Celebrities have a reputation for living glamorous and lavish lifestyles. After all, they’ve made more money than most of us will in a lifetime, so what better way to celebrate lifelong financial security than buying designer clothes, luxury cars, opulent mansions, and pretty much anything you could ask for in life.
Yet for many celebrities, the financial stability is far from secure. In fact, there are countless celebrities that have been less than responsible with their personal finances and found themselves going through personal bankruptcy.
This makes some sense when you consider the carefree spending that many enjoy during the height of their fame, only for it to come crashing down around them after too much erratic spending and poor financial management.
Let’s take a look at 4 celebrities who have been through personal bankruptcy:
Walt Disney
Yes, the man responsible for one of the most successful media companies of all time once declared bankruptcy many years ago. This was long before Walt Disney had formed the famous media empire we know today, which now has an estimated net worth of $130 billion, going to show that we can all recover from financial hardship if we work hard enough at it!
The man behind the Walt Disney Company was left bankrupt after problems with his first production company, with he and his business partner being peniless by 1923. Less than five years later he had created a certain cartoon character called Mickey Mouse, leaving the rest to history.
Larry King
In 1978 Larry King filed for bankruptcy after losing his job and dealing with various financial issues, including being accused of stealing $5,000 from a business partner, yet this proved to be a short-lived problem for the broadcasting icon.
Less than 12 months later King was offered a slot on national nightly television, leading to the launch of the Larry King Show of January the following year, running for 25 years before his retirement.
50 Cent
Rapper, actor, and entrepreneur 50 Cent amassed a $155 million fortune after bursting onto the music scene in the early 2000s and becoming one of the best-selling musicians of the decade.
Despite this success and newfound wealth, 50 Cent filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2015 with estimated debt between 10-50 million, citing various poor investments and a lawsuit that involved him paying out millions of dollars.
He exited bankruptcy the following year after organising his debts and agreeing a repayment plan of over $23 million across the next five years.
Toni Braxton
Toni Braxton was one of the most successful singer-songwriters of the 1990s and 2000s, with over 67 million worldwide record sales and winning countless awards including seven Grammys. However, this success did not prevent the R&B singer from declaring Chapter 7 bankruptcy – twice!
The first filing was in 1998 and the second more recently in 2019, so what exactly caused one of the top selling artists of the past few decades amassing such high debt? According to Braxton, her relatively low royalty payments and overspending caused the first, while health issues that forced her to cancel her Las Vegas residency was responsible for the second filing.
The Travis Law Firm provides professional legal representation for Chapter 7 & Chapter 13 bankruptcy services for residents of all cities in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. We have offices in Riverside, San Bernardino, Victorville, Temecula, Cathedral City and Ontario for the convenience of our Inland Empire, High Desert, and Coachella Valley clients. For more information about our bankruptcy law services and other legal representation, call us today at (951) 274-9501 or (951) 274-9501.