Quick Links

All of the extreme perks that come with being a celebrity are somehow exemplified when compared to what we, everyday ordinary muggles, get. This is especially the case with their income or, in an effort to be more accurate, multiple sources of income. In short, celebs normally make a whole lot of cash. (While we don’t.)

But celebrities are also capable of losing a whole lot of cash. When they go broke, they go broke hard.

Here’s another truth. In many cases, celebrities who are so used to living the high life either struggle with or are unable to make that responsible shift towards living a less extravagant lifestyle when they lose their dough. Either they outright refuse to moderate their cash flow (a flow that goes out of their pockets, not in), are in a state of utter denial that they have nothing, or don’t believe that the rules of money apply to them.

This is a list of celebrities who are bankrupt, are being sued, are facing lawsuits, or are still recovering from any of these (and more) financial dilemmas, but still do stupid things like buying a crap load of expensive things when they shouldn’t. The higher the ranking, the more ridiculous the celebrity’s debt. In the best cases, the celebrities have not only lost a lot of cash but are still acting as though they still have it.

Janice Dickinson

For a woman who not only calls herself the “first supermodel,” but who’s described as such by others, it’s rather shocking that she has filed for bankruptcy. That’s what Janice Dickinson did in 2013 due to her having accumulated about $1 million in debt, as reported by the New York Post.

For those who are unfamiliar with her work, Janice was a judge on “four cycles” of America’s Next Top Model and opened a modeling agency, which was featured on the reality TV series The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency.

Anyway, the bankruptcy isn’t just some misreported mumbo-jumbo. The self-professed original supermodel also confirmed it by telling Radar Online that she’d had some trouble, saying, “I am upset and taking every step to pay everyone back and I feel terrible about it.”

Luckily, Janice just recently married a rich dude, Dr. Robert ‘Rocky’ Gerner, who took her on a three-week honeymoon, traveling from Cannes, Frejus, St. Tropez, and Monaco aboard a 53-foot yacht. And despite her failures, Janice still has the audacity to “pose” for cameras in skimpy outfits as though she were still a young supermodel with tons of her own cash.

Drake Bell

The only people who could ever be more annoying than young Disney “stars” are young “stars” who have had their own shows on Nickelodeon. One of the more obnoxious of these fools is Drake Bell who starred in Drake & Josh.

To top it all off, he’s also a “musician.” In what only makes his soon-to-be-described money problems hilarious, it should be noted that around the time when his cash deficiency was made public, he released a song called “B*tchcraft.” Yes. You read that correctly. “B*tchcraft.”

Well, this “grownup” celebrity is now having some financial woes, ones which forced him to foreclose his 2,640-foot house in 2014, which he paid over $2 million for. It’s been reported that he was also in debt for $581,000. At that time, he was only making $2,820 a month, and he was spending over $19,000!

Brendan Fraser

Who hasn’t seen The Mummy, The Mummy Returns, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, George of the Jungle, Bedazzled, and Journey to the Center of the Earth? If you haven’t seen them, you’ve probably heard of them. And what those movies have in common is that Brendan Fraser was the star.

And yet, Brendan still has problems making alimony and child support payments. In 2013, he petitioned for a reduction in both because he couldn’t meet the annual obligation of $900,000 to his ex-wife, actress Afton Smith, who he married in 1998, had three sons with, and divorced in 2007. That’s incredible to believe.

We should point out that it’s not incredible that he got a divorce, but that he couldn’t pay her $900,000 a year. Smith also couldn’t believe it, understandably, later accusing him of hiding financial assets.

But, according to TMZ, it looks as though Fraser’s expenses have him losing just over $87,000 a month. Among other things, he pays over $112,000 a month on professional expenses as well as $5,200 on gardening and $3,000 on staff.

Time to stop living the high life.

DMX

DMX is having a rough time, and it was especially bad in 2013. In addition to being arrested on numerous occasions for various misdemeanors involving vehicular transportation, 2013 also saw the beginning of the rapper’s financial problems being made public. In July, he filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy (the priority claim being his child support obligations).

DMX was ostensibly so deep in debt that he resorted to robbery in June of 2015, a crime for which he was arrested. (He was also arrested for outstanding child support.) DMX was arrested a month later for failing to pay $400,000 in child support and again in December of that year after failing to appear in court.

Despite all of that stupidity, his album, Redemption of the Beast, was released (without his consent) in 2015, the kicker being that he’s nowhere close to finding any sort of redemption, at least financially and lawfully.

And in 2016, he released provocatively named songs that would suggest he’s still relevant—Blood Red and Bain Iz Back—in 2017. The irony is that the only things that are back are his problems.

This July, the rapper appeared in court and was charged with 14 tax fraud-related counts of allegedly unpaid taxes dating back to 2000. The amount was a whopping $1.7 million! If DMX is found guilty, he would face up to 44 years behind bars. So far, he’s been charged with one felony count on the grounds of him attempting to interfere with the administration of the U.S. internal revenue laws, seven felony counts of willful attempted tax evasion, and six demeanor counts of willful failure to file tax returns.

Bow Wow

You may think that when we say that Bow Wow’s net worth is $600,000, we’re underlining how well off he is. But, that’s not the case.

Over the years, the rapper has owed over $90,000 to the IRS, has gotten $420,000 worth of cars repossessed, and has to pay $3,000 in child support costs per month (which he originally tried to get out of, but only led to him having to pay $11,500 in back pay). Regardless, Bow Wow still feels as though he should go above and beyond for himself, especially when he recently splurged his dwindling cash supply in celebration of his 30th birthday this year.

And we are not using the word “splurged” lightly. Two weeks after celebrating the big “3-0,” he continued to party it up at strip clubs, one of which involved Bow Wow shelling out a whopping $15,000 on the dance floor. At the time, he’d already thrown nine parties for himself and still had two more planned even though he’d already been 30 for almost a month.

Slow down, Bow Wow.

Tyga

Tyga’s “fail” list is quite extensive. Even though he’s quite deep in debt, Tyga still throws cash around as though he weren’t. Tyga’s interminable spending is so ridiculous that XXLMag.com felt it prudent to create a list of 20 times that Tyga excessively spent money when he probably didn’t have any to spend in the first place.

Here we go! Tyga’s had a Maybach and Ferrari repossessed, the latter of which took place while he was perusing cars at a Bentley dealership with his ex-girlfriend Kylie Jenner, has owed more than $270,000 to a jeweller, has owed $284,000 to a fan (who sued him for having gotten injured at one of his concerts), and has had many run-ins with previous landowners (he’s been ordered to pay more than $186,000 in back rent, has paid $240,000 out of $480,000 due to another landowner, and was sued by yet another for $75,000.)

Oh, and Tyga may also owe his ex, Blac Chyna, for child support.

Lindsay Lohan

This girl has experienced a great deal of problems over the years, mostly due to her own stupidity of which knows no bounds. As for the kinds of trouble she’s faced, those, too, are boundless, encapsulating so much more than just drug abuse. Among them includes a constant failure to manage her finances responsibly.

Probably the most famous story detailing her inability to keep cash, involved Charlie Sheen, who gave (not loaned, but gave) her a check for $100,000. While a lot of dough, it apparently didn’t get invested properly because she is still having problems.

At one point, Lindsay reportedly had $600,000 worth of credit card debt and, at a separate time, owed the IRS around $300,000.

Then, in late 2016, Lindsay faced bankruptcy after she’d failed to pay £78,000 in rent on her £3.5 million London flat. At the same time, her ex-fiancé was calling for her arrest after she’d allegedly taken £24,000 worth of his belongings. Oh, and just to put her suffering in context, in October of that year, Lindsay had been in a horrific boating accident, one that involved her losing a portion of her left hand’s ring finger. Even though her severed limb was found and later reattached at the hospital, that’s still quite a lot to deal with.

Despite all this, Lohan is still starting a lifestyle site called Preemium. How will she possibly pay for it?

Ja Rule

Ja Rule’s recent Fyre Festival fiasco—a festival which he once claimed was going to be a life-changing event, but left attendees stranded in an unfinished campsite—is causing him some intense problems. He and its organizers are facing a 100-million-dollar federal class-action lawsuit, due to them having created a “dangerous” situation for attendees who weren’t provided with adequate food, water, or shelter.

Ja Rule was arrested as a result in June on charges of defrauding investors. Sure, the rapper was released on bond, but that required him to pay $300,000.

Heck, even before the suing and lawsuits began, Ja Rule and the festival’s organizers had apparently racked up $7 million in debt for its creation. And yet, Ja Rule is still carrying on as though nothing has happened. Just check out his social media, including a recent Instagram post of him with his “Hitter!!!”

Jim Davidson

Controversial comedian Jim Davidson declared bankruptcy in 2006 for owing £700,000 in taxes while over a decade ago, Jim was still in debt last year, admitting in an interview that he’d “never saved anything” and that he “hadn’t got any money now. None.”

When asked if he’d been able to bounce back financially, Jim said “not really.”

In the same interview, Jim revealed that he has no assets besides his Range Rover. Sure, he may have had eight houses, but they’ve all been taken away or given to people. Jim also claims that if he cleared out all of his bank accounts, he’d have maybe £20,000.

Here are some things Jim has spent his money on—two million “quid” on “six pantos,” £2 million on a PA system that was a complete failure, and £750,000 in Great Yarmouth Pier.

Jim also says that he went “a bit mad on cars and boats.” He had a 31-foot Sunseeker (£40,000) and a Princess 55 (which he bought for £225,000 but which ended up costing him £8 million).

The biggest drain on his finances is currently his £80,000 car (which is now worth £30,000 and which costs him about a thousand “quid” a week on fuel). The problem is that Jim stopped caring about money when he became famous. Heck, his motto during his heyday was “Spend tomorrow’s money today.”

Alyssa Milano

Charmed and Who’s The Boss actress diva Alyssa Milano believes that the reason why she’s “millions of dollars in debt” is because of her former business manager, Kenneth Hellie. She is quite adamant in her belief, in fact, that Alyssa filed a 10-million-dollar lawsuit against Hellie in June of this year.

Alyssa alleges that Hellie failed to pay her overdue bills, invested $350,000 in a parking lot that hasn’t generated any revenue, and made bad investments in companies without disclosing just how horrible they actually were. Alyssa also blames Hellie for her having spent $5 million on renovating her home when it was only worth $3 million, a renovation project that violated Ventura County building codes, forcing Alyssa to pay $350,000 in fines.

But, there’s more. Alyssa says that she didn’t take a job because Hellie had assured her that her finances were fine when, obviously, they weren’t. Milano laments that the gig would’ve gotten her $1.3 million.

Hellie, however, has since denied these allegations, saying this situation was similar to another celebrity's colossal screw-ups, a celebrity that, coincidentally, is number one on this list.

Nicolas Cage

Nicolas Cage may be best known for his superfluous acting style, but we believe he should be known more so for his reckless spending activities on insanely expensive things.

To give you an idea, he’s bought properties on Paradise Island—not just one, but two, castles (the medieval Schloss Neidstein and Midford)—and a 24,000-square-foot country manor (which has 12 bedrooms and 10 full bathrooms with the Atlantic Ocean as its backyard) on 26 acres.

But that’s not all. According to Samuel Levin, Cage went on, in his own terms, “shopping sprees” that involved Cage “shopping for high ticket purchases,” such as “15 personal residences,” a Gulfstream jet, a “flotilla” of yachts, a “squadron of Rolls Royces,” and “millions of dollars” in jewelry and art.

As you can imagine, Cage lost control of his insane amount of assets. The IRS started pursuing the actor for failing to pay over $6.2 million in federal income tax, then again, for $350,000. Cage has also faced separate lawsuits from East West Bank and Red Curb Investments for unpaid multimillion-dollar loans.

As of May 2017, it’s been reported that Cage is taking film roles “left and right” to pay off his debts. Cage has also been selling a lot of his stuff, including his Action Comics 1 for a record-breaking $2.16 million, which he’d purchased in 1997 for $110,000.

Tori Spelling

It’s crazy to believe that Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott—who already have five kids—are not opposed, as of this month, to the idea of getting pregnant again.

It’s even crazier to believe this when, in June, it was reported that they have an incredible amount of financial debt, which an insider has said “just keeps growing and growing” to the point that they’re so deep in a hole “that it seems there may be no way out.”

Last year, it was revealed that the family owes over $700,000 in 2014 taxes to the government. In addition, Tori was sued by her credit card company last October for failing to pay her overdue balance of nearly $38,000 and then an additional $87,000 in November. Oh, and Tori and Dean owe an additional $220,000 and have neglected to pay off a $400,000 loan from 2010.

It’s no wonder many sources are saying that she could end up serving time behind bars.

Despite all of this debt, Tori, in July of 2017, held a lavish unicorn-themed birthday party for her nine-year-old daughter, complete with a pony.

50 Cent

There ain’t any clickity clank, clickity clanking happening in 50 Cent’s piggybank, unless it’s a piggybank owned by the IRS.

Even though 50 Cent was an incredibly successful rapper in the 2000’s (he was the second wealthiest rapper in 2007, second only to Jay-Z; and he was the fifth richest in 2015 with a net worth of $155 million), he apparently lost it all, seeing as he filed for bankruptcy in June of 2015.

This declaration of bankruptcy was spurred on when it was discovered that he had a debt of $32,509,549.91!

What didn’t help, however, was that just days before he made the motions to file, 50 Cent had been ordered by a jury to pay $5 million to Lastonia Leviston after he’d posted a s*x tape of her online (a tape that didn’t include him doing the deed). Add that to the fact that he recently lost a dispute over a failed business deal, where he’d invested over $2 million while his partner was awarded $17.2 million.

Instead of spending his money wisely, 50 Cent bought $500,000 worth of cars (a collection that includes a 2010 Rolls Royce and a 1966 Chevrolet Coupe) and had the audacity of making Instagram posts showing “stacks of money” that were ostensibly his.

Kanye West

It’s insane to consider that Kanye West could ever be in debt. This is especially the case when you take into account that, according to an insider, two shows during his Saint Pablo Tour earned him $1.5 million (each) and that the rest racked in $550,000 each. In total, from August 25 and November 1 of last year, Kanye got $20.75 million from touring.

But, he’s still $53 million in debt. And there’s a reason for it.

Kanye spends a crap load—or, as per another source, an “outrageous” amount—on security and nannies for his family. Add that to the fact that he owns a 4.5-million-dollar NYC apartment, an 11-million-dollar Bel Air house, and a 20-million-dollar mansion that he’s been renovating since 2014. Oh, and he likes taking private jets, too. Each flight costs him about $30,000. Then, there are his team (yes, team) of doctors who he calls up when he’s not feeling well, and, apparently, he does this often.

Such a drama queen.

Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp has been getting into some drama lately. And this drama has nothing to do with him renegading as a pirate on screen. Johnny has apparently lost tens of millions of dollars. And the kicker is that he doesn’t think that it’s his fault. He blames everything on his former business managers at TMG and recently sued them for $25 million in January of 2017.

TMG, however, has refuted his claims, saying that they have loaned the cap’n $5 million (a loan which he’s only repaid $800,000 back) and that they have bailed him out of numerous legal crises, including hush-money settlements.

Johnny’s failure of even remotely paying TMG back for his outstanding debts is probably due to his perpetual need to embellish his extravagant lifestyle with excessive purchases.

The New York Post has reported that Johnny has blown through $2 million per month, bought an 18-million-dollar yacht, has $75 million worth in properties around the world, and spends hundreds of thousands of dollars to employ full-time staffers.

And even though times have gotten tough for the fictional seafarer, Johnny has outright refused to sell his private jet.