning dirty tricks for Asians and men in the Middle East.

Sedgwick was deeply troubled before she ever went to NYC, probably because she was molested by both her father and one of her brothers. Marrying the Coca-Cola heir might have allowed her to live more comfortably, but it's unlikely she would ever have lived happily without a serious commitment to therapy.

Yeah, but just like Liz and her gorgeous Hilton Husband, she could have hid all of that before the wedding. He was a damn good catch and therapy costs are nothing more than a rounding error for these type so families. But she wanted freedom but couldn't handle it.

Anyway, Liz never had a better looking husband. Shame that he was an abusive drunk. I assume all of Liz's husbands threw a good to great fuck. Liz is one of the few women that left marriages with more money in the bank than she came in with. All these other women mentioned above were straight up fools to hand over their hard earned money to their men without even looking over things.

Like every smart courtesan, Liz knew to get the jewelry and keep it.

Donald Trump

I liked the book Astor Orphan, the less rich side of family.

Michael Jordan is currently worth 1.6 BILLION!

Toni Braxton

One of Burt Reynolds’ last appearances was at a Bubba Fest

Many many years ago, i went to Burt Reynolds’ restaurant, called Daisy, in west Palm beach.

It closed after about 6 months.

50 Cent.

Not a celebrity, but once a superstar producer, Scott Storch blew all his cash on drugs and cars and mansions. He broke.

Mickey Rourke was so broke in the late 90s/early 2000s he was asking strangers to buy him drinks in bars in LA. I know because I was one of the people he asked to do it.

I guess a lot of these rags to riches people have first-generation money.

Paris Hilton never had as much money as she pretended to and she's out of her grandfather's will.

Tina Turner. I remember her on a tour of small clubs after the split from Ike but before her big comeback. She was incredible, the show was incredible, everything was great but my God that woman was working hard for short money.

Tina Turner said she gave up all the money she'd earned with Ike during the divorce, if he'd give her the rights to the name "Tina Turner" back. Who knows he he came to have legal title to his wife's name, but apparently he did, and had the gonads to literally bet every cent she had that she could make a comeback.

Well, Tina made a big-ass comeback, and made enough money to retire to live the good life in Switzerland, one of the most expensive nations on Earth. Ike died around the time she retired (2007), and google says his estate was worth about 500k. Which isn't flat broke, but it's far from wealthy.

[quote] And they’re probably the same people who say racist things about black baby mamas & baby daddies.

Some people need to find racism in everything.

Tina Turner was basically destitute when she left Ike. She slept on friends' couches and played shitty venues, as the above poster described. She really worked any place that would book her and it went on for years. Her big comeback with the Private Dancer album didn't happen for nearly a decade after she went out on her own.

On a side note, can you even imagine a 45 year-old having a huge comeback in pop music today? It would be impossible. Tina, in her mid-forties, had never been more famous or successful. Crazy to think about that now.

And then they put her in Mad Max, Thunderdome.

Tina's a legend.

Tina Turner had the most spectacular comeback in entertainment history.

R116 & R124 Sammy had it put into his head ever since he was a child that it was his responsibility to take care of his family. He knew that the arrangement with his father and uncle wasn't fair, his friends told him it wasn't fair, but he could never shake the belief that as a successful black man he had to carry the people who started him in show business.

By the 1960s he had become resentful and tired of the arrangement, but still couldn't fight the decades old contract out of loyalty to family.

Will Smith pissed through his first fortune and only took the TV show out of desperation. Who knew it would start him on a new career that would make him wealthy beyond his wildest dreams.

Tupac Shakur died owing his record label millions. After his death people showed up at the house and took everything, including his clothes. He signed loans to the company based on future earnings which never came.

Oprah said always sign your own checks.

When you let someone else sign your money away you shouldn't be surprised if you lose it all.

I think Oprah said she signs all checks if they’re $100,000 or more. Roger Ebert also gave her good advice about syndication.

[quote]I heard that a lot of B/C list folks end up wealthy because they don't feel the pressure to "live the life."

I think some B and C listers know that their acting careers might not always be hot so they save their money and don't go batshit crazy buying homes, expensive cars, private jets, etc.

I brought up the way movie studios used to encourage contracted actors to spend money they couldn't afford on high living, saying the "publicity value" would help their careers. I think that social media has brought that impulse back, in a different but equally ruinous way.

Everyone in public life uses social media as their primary publicity vehicle, and well, people in showbiz have always believed they need to look successful to be successful, so the idea that they have to spend money on high living to keep their careers going is still there. It's probably there with more strength than ever, because having high social media numbers requires a lot of content, and if you don't have anything relevant or funny to say then showing off your lifestyle always brings in the jealous bitches.

10 years from how, we should resurrect this thread for Prince Harry.

Leave poor Tonti Braxton out of this. She has a health reason for her financial troubles. She has been a long term sufferer of PTSD caused by an interview where Oprah was so frickin' mean to her. Oprah was so jealous of a young, beautiful sister making it big and buying Gucci flatware that the mean girl in her came out.

R69 that’s a good point. Is Johnny Depp even insurable?

At least Nicolas Cage is like John Cusack, Ethan Hawke and John Malkovich and is able to be employed to make several VOD action movies per year for $2 million a pop, and every 3 years or so manage to be employed for a decent movie.

As with so many other performers, entertainers, actors, etc.. Sammy Davis, Jr's financial problems largely stemmed from IRS.

At time of his death Sammy Davis, Jr. left an estate worth around $4 million USD. Problem was Internal Revenue Service claimed he owed federal government around $5 million USD in back taxes When interest and penalties were added that number grew to about $7 million.

I haven't read through the whole thread. Did anyone mention Redd Foxx? Made it all, and lost it all. Right down to having his home in Las Vegas raided by the Feds. They even took a ring off his finger.

More on Sammy Davis, Jr.

[quote] It was reported that she left part of her fortune to her Gilligan's Island co-star Dawn Wells and her dogs

The dog thing is an exaggeration. You can't leave money to animals in a will. You can leave money to a person who is going to be responsible for taking care of said animals.

Most of these people are/were pathological impulse spenders. Michael Jackson was a master at it. I read years back that his people returned more expensive stuff than he bought. He, like so many of the others listed, simply had no control over spending money. It was an addiction. I've always felt that people who are spendaholics are very unhappy and spending money, even when they don't have it, is the only thing that makes them happy.

Redd Foxx died broke, but it was largely is own fault really.

Like so many African American entertainers, performers, etc... who came up dirt poor or even middle class RF spent his newly made fortune as if it was water. Booze, women, houses, jewelry, divorces were just one part. Other things like never being able to say "no" when hit up for a soft touch, poor accounting and failing to report income (and paying taxes), all piled on.

Redd Foxx eventually worked out a payment agreement with IRS which resulted in some of his sized property being returned. But he died one year later so his estate was still on hook for unpaid taxes.

As most of us know it isn't just unpaid taxes that get people in trouble, it is the crushing burden of fees and interest that are tacked on until back tax bill is paid in full or otherwise settled.

Ethel Waters once was highest paid African American female entertainer in USA. She made and lost several fortunes. Ended up dying at home of a friend nearly blind and broke. Her only income was a monthly Social Security check.

{quote] Ric Flair is another wrestler who was raking money in and pissing it away.

Interesting personal Ric Flair story: Happened back in the 80's. I was flying out of Atlanta and was standing in line at a Delta counter to get my ticket I had ordered over the phone. Someone standing behind me tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around and it was Ric Flair. He said "I've lost my ticket and I'm about to miss my flight so would you mind if I get ahead of you?". I said "sure". He went to one agent and I eventually got to the other agent. I could hear everything he was saying. He explained about losing his ticket and the agent told him there was not time to do a lost ticket transaction before his flight left. He was in a state of panic and said "I don't care about that just sell me another ticket. He bought a first class ticket to L.A. at full price. When the agent asked for his name he said Richard Flair and spelled it out for him as "Richard Fliehr ".

See, the rich and famous have the same kinds of problems the little people have.

Elton John purchased a single family house in the Virginia Highland area of Atlanta many years ago to use as a guest house. It was just like all the other houses in the neighborhood, a craftsman bungalow. He spent over $4 million turning the house and the property into a paradise. Fast forward many years later, he decides to sell the property. I guess the real estate agent told him there was no way he would be able to sell the house for enough to make back his investment because there was nothing else in the neighborhood anywhere close to being comparable. He put the house on the market for a little over $400 thousand and it eventually sold. Whoever bought it was the luckiest people ever.

"WERE the luckiest people ever".

Elton John's photography collection alone would be worth millions. He could sell that alone and put his feet up. But he might have to fire his flower arranging staff.

I OWN this thread, bitches. Donate NOW!

It’s also interesting to think about the ones that died incredibly wealthy. I know Bob Hope and Gene Autry left massive fortunes. Some female stars married well and ended up very rich late in life like Jennifer Jones. Currently the standout is Jessica Simpson who should be a washed up nobody but must be worth hundreds of millions. You wonder who in her white trash family had the brains to make the fortune.

1249 Stillwood Dr NE was Elton John's "guest house" in Atlanta I believe.

More:

Yep, that's it R177.

I think a lot of people, including celebrities, fall for the misunderstood New Age premise that you have to look the part and spend money in order to attract more money. Just look at these Real Housewives hos who show off and pretend they are a wealthy in order to attract (shady) business and endorsement deals.

A lot of poor people can't handle money, because a) they never learned how to balance their budget and b) have a negative opinion about money to feel better about being poor, and you can't change such a lifelong attitude overnight after a sudden windfall like a lottery win or becoming an overnight sensation as an actor or music or sports performer.

Many of the Real Housewives are complete frauds. Some of them don't even live in the houses they pretend to on the show. Their real homes are nowhere near what the show wants to present so the producers have to rent houses for them to film in. Lots of those broads were poor as church mice when they went on the show and only did it because they were desperate for a paying gig. Others who actually did live in the houses they showed on the program ended up being foreclosed on after their RH gig was up.

Of all the reality TV shows the RH franchise has to be one of the biggest frauds ever. Smoke and mirrors in most cases.

Debbie Harry also tended bar in Alphabet City one day a week for a while back in the aughts.

While not exactly destitute Elvis managed to spend a good chunk of his fortune at the time of his death and it took Lisa Marie years to rebuild his image and fortune.

[quote] it took Lisa Marie years to rebuild his image and fortune

LM didn't rebuild anything. She's another one who has lost most of her fortune poor money management skills and her pathological over spending (and reportedly drug addictions). The person who built Evis' image and fortune back was LM's mother. Once everything was turned over to LM it all started going to hell.

[R16] Hence the stupid commercials

As a finance guy married to an actor/creative, I can attest that the two are almost mutually exclusive skill sets. Completely different world,views. Actors need a trustworthy, empowered finance manager - they tend to be horrible with money.

I think it’s here I read someone claiming from authority that ABBA got only back together to financially help out one of them who is apparently in financial troubles. The only one I could think of would be Agnetha, as she’s not as rich as the other ones, but even that seems a stretch. She would have been worth gazillions after they split, and her seclusion in her farm doesn’t exactly scream extravagant lifestyle.

R184 Sorry I meant the ex-wife Priscilla Presley.

Elvis was a big spender.

Poor Maggie Rizer. She should have put a contract on her stepfather. I’d be surprised if she was still speaking to him.

I remember shortly after her super hit I Feel For You, Chaka Khan became homeless for some reason.

I think Madonna will end-up broke. She has a half-dozen kids who will never be gainfully employed. And they'll marry-and-divorce golddiggers who will have to be paid off. Not to mention Madge's own bad choice in men. She's not creating hits and lucrative tours anymore (probably not ever again) but they all want to live large.

She can pull up her skirt and pull out her tits all she wants, but her main income now is probably that skin care line.

I predict Madonna will end up just like Norma Desmond in "Sunset Boulevard". Old, crazy, living in an old mansion with one devoted servant because she's spent all her money and can't afford any more help.

Someone above mentioned Paris Hilton as someone with an exaggerated fortune because she did not inherit $ from the grandparents. Paris' fragrances alone have sold $3 billion and are still going strong. There's over 20 of them. Several for men. It is the most successful celeb fragrance line other than Elizabeth Taylor's. No idea what her cut of that is. I think I read celebs end up with 2-5% of fragrance line earnings.

I remember in the 00's when her shoe company was worth or sold for (can't remember) $100 million. She was earning over $100k per appearance as a DJ at the time.

[quote]I know Bob Hope and Gene Autry left massive fortunes

Hope had huge real estate holdings, including in Palm Springs, Malibu, Phoenix, etc.

Elizabeth Taylor's estate was valued at $608.4M: art (including a $40M Van Gogh); jewelry ($116M sold at Christie's);$280M in cash and securities; and $127M in real estate.

Madonna can't go broke. She's a near billionaire with a crazy art collection and has never had to sell any of it, even when the art market is going insane.

She also pays attention to her money. Notice how much she bitches about Madame X tour barely breaking even. That's probably more because of her lifestyle while on tour than production costs.r

she has never done a greatest hits arena tour. I am absolutely certain she has chosen not to do this on purpose because she knows its an emergency payday whenever she wants to hit that button and unleash $100 million.

She also keeps launching new businesses. The hard candy gyms didn't take off but her MDNA skincare line is huge in Asia. The prices are as high or higher than La Mer.

Just remembered Madonna also has several Basquiat paintings. She dated him in the early 80s. One of his paintings just sold for $93 million.

I know someone with a Basquiat in his office and just realized its probably now worth more than the home/estate he sunk his entire fortune into as an investment.

Also, Paris Hilton earns about $10 mil from her endorsement deals per year. She turns down 10-20 partnerships per day. She could retire tomorrow, die, whatever, and those perfumes would still sell for the next 20 years at walmart. Most of Elizabeth Taylor's fragrances are still in production and sold online, at Walmart, Ross, Marshalls, etc. They are reformulated to save money, the bottles may be cheaper, the scent might be weaker, but that's another discussion

r191 I don't think so. She is apparently very cheap and was barely financially supporting her maternal grandmother before her death, according to her brother. I wouldn't be surprised if she left each of her kids $1 million and called it a day.

Many entertainers, performers, or whatever past and present came from poor to impoverished backgrounds. This was highly true of those who were around for Great Depression and parents or whoever got them into "show business" to shore up family fortunes.

Whatever the reasons these people find themselves with newly found wealth but with nearly zero financial background or education. Thus they are ripe to be fleeced by family, friends, and so called "professionals", the latter who are supposed to be helping them of all things.

Other thing is something that happens to even those with inherited or other wealth; they spend as if the money will always keep coming in, but that doesn't always happen. Example would be members of Vanderbilt family who pissed their fortunes away on homes and shit to fill them up with, only to find their fortunes weren't totally unlimited.

POC sadly are worse for this on several fronts.

First and foremost back in day they were horribly abused by managers, record or film company execs, etc... Many signed away rights to their work for pennies without understanding contracts. Others were simply paid less for their work simply because they were black and no one was there to have their backs.

There is a general accepted psychology that persons who grow up poor (comparatively or actually) tend as adults to vastly spend money with abandon as adults. This even if only middle class or slightly higher.

You see this with those who suffering from "hoarding" complex. They buy tons of shit for no other reason than a deep down fear of not having money again. Jackie Kennedy Onassis was famous for this, to point her last husband (Onassis) got fed up and was one reason he was looking to divorce .

Look at all the NBA and NFL players who have huge homes (sometimes more than one), and other "bling". When times get rough they have to unload all that shit that brings in far less than they would like.

Finally by far the most recurring theme in all this is Internal Revenue Service. Federal government doesn't give a rat's behind who did what to whom. If you sign tax returns *you* are responsible for accuracy and are on hook for any unpaid sums.

Furthermore you also have the other extreme, like Aretha Franklin. Her estate was (or is) such a mess largely because of deep seated (but not unfounded) suspicions of white managers and others in the business.

AF was known to demand payment upfront and sometimes in cash for performances. This stemmed from her early days where owners of clubs or other venues (largely whites) where she was booked either didn't pay or gave less than was promised.

Her mistrust of financial institutions (and government to an extent) lead to various documents being hidden away in her homes.

As with so many others Aretha Franklin (and her estate) were caught in IRS crosshairs.

[quote] Elton John purchased a single family house in the Virginia Highland area of Atlanta many years ago to use as a guest house.... He spent over $4 million turning the house and the property into a paradise. Fast forward many years later, he decides to sell the property.... He put the house on the market for a little over $400 thousand and it eventually sold. Whoever bought it was the luckiest people ever.

I wouldn't trust Elton John's taste.

Madonna seems OK with her money. She was photographed flying economy to Portugal, IIRC. She never remarried since Guy Richie. Her boyfriend seems like a boytoy, i.e., both Madonna and the BF understand their situation. He's not getting 50% if/when they break up.

The only potentially expensive thing she did was adopting children.

[quote] Debbie also made fun of Eddie Fischer's dick size (after the divorce). I'm sure she knew the size of it before she married him. You're saying something about yourself when you criticize ex-partners.

I have no problem with this--he was just awful to her, and humiliated her by cheating on her with her best friend. Who does that to someone?

Barbara Hutton inherited enough money at one point that she was worth over $50million by her 21st birthday in 1933, which in today's dollars would be well over a billion. Yet by the time she died in 1979 she had only $3500 in the bank and was on the verge of declaring bankruptcy.

She married seven times, including to Cary Grant and Porfirio Rubirosa.

R192

Madonna may end as some wizened up loon never accepting her time is over, but poor will never happen.

To her credit Madonna is one of those who came from near or actual poverty and has managed her affairs very well. There's that mansion on UES of Manhattan filled with art and other valuables and so forth.

Madonna could have retired from performing life years ago. Devoting herself to favourite causes or whatever, and living quite comfortably. Only reason the old hag won't go quietly is she cannot understand (or resents) she isn't what she once was. Performers like Rhianna, J-Lo and others are having their time now, and making huge fortunes. Behind them are yet another crop of younger female artists that will soon come into their own.

They should do what Pola Negri did in her old age and get some wealthy fan to house them and pay all their bills. I don't think they were lovers, it's just the wealthy old woman enjoyed having a star around all the time.

I think of Barbara Payton, who at $5,000 a week was one of the highest paid starlets on the Warner Bros lot. She married into Hollywood royalty--Franchot Tone, Joan Crawford's ex, who himself came from money--lived in a mansion in Beverly Hills, and had the talent to be a big star. But she couldn't get enough of Tom Neal's cock, and threw it all away him, wrecking her career and reputation in the process. She whored herself for drugs and booze and died penniless at only 39 years old in 1967. It was a quick rise and fall, but she briefly had fortune in her hands before being done in by her personal demons.

[quote]and threw it all away him

*for him

R152, ahem.

/wink from a beautiful copper-brown eye partially obscured by a violet-tinted lens.

R132 Biltmore House generates $140 million a year.

Thank you, R209. I was about to say that Biltmore turned out to be a cash cow for the family once they opened it.

And it is certainly one of Richard Morris Hunt's greatest works. And no, that is actually not a low bar to cross.

Lindsay Lohan blew something like $800K in one year at that famous hotel on the sunset strip in LA. She should've never made LA her home during her heyday movie career. She should've worked in LA and kept NY state as her home. I guess she probably wanted to get away from her family and be independent. But moving to LA was bad for her.

She should've bought a home somewhere in upstate NY, like Rochester County in the upscale suburbs and bought an apartment in Manhattan as an investment and a place to live while in the city and She would've been set. And the rest of the money coming in could've been banked. She would've been set going forward. But she ended up fucking everything up.

I remember when she did that docuserise for Oprahs network back in 2014. It wasb8 episodes and she was Paid $2Million dollars for it. Lindsay was given more chances then she deserved and fucked it all up. I hope things are going well for her now, whatever she's up to across the pond.