#25 Lindsay Lohan – $500,000
Born on July 2, 1986, Lohan has been on the spotlight since she started appearing in commercials at the young age of 3. But her breakthrough role was in he movie "The Parent Trap", when she was 12 years old, and played BOTH starring roles, as she was impersonating set of twins Annie and Hallie.
As any other young Disney Child Star, her flame wouldn´t burn forever, and as she started growing, it became harder and harder to find acting roles. Getting deep into addictions such as substance abuse didn´t help her, nor her bank account, either. Nowadays she hardly has $500.000 to her name. > “The money that she has isn’t really there anymore. There’s no money saved up. It’s not hard to go through $5 million, especially if you’re Lindsay Lohan”.
#24 Chris Tucker – $3 Million
Chris Tucker, born August 31, 1971, is an actor and stand up comedian, is known for playing the role of Smokey in F. Gary Gray's Friday, Detective James Carter in Rush Hour film series, and had notable roles in other renowned films such as Ruby Rhod in The Fifth Element.
He was also a frequent stand up performer on Def Comedy Jam in the 1990s. But his most acclaimed role was in Rush Hour 2 and 3. However, with time, he stopped having acting roles. He also quit paying his taxes as well, up to the point where he had 14 millions in debt. Sources comment he´s slowly recovering his finances.
#23 Teresa Giudice – $11 Million In Debt
Teresa Giudice was born on May 18, 1972, and is best known for starring in The Real Housewives of New Jersey. Additionally, she has written several successful cooking books. For several years now, she´s had ups-and-downs with her finances, this includes almost a year in prison.
Up to 2011 she lived a life of luxury with her husband and their four children, it was then when she had to declare bankrupcy, allegedly having raked up to $11 million in debt. This forced the couple to put up the mansion for sale, household items and furniture included. Two years later, they were charged for fraud in 2013, which landed them in prison. She was released after the eleventh month of her 15-months sentence.
#22 Ezra Miller – $500,000
Born on September 30, 1990, Ezra Miller is a young rising star of the silver screen. He started to train as an opera singer from an early age, and by age 18 he started acting in movies, starting with 2008 film Afterschool. He had highly praised roles in The Flash and the Harry Potter spin-off saga Fantastic Beasts.
Surprisingly, he´s only worth $500000, something that might sound confusing when you take into account that Grant Gustin, the actor of The Flash for the TV series, is worth four times as much, $2 millions. He´s had small encounters with the authorities in the past, but the charges were very small as well.
#21 Kelly Rutherford – $1 Million
Born November 6, 1968, Kelly Rutherford is renowned as being a former "Gossip Girl" in the eponymous series. Her long television career spanned at least three series: soap opera Generations (from 1989-1991); another soap opera, Melrose Place (1996-1999); and of course Gossip Girl(2007-2012).
From this impressive background, you´d think she´s got at least a few millions on her wallet, but truth is that nowadays she´s only worth $1 million. Turns out that she lost most of her savings on a lenghty custody battle for her children. It took over six years to close the case, which she lost, against her ex-husband. This case cost her over $1.4 million, which forced her to file bankrupcy in 2013.
#20 Nicolas Cage – $25 Million
Nicolas Cage, born January 7, 1964, is one of the most recognisable faces from Hollywood, and more recently because of new and old memes and jokes from the internet. But his career started long ago, and in a way, it was family tradition, as most of his direct relatives are involved with acting and directing. Because of this, he changed his last name from Coppola (His uncle is Ford Coppola) to Cage.
As we know, his career has spanned almost four decades up to this date, and many of his roles were in very successful films, so we can assume he´s swimming in money... Granted, his current net worth of $25 million is an impressive number on itself, but the numbers should be MUCH higher. So... What happened? Well, let´s just say his shopaholic tendencies have a very expensive theme: Real Estate. Currently, Cage owns 15 homes, this includes two castles and a $7 million private island.
#19 Pamela Anderson – $8 Million
As we know, Pamela Anderson, born July 1, 1967, is renowned for her role in Baywatch, and of course by her many appearances in Playboy. Her appearance, result of her many surgeries, also make her immediately recognisable, specially on her prime days. However, she became known by chance:
It all started when she attended a football game in 1989, and she was featured at random on the giant screen. She was wearing a Labatt´s Beer shirt, and soon she would be hired as a model for that company. From that point on, the rest is history. However, despite her many successes over 20 years of acting and modeling, financial troubles constantly haunted her. She allegedly owes millions in taxes, and had to sell most of her real estate. Granted, she still has $8 millions to her name.
#18 Wesley Snipes – $10 Million
Wesley Trent Snipes (born July 31, 1962) first tackled acting when he attended the High School of Performing Arts, and would become discovered by an agent during a rehearsal in his 20s. With currently $10 millions to his name, you wouldn´t call him poor. But he had to go through a lot to even keep that amount:
Being active ever since the 90s, his breakthrough role was in Marvel Comics "Blade" trilogy, which made him one of the most sought actors in Hollywood at the time. We move to 2008 and we discover that, oops! He has not been filing his taxes for a long while, six years. Owing $12 millions, he was sentenced and imprisoned for three years. His prison sentence lasted from 2010 to 2013, and we still had some credit card debts to his name.
#17 Janice Dickinson – $500,000
Born in February 16, 1955, Janice Dickinson is considered by many "The First Supermodel", with a career that started in the early 70s, after moving to New York, and being recommended by a model friend. Previous attempts at modeling had been turned down because at the time blue-eyed blonde models were favored. But she finally found a chance after this meeting.
Now, almost 50 years later, she´s been modeling for a very long time, while also becoming an actress, an author, and a television personality. Most recently and famously she´s been a judge for America's Next Top Model ever since 2003, and later on started her own agency two years later. One would think that with all these credentials she´s got a few millions at the very least, but she actually had to declare bankruptcy at some point in her career. Because of a combination of unpaid taxes and debt due to cosmetic surgeries, nowadays she only has roughly $500000 to her name.
#16 MC Hammer – $1.5 Million
One of the best known rappers in the world, even if just for his most popular song “U Can’t Touch This”, MC Hammer was born March 30, 1963, and his real, yet much less commonly known name is Stanley Kirk Burrell. He started in the 80s, immediately making himself known, and is considered a pioneer in mixing rap and pop while adding elements of choreography and freestyle to create something entirely new. Also for the Hammer Pants.
Nowadays, he is fondly remembered, but his star never rose as high as it did in the 90s again, even after continual releases of albums through the years. His ups were very high and his lows very low, until he hit rock bottom for the first time, owing $13 millions due to his excessive lifestyle which could no longer be afforded. He had to file for bankruptcy in three different years. > "My priorities were out of order" he admitted to Ebony magazine. >
#15 Gary Dourdan – $500,000
Born Gary Robert Durdin, on December 11, 1966, Gary Dourdan is best known for his starring role in CBS hit series "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation". He was interested in acting from an early age, and moved to New York during his youth to work closer to the acting atmosphere. He managed small roles and cameos in music videos, until he was discovered and started acting in series.
Despite the immense popularity of his show, Gary Dourdan is not among the list of millionaires. He actually had to file for bankruptcy in 2012, owing to his creditors almost all of his assets, save for a bit more of $500000. He even claims that nowadays he can only spare so much as $321 per month, and had to file for bankruptcy again in 2014.
#14 Dennis Rodman – $500,000
Dennis Keith Rodman, born May 13, 1961, is best known for his basketball career. The now-retired player has been in the Detroit Pistons, San Antonio Spurs, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers, and Dallas Mavericks in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Back in the 90s he also attracted attention to his name by doing flashy looks, misbehaving during games -and sometimes out of them- and dating high tier celebrities such as Madonna. He also pursued a professional wrestling career.
Even with all of this fame and these accomplishments, nowadays he can only claim to have $500000 to his name. Going from earning over $29 million in salary alone, to having filed for bankruptcy is seriously bad, and we still haven´t taken into account that he is expected to pay child support to his ex-wife. And if you think having less than a million as a celebrity is BAD, see what happens when you have $10 million... IN DEBT!
#13 Dionne Warwick – $10 Million In Debt
Dionne Warwick, born December 12, 1940, is a six-time Grammy Award-winning singer, actress, television host, and United States Ambassador of Health. She is also the second most-charted female vocalist in all recorded history, having nothing less than 56 singles making it into the Billboard Hot 100, over the span of 36 years! So you might be wondering whatever happened that nowadays, after so much success, she is deep in debt...
> "Due to the reported mismanagement of her business affairs, she lists liabilities that include nearly $7 million owed to the Internal Revenue Service for the years 1991 to 1999 and more than $3 million in business taxes owed to the state of California." Claim her lawyers. But the end of the line being that she had to file for bankrupt in 2013, because her monthly expenses were $21000, against monthly income of $20000, making it impossible to escape the red numbers.
#12 Stephen Baldwin – $500,000
Born May 12, 1966, Stephen Baldwin is an American actor, producer, director, author, and conservative political activist. He attended the American Academy of Dramatic Acts, and his three brothers are actors as well: Alec Baldwin, Daniel Baldwin, and William Baldwin. His first role was in The Beast (1988).
Ever since, he has starred in several TV shows and films over the years, such as “8 Seconds”, “The Young Riders” and “One Tough Cop”. Despite the job opportunities, he still had to file for bankruptcy in 2009, just a month after losing his home to debt. He went from having a net worth of $2.3 million to a mere $500000.
#11 Spencer Pratt & Heidi Montag – $40,000
You would think that with twice the celebrities you´d have twice the money, or that at least one of them could support the other. Sadly, this is not the case for this couple: Spencer Pratt (born August 14, 1983) and Heidi Montag (born September 15, 1986) are reality series personalities, who met in 2007 within the show The Hills, and married a couple years later. Additionally, she´s also a singer and actress.
Allegedly, they had over $10 millions together, but blew it all out because they feared "the world was going to end" > “It’s really easy to spend millions of dollars if you’re not careful and you think it’s easy to keep making millions of dollars. The money was just coming so fast and so easy that my ego led me to believe that, ‘Oh, this is my life forever.’” Pratt tells Money. Sadly for them, the world didn´t end, and they were forced to pay for their purchases. Which landed them a net worth of $40000.
#10 Jose Canseco – $500,000
Jose Canseco, born July 2, 1964, is a Cuban-American former Major League Baseball player. In 1988 Canseco became the first player to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in one season. His career started early, when he was in high school, and he had a twin brother, who, is a former Major League Baseball player as well.
As famous as his career is his use of drug to enhance his performance during games, and claimed this was rather common in the industry, calling out many others. During his times as a player his salary consisted in $45 millions, which he surprisingly wasted just as quickly, and his finances spiraled out of control. Nowadays, what´s left of his money hardly accounts for $500000.
#9 Burt Reynolds – $5 Million
Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. (February 11, 1936 – September 6, 2018), was an actor, director, and producer for film and television. He first rose to prominence when he starred in several different television series such as Gunsmoke (1962–1965), Hawk (1966), and Dan August (1970–1971).
Despite his many successes over his long career, he had to file for bankruptcy in 1996. After his divorce to Lori Anderson, plus failed investments in a small business, he was $10 million deep in debt. After a couple years, he managed to settle his debts, but sadly, he had to face more financial troubles again in 2011, and his $1.2 million home was foreclosed. Allegedly, he hadn´t paid his mortgage by 2010. By 2014 he was completely broke.
#8 Curt Schilling – $1 Million
Curtis Montague Schilling (born November 14, 1966) is yet another former Major League Baseball player. Looks like becoming an rising star in baseball might have the drawback of hitting rock bottom after retiring. But let´s see what really happened:
After his two decades of career, Curtis earned over $114 million, enough to live a comfortable life no matter how luxurious and lavish you want it to be, right? Wrong. After his retirement, he invested half of his earnings, $50 million, into a video-game company, which soon filed for bankruptcy in 2012. This failure forced his to lose even more money, and was forced to see his treasured possessions, even his $3 million home.
#7 Drake Bell – $600,000 In Debt
Young actor Drake Bell, born June 27, 1986, started his career in Nickelodeon´s "The Amanda Show" but became the star he is today thanks to his role in "Drake and Josh". Nowadays he added to his repertoire being a singer, songwriter and musician.
During his time in Nickelodeon he won over nine awards at Kid´s Choice Awards; additionally, he secured a place in the music industry by having a record deal in 2006. Despite this, this young artist had to file for bankruptcy in 2014, at the age of 28. At the moment, he was $600000 in debt.
#6 Petey Pablo – $50,000
Moses Barrett III (born July 22, 1973), better known by his stage name: Petey Pablo; is a rapper, best known for his hit "Freek-A-Leek". Moving to New York after spending 5 years in prison for a felony, he met other rappers and was overheard by Jive Records´ A&R director. He started recording in 2001.
He enjoyed moderate success until he had was arrested once again in 2011, and spent 3 more years in prison due to firearm possession. By the year 2016 he was bankrupt, owing money to far too many companies and law firms. Despite his efforts to repay his creditors, his money troubles only escalated, allegedly after he broke the terms of the agreement. All in all, he hardly has $50000 to his name.
#5 50 Cent – $20 Million
At a first glance you think $20 million is nowhere near "nothing", and that no one reading this makes that amount even in a lifetime. However, when we talk about renowned and worldwide famous 50 Cent is, that indeed sounds like "nothing".
Born in July 6, 1975 as Curtis James Jackson III, 50 Cent had a dark past of selling drugs when he was a child. During his 20s, he rose to fame thanks to the help of Eminem, and soon became the celebrity we know today. According to him, despite reaching wealth of up to $50 million at times, the money vanishes just as quickly, having him declare bankruptcy is many occasions. We hope he´ll eventually fix the holes in his pockets.
#4 Lauryn Hill – $8 Million
Lauryn Noelle Hill (born May 26, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter and rapper, known for being a member of The Fugees, and for her solo album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, which won many awards and broke several sales records. Nowadays she is worth $8 million. But this is only a small fraction of what she´s earned over the years. Let´s see why:
Growing up in a family of musicians, she joined her first band when she was still in high school. By the time she was 19, The Fugees released their first album. Over the course of her career she won several awards and broke several records. In a good year she would earn $25 millions between sales and tours. However, she was evading taxes, and by 2012 she pleaded guilty on this. If you think this is not so bad, imagine going from $200 million to almost bankrupcy:
#3 Evander Holyfield – $500,000
Evander Holyfield (born October 19, 1962) is a former professional boxer. He reigned as the undisputed champion at cruiserweight in the late 1980s and at heavyweight in the early 1990s, his career went from 1984 to 2011. He is known as "The Real Deal", and even defeated Mike Tyson in the ring.
As big as his career were his spending problems, as he made over $200 million... Please let that sink in for a moment. Because now he´s worth HALF a million. He had huge issues with his gambling addiction, and had to fund three very expensive divorces, and pay child support for his kids. He also claims that many "parasites and leeches" preyed on him, hoping to get some of his fortune.
#2 Tila Tequila – $500,000
Nguyễn Thị Thiên Thanh (born October 24, 1981), better known by her stage name Tila Tequila, is a television and social media personality. She first gained recognition for her active presence on social networking websites. Becoming the most popular person on (back in the day one of the most popular) social media platform MySpace, she was offered her own reality TV series, A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila (2007), which ran on MTV for two seasons.
Sadly, things haven´t gone well for her since the show ended, as by the end of 2015 she was so poor she had to open up to her fans and plead for their help to keep her and her child´s home. According to her GoFundMe page, she said: > “The reason why I am creating this GoFundMe campaign is because they have raised the rent at my old home to $4,500 a month, and being a single mother without any support, it can sometimes be very tough taking care of 2 people with only a 1-person income”.
#1 Mike Tyson – $3 Million
We briefly mentioned Mike Tyson a couple entries back, so now we´ll see how well is he faring, comparing to his career rival Evander Holyfield. But, since he´s on this list as well, you can expect that things aren´t looking good for him. So, without further ado, let´s see what happened:
Mike Tyson, undisputed heavyweight boxing champion of the world, was born June 30, 1966. Now retired, he competed from 1985 to 2005. Despite his worldwide reputation and fame, nowadays he´s only worth $3 million. At the peak of his career he had 100 TIMES this amount. Sadly, he´s also well known for squandering, so we can imagine what happened. He had to file for bankruptcy in 2003.