Due to overspend and " bad investments , " T - Pain went from having $ 40 million in the bank to accept nothing to his name . He said , " I , like , had to borrow money to get my fry Burger King . "
Fame and wealth often go hand-in-hand — but not always. Sometimes, people with widely recognizable names don’t have the level of unimaginable wealth we associate with a celebrity, whether because they struggled to manage their finances or because they struggled to find work. Other times, they’re “I can pay off my house” rich, but not, like, “I can buy three $100 million houses” rich.
Here are 17 celebs who opened up about being famous but not ultra-wealthy:
1.After blowing through all the money he made from “Parents Just Don’t Understand” and releasing a flop album,Will Smithwas broke and indebted to the IRS. In aYouTube video, he said, “Being famous and broke is a shitty combination, ‘cuz you still famous, and people recognize you, but they recognize you while you sitting next to them on the bus.”
2.Sydney Sweeney, who lived in a single room with her entire family when they first moved to LA, told theHollywood Reporter, “I want to have a family…[but] I was worried that, if I don’t work, there is no money and no support for kids I would have. If I wanted to take a six-month break [to have a baby], I don’t have income to cover that. I don’t have someone supporting me; I don’t have anyone I can turn to, to pay my bills or call for help.”
She continued , " They do n’t pay actor like they used to , and with streamers , you no longer get remainder . The set up stars still get paid , but I have to give five percentage to my attorney , 10 percent to my agent , three percent or something like that to my business managing director . I have to pay my publicist every month , and that ’s more than my mortgage . … If I just acted , I would n’t be able to yield my life sentence in LA . I take bargain because I have to . "
3.In aYouTube videoabout how she lost all the money she made during herDisneyChannel days through overspending,Christy Carlson Romanosaid that, after spending everything she’d earned, she had to start taking roles purely for financial reasons. She said, “There was a specific movie [Mirrors 2] that I actually did that I’m not proud of.I did a nude scene. I had never thought in a million years that I would ever do something like this — I was America’s sweetheart, morally sound in my mind. I believed in the Disney magic; I still do. I felt so exploited, marked, and horrible.”
She also said , " My biggest affair about child actor — you are n’t told that the work is going to slow down . In fact , I was told the contrary , specifically by my mom , some of my team , even my money manager at the time . ' Oh , do n’t vex , the balance come ; you ’re going to keep making money . ' It ’s interesting , it breed a sort of contempt in me . It ’s a wondrous amount of force per unit area , and I think I self - destroy . "
4.ThoughThe Kissing BoothmadeJacob Elordian overnight celebrity, he struggled to book roles afterwards. He ended up sleeping in his car or crashing at a friend’s until he got a part inEuphoria, where a producer helped him rent a hotel room. He toldGQ, “I got really lucky. Which is just an LA story, you know?”
He also said , " I think I had — I do n’t be intimate , $ 400 or $ 800 entrust in my camber report — andEuphoriawas my last audition before I went home for a little while to make some money and recuperate . "
5.With her first recording contract,Toni Braxtonmade her label $170 million in album sales, but she was only paid $1,972 in royalties, which contributed to her first bankruptcy. She told20/20, “What happens is they give you advancement [that you have to pay back] on the next record and then the next record. So, you kind of stay in debt, in a sense.”
After a career revitalisation in 2000 , then a triplet of badly performing albums , she ego - financed a revue show in Las Vegas . However , after being diagnose with microvascular angina pectoris and lupus , she had to cancel . This led to her second bankruptcy .
6.Incourt documentspertaining to her divorce from Peter Loughran in 2013, Lena Headey said, “At the present time, I have less than $5 in my bank account and have been using credit cards to pay for living expenses for myself and our son Wylie.”
She also said that they " fire through their savings " and " receive a substantial amount of consumer debt to pay for our living expenses during marriage " because , after her pregnancy , insurance companies decide she was uninsurable , and she was unable to work .
7.AfterNed’s Declassified School Survival Guideended, Devon Werkheiser booked smaller parts and lived on his savings until they ran out at 25. He toldInsider, “Over the years, supporting-role jobs started paying less in the industry, and at the same time, I was booking less and less. The only thing I knew to do was to go get some hourly job and start working my way out of my situation. I got a 9-to-5 for the first time in my life. It was a real wake-up call for me.”
He cover , " I see I still had a lot to instruct about grownup - spirit . And I jazz there ’s people out there who can relate — Ned’shelped people my age with lead on in-between school , but over a decade later on , that audience that grew up with me has been in my DMs like , ' Where’sNed’sguide to college ? ' or ' Where’sNed’sguide to adulting ? ' "
The experience inspired him to start an advice podcast , Growing Up with Devon .
8.T-Pain toldThe Breakfast Clubthat, due to overspending and “bad investments,” he went from having $40 million in the bank to having nothing to his name. He said, “I, like, had to borrow money to get my kids Burger King.”
He said , " I was letting my managing director do [ my tangible - acres investment ] , and he was way more affirmative than I was . … [ We ] never sold anything that we bought . … We just had to have everything go . "
9.Ke Huy Quan made his big comeback to acting withEverything Everywhere All at Once, but when production paused for eight months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he was unable to book any more roles. OnThe Late Late Show with James Corden, he said, “I was so nervous. I was about to lose my health insurance. So, I called my agent, and I said, ‘Can you please get me anything? It doesn’t matter, I just need one job to make the minimum requirement so I can qualify for health insurance the following year.'”
He continue , " And I could not get one single job . sure enough enough , 2021 came and go , and I lost my health insurance . "
10.Mayim Bialik left acting to pursue neuroscience, but she accepted a role onThe Big Bang Theoryso that she could get health insurance through the Screen Actors Guild. She toldthe Social, “I had a toddler and a newborn, and I had been a grad student, and my insurance was expiring. … I figured if I can just get even a couple of jobs like here or there, I’ll be able to get insurance again.”
She continued , " I did not expect to be a steady on a telly show . I had been teaching neuroscience . I ’ve tutor Hebrew . I ’ve tutor piano . I wear a lot of hat , you love . … [ The show ] changed my life , and I got indemnity . "
11.Speaking on Capitol Hill in support of the Paycheck Fairness Act, Michelle Williamstoldlawmakers, “In late 2017, the news broke that I had been paid less than $1,000 compared to the $1.5 million that my male counterpart had received for the exact same amount of work [for reshoots onAll the Money in the World]. And guess what? No one cared.”
She continue , " This came as no surprise to me , it simply reinforce my life - learned belief that equality was not an inalienable right and that women would always be working just as hard for less money , while shouldering more responsibility in their home . And if it was like this for me , a white woman in a glamourise industry , how were my sisters suffering across their professing ? "
12.After his UFC release, MMA fighter Kevin Lee told theThe Fighter vs. the Writerpodcast, “We can’t take away too much from the UFC — they do a great job of promoting, but it kind of sucks being famous but not being rich. That’s not really the goal. This is America. We value the dollar more than anything. Be rich first, and then be famous.”
He preserve , " When I ’m giving advice to vernal fighters on what they should do and where they should be , I recount them the UFC ai n’t top dog no more . Maybe in term of forwarding , but if you just desire people to know who you are , you may do a whole muckle more bastard that this . If you ’re in it to provide for your family and do some other poppycock , there ’s some more options out there . "
13.In 2014,American Pieactor Chris Owen was working as a server at a sushi restaurant. He told theNY Daily News, “Life doesn’t always go the way you planned. I love acting, and this job lets me stay in the fight.”
He stay , " I get recognise a tidy sum . I walk up to the table and see the aspect in their heart . … hoi polloi get excited , and it feel safe . I wish connect with people for that abbreviated consequence in time . "
14.Similarly, in 2011,Hairspraystar Nikki Blonsky was working at a salon. OnTwitter, she said, “Its true Im workin @ Superstar Salon as a makeup artist & more Im proud 2 b workin & helpin pay bills BUT ill NEVER loose sight of my dreams [sic].”
In anothertweet , she append , " Just cause I m part time workin does nt mean I m gon na give up on my dreams n do nt give up on Ur I might hold something big soon keep plus [ sic ] . "
15.On a 2016 episode ofLife or Debt, Aaron Carter said, “Financially, I’m in a terrible position. When I turned 18, I got hit with all those taxes. I filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy last year; now, I’m already over $100,000 in debt.”
" It ’s been really difficult for me . I need to have a living define up . I want to have a house . I ca n’t tell you how ill I want to have a home base , " he total .
He also said that , at 18 , he sign up his millions over to his parents so they would n’t go to prison for tax nonpayment . At the fourth dimension of the consultation , he had no savings and overdrew his bank account .
16.Though they made more than $2 million a year during their time onThe Hills, Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt squandered nearly everything as fast as they earned it. She toldPeople, “I was feeling so alone and defeated. Everyone else on our cast had houses, and we had nothing to show for what we’d done. I was like, the haters were right! It was sad.”
Pratt say , " We were keep up with the Joneses , but we were going against Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes . We should have stayed in our reality TV lane . "
Montag add up , " I sense like I was someone I was n’t . We had business managers who recite us to stop spend , but we do like we have it away what we were doing . "
17.And finally, in 2018,The Cosby Showactor Geoffrey Owens was working at Trader Joe’s. He toldGood Morning America, “I wanted a job where I could have some flexibility [regarding auditions and such]. I didn’t advertise it, not because I was ashamed of it, but because I didn’t want the acting community to think that I wasn’t pursuing acting anymore.”
He added , " No one should feel dark for me . I ’ve had a majuscule life , a great career . "
