Mischief & Mayhem

Hollywood actors are some of the highest earning people in the world. A single hit movie can propel their worth to heights common people can only dream of.

However, there is also the stark reality that some actors just can’t handle their finances properly. Whether it’s due to drug use or unnecessary, excessive spending, some of them often find the need to take on the services of a bankruptcy lawyer to sort our their mess.

One has to admit that there are certain personalities who, if they go bankrupt, don’t surprise us. There are others, though, who don’t seem to fit the bill.

Here are some Hollywood celebrities you won’t believe have gone bankrupt. Schadenfreude doesn’t have anything to do with this post, okay?

Burt Reynolds

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The prolific actor who has given many a female viewer chills down their spine surprisingly found himself in a really bad financial situation back in 2011. He was faced with a foreclosure demand for his compound in Valhalla, in Hobe Sound, Fla., which he tried selling. Late last year, he was still trying to get money together to avoid total ruin by selling more than 600 items from his personal collection of film memorabilia.

Toni Braxton

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Perhaps most known for her hit song “Unbreak My Heart”, singer Toni Braxton certainly raked in cash during her heyday. However, she suffered blow after blow, especially in the health department. The singer has been battling lupus, and finances got tight due to medical bills. As if that were not enough, she faces tens of millions in debt, not to mention owing the IRS for unpaid taxes.

Dionne Warwick

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Who would have thought that the lady who brought us “I Say a Little Prayer” would face dire financial straits? She was such a wholesome role model and was even a United Nations Global Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization, and a United States Ambassador of Health!

In 2013, though, she had to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in New Jersey due to “mismanaged business affairs”. She owes the IRS millions, not to mention more millions in California business taxes.

Larry King

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The much respected journalist has amassed quite a fortune over they years, but he was not always in a good financial state. Back in the 70s, he was already a known newspaper editor and radio personality. However, he was not in a good way in terms of money, with hundreds of thousands in debt, as well as an accusation of grand larceny (involving a former business partner). The result was that Larry King had to file for bankruptcy in 1978. Fortunately, his career got a jumpstart after that.

Nicolas Cage

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So Nicolas Cage has made more than his fair share of bad – nay, awful – movie choices, but that doesn’t necessarily result in going bankrupt, does it? I mean, he did have some good movies from which he surely made money; and he still did earn from those flops. His reputation probably suffered more from those movies than his finances. In fact, in 2009, he was one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood.

Why did he go bankrupt then? A disastrous combination of major spending issues and just-as-bad issues with his financial advisor. What might very well save him from total ruin is the fact that his major spending issues allow him to offload castles, luxury yachts, vintage cars, and more.

Why Celebrities Go Bankrupt