Personally I’m not sure which field is worse to get into in terms of potentially losing all your money: sports or movie stardom. Granted many athletes and celebrities have little to no money problems but you’d be surprised how many dumb moves some of these folks make.
In fact, bankruptcy is much more common than you think when it comes to celebrities. Check out this list of 15 celebrities who have gone bankrupt at one point or another. Be sure to click “next” to see each celebrity!
1) MC Hammer
The flamboyant musician earned $33 million in the early 1990s, but quickly blew all his cash, aided in part by his purchase of two private helicopters.
2) Michael Jackson
Though he never filed bankruptcy, The King of Pop had a well-documented struggle with debt. Sources say Jackson purchased ten robot dogs with artificial intelligence on a whim.
3) Kim Basinger
The actress allegedly paid $20 million to buy a small town in Georgia in 1989. Basinger’s grand ambitions were thwarted when she filed for bankruptcy four years later.
4) Mark Twain
The creator of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn saw his finances float up the river when he invested in a series of misguided get-rich-quick schemes.
5) Mike Tyson
Tyson had to file for bankruptcy despite earning more than $300 million as a professional boxer.
6) Willie Nelson
The famous singer-songwriter filed bankruptcy after receiving a bill from the Internal Revenue Service topping $16 million for unpaid taxes.
7) Walt Disney
Before he created the eponymous entertainment company, Disney had a few failed business ventures, forcing him to file bankruptcy in 1923.
8) Nicolas Cage
The notoriously crazy actor was charged with unpaid taxes totaling more than $6 million by the IRS. And that was just the taxes for the 2007 fiscal year.
9) Donald Trump
Multi-billionaire Donald Trump has filed for corporate bankruptcy four times in 1991, 1992, 2004 and 2009. However, he has never filed for personal bankruptcy – which is an important distinction when considering his ability to emerge relatively unscathed, at least financially