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Celebrities who went from Riches to Broke!
Many celebrities go from being rich and famous to being involved in lawsuits or spending sprees that trigger bankruptcy. MC Hammer, Meat Loaf, and 50 Cent all went from being top musicians with great wealth to bankruptcy and debt. Here are a few celebrities who went from being rich to broke real quick.
The King of Pop Michael Jackson, was supposedly $400 million in debt when he died unexpectedly in 2009. He was also close to foreclosure on his famous Neverland home. Large amounts of spending required Jackson to take out loans, many which he never paid back. Jackson’s money problems got worse once he was involved in numerous expensive lawsuits. Right before he died, Jackson planned on getting out of debt by going on tour. His estate has resolved the financial issues and Michael has been the top-earning dead celebrity for five straight years.
Heavyweight champion Mike Tyson earned $300 million over his career but he was knocked down with a $23 million debt in 2003. He declared bankruptcy, returned to jail, and went through rehab before he again reached financial stability. By 2003, he owed money to the IRS, British tax authorities, lawyers, a personal trainer, a financial manager, and a music producer, among others. Tyson had to pay $9 million in a divorce settlement and was also behind on child support.
50 Cent broke out as a rapper, but he makes most of his money from a diverse business empire. He first encountered trouble in the 2008 recession when his stocks took a dive. In 2015, 50 Cent was $32.5 million in debt while caught up in lawsuits and unpaid child support payments. The next year, he declared bankruptcy. More recently, he got lucky when Bitcoin surged in value. He received 700 bitcoins as payment for a 2014 album and his share of cryptocurrency came to be worth millions.
MC Hammer had a legitimate hit with “U Can’t Touch This” and the rapper soon had $30 million in the bank. But Hammer went on a spending spree and declared bankruptcy in 1996 while he was $13 million in debt. Before he went broke, Hammer bought a $1 million mansion that he made $30 million worth of adjustments to and staffed 200 people in his home. He also bought a horse stable where he kept 19 racehorses. Combined with his unrestrained spending and numerous lawsuits, it’s easy to see how MC Hammer fell.
Rodman was known as a great rebounder and teammate of Michael Jordan before becoming an eccentric celebrity with a short marriage to Carmen Electra and eventually an unofficial US ambassador to North Korea. In 2012, Rodman’s lawyers said he could barely afford living expenses and could not pay child support for his two kids. At the time, he owed over $800,000 in back child support but claimed to be broke and sick.
