Actors Who Lost All Their Money

While many celebrities aren't as rich as we might assume, being a successful actor does usually bring with it at least a few million dollars over a career. With decent financial management skills and the right people taking care of that money, you'd think it would be hard to go broke, right? Star in a couple hit movies and be set for life — just sit on a beach for the next few decades and relax knowing the everyday financial concerns of normal people will never be a problem.

Well, considering there are many billionaires who lost their entire fortunes, you better believe that even A-list actors are capable of blowing the millions they make in Hollywood. While almost all of them filed for bankruptcy at some point, the stories of how they got there are as varied as their careers. From child stars who were screwed over to stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood to some of the quirkiest thespians to ever grace our screens, here are actors who lost all their money.

Nicolas Cage is Hollywood royalty as both an Academy Award winner and a member of the Coppola family. His filmography is vast and includes come classic performances, including his Oscar-winning turn in "Leaving Las Vegas" and his Oscar-nominated dual roles in "Adaptation." His talent and connections meant he made a fortune ... and then the headlines about his crazy spending habits and financial difficulties started appearing.

Cage, a huge Superman fan, bought an incredibly rare copy of "Action Comics" #1 for $150,000. Then there was the $276,000 dinosaur skull. Real estate was his particular favorite, purchasing estates in several countries, including two different castles in Europe. Then the IRS filed a $6.3 million tax lien against the actor. He was forced to sell the comic book, and the dinosaur skull was seized after it was discovered to be stolen — but that didn't mean Cage got his money back.

In dire financial straits, Cage told The New York Times, "...it's no secret that mistakes have been made in my past that I've had to try to correct. Financial mistakes happened with the real estate implosion that occurred, in which the lion's share of everything I had earned was pretty much eradicated. But one thing I wasn't going to do was file for bankruptcy. I had this pride thing where I wanted to work my way through anything, which was both good and bad." And work he did. From about 2017 to 2019, Cage filmed 20 movies.

Blond bombshell Kim Basinger has appeared in dozens of films, including classics like "8 Mile," Tim Burton's "Batman," "9 1/2 Weeks," and "L.A. Confidential," the latter of which she won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for. But it was one film she didn't appear in that saw her end up in bankruptcy court.

In 1991, Basinger backed out of the lead role in a small film called "Boxing Helena." This breach of contract led to a lawsuit by the studio producing the film. It took years to go through the courts, with Basinger originally being told to pay the company over $8 million in damages and attorney's fees. This was later overturned on appeal, but not before the actor filed for Chapter 11, saying the award was millions more than her net worth. Eventually, she settled the dispute for $3.8 million.

Basinger's net worth in the early '90s might have been much more, if not for a strange purchase she made in 1989. That year, she and other investors spent $20 million to buy a small Georgia town near where she grew up. The original plans for the place were wide-ranging, including building a movie studio there, restoring the town's old buildings, and making a film about the area. These dreams remained unrealized, however, and she began selling off bits of her vast purchase in the middle of her "Boxing Helena" financial difficulties.

While Stephen Baldwin is one of several famous acting brothers, his career was not the most successful. For example, he's probably one of the celebrities you forgot appeared on "Fear Factor." However, he did have a role in 1995's undeniable classic "The Usual Suspects." What he did not have was a good financial run starting about a decade after that film came out. 

In 2006, Baldwin tried to sell his New York home, but when there were no takers, he just stopped paying the mortgage. When he filed for bankruptcy in 2009, it was revealed he actually had two mortgages on the home. The problem was he owed a combined $1.2 million on them while the house was only worth $1.1 million. Not to mention the $1 million in back taxes the IRS wanted, and $70,000 in credit card debt. 

The actor managed to hold on to his home until 2017, when a judge finally ruled the bank could auction it off and demanded Baldwin vacate the property. Despite the stress of his various financial difficulties, Baldwin didn't learn his lesson when it came to paying taxes on time, as he was ordered to pay $400,000 in back taxes in 2013 after failing to file for another three years, although this was eventually reduced to $300,000. 

Gary Coleman found fame in the late 1970s as an adorable child actor on the classic sitcom "Diff'rent Strokes." However, his career after that was less notable, and when he was about to turn 18, he gained access to the trust fund that many states require child stars to have in order to protect their money. In Coleman's case, however, this safeguard had not worked, and instead of the $18 million the trust should have contained, there was less than a quarter million left. Eventually he won the resulting lawsuits against his parents and representative, although he received only $3.8 million, barely 20% of what he'd earned.

Despite this relatively small victory, Coleman's financial problems continued. While he was cast in the occasional guest-starring role on sitcoms, the actor also began working regular jobs, most notably as a security guard. However, he lost that job in 1998 after assaulting a persistent autograph hunter. Coleman filed for bankruptcy in 1999. 

When he died in 2010, aged just 42, the actor left a will stating that he wanted "a wake for me conducted by those who have had no financial ties to me and can look each other in the eyes and say they really cared personally for Gary Coleman" (via TMZ).

Burt Reynolds had a thriving career in the 1970s and '80s, appearing in classic films like "Smokey and the Bandit" and "Deliverance." He spent the money he earned liberally, buying many expensive properties, 150 horses, a private jet, and a helicopter, and investing $20 million in two restaurant chains. But the restaurants were failures, and he lost much of his fortune. Then there was his divorce from longtime partner Loni Anderson. It was tabloid fodder in the mid-1990s and dragged on for years, racking up millions in attorney's fees. Anderson later accused him of often failing to pay child support for their son. She took her ex to court again decades later, resulting in Reynolds only paying Anderson everything he owed from the divorce in 2015.

In 1996, CBS demanded Reynolds pay back $3.7 million it had lent him. Finally, Reynolds filed for bankruptcy. "I've been trying to get him to go Chapter 11 for seven years. I've begged him. Implored him," Reynolds' lawyer told The Washington Post at the time. "But he's from the old school that thinks if a person goes bankrupt it means he is no better than the salesman who comes in and takes your money."

Despite his many financial issues, in an interview with Vanity Fair in 2015, when asked what his greatest regrets were, Reynolds replied, "I would have spent more money and had a lot more fun."

Debbie Reynolds was a fine actress, but her divorce from Eddie Fisher (who left her for good friend Elizabeth Taylor) became infamous, and the fame her daughter Carrie Fisher found in "Star Wars" eclipsed Reynolds' own. Then there were her notorious financial problems. In the midst of her second divorce, from businessman Harry Karl, Reynolds claimed he had blown her savings on his gambling addiction, by some estimates up to $100 million. While her first two marriages had ended badly, it was her third one that would eventually lead her to bankruptcy court. 

In the 1970s, Reynolds started collecting Hollywood memorabilia, especially costumes. So when third husband Richard Hamlett recommended she bid on a failed Las Vegas hotel that was up for auction in 1992, she bought it, with the intention of housing her enormous and priceless collection there. But the Debbie Reynolds Hotel & Casino was a massive waste of money. While it only cost $200,000 to purchase, it was another $2 million to fix up, and Reynolds had to ask for loans, sell some of her jewelry, and borrow against her other properties to do it. Then a few years later, she sunk another $7-8 million into it.

The venture lost millions every year, and Reynolds was forced to file for bankruptcy after failing to sell the hotel in 1997. 

David Cassidy was a massive star in the 1970s thanks to his time on the show "The Partridge Family." But while he claims the studio used his name and likeness to make $500 million off merchandise from the show, he had to fight to get even a penny of it. In the end, he told Yahoo Entertainment, "I saw 15 grand. Now, that's corrupt. ... But I was the first person to renegotiate and get a piece of the show, the first person to get anything from these people. It's little in comparison to today, but it was a lot then, and you have to put things in their proper perspective. I would have $80 million instead of $8 million now."

That extra money would have come in handy eventually. Despite selling an estimated 30 million records in his career, here's why David Cassidy filed for bankruptcy in 2015: He'd spent over $2 million on purchasing and renovating a Florida mansion, as well as buying property in the Bahamas. He owed hundreds of thousands of dollars to various creditors, including Wells Fargo and a lawyer. 

Bankruptcy documents showed that Cassidy was spending $15,000 more each month than he was earning. His wife also filed for divorce around this time. The one-time heartthrob was forced to auction off his home and belongings to pay off his debts.

Comedian and actor Sinbad filed for bankruptcy twice. The first time, in 2009, the petition was denied because he filed incorrectly. Four years later, though, he got the documents right. Unfortunately, they said he owed just shy of $11 million to creditors, including a whopping $8.3 million in back taxes to the IRS and almost $400,000 to American Express. He claimed to only have $131,000 in assets.

The real reason Sinbad lost most of his money, at least according to him, is that he was self-funding his business ventures, including the salaries of people who worked for his company. He said he always planned on honoring his debts. "I spent money, and I kept thinking, 'I get one more movie and I'll wipe these bills out,' but that movie never came," he told HuffPost Live. "That Black pride, I said, 'Man, I'm going to hang in there, I'm going to pay these bills.' So you owe a million dollars. I can pay that. Okay, fines, fees, now you owe two and a half million. 'But I didn't do nothin'!' Now you owe four million." He took offense to suggestions that he was living extravagantly, saying that he didn't own expensive cars and while he might have a few nice pieces of jewelry, they were gifts or pieces he'd had forever.

During his bankruptcy proceedings, Sinbad was required to attend a course on personal financial management, which he told TMZ that he passed. 

The life and career of Mickey Rooney was full of ups and downs. He got married eight times, was the biggest star in Hollywood by the time he was 19, starred with Judy Garland in multiple films, and was nominated for an Oscar four times. He made $12 million in mid-20th century money from his career before he turned 40. 

But he also spent that money like water and liked to gamble. He didn't beat his addiction to betting on horses until he was 80 years old. When he was playing Las Vegas in the 1950s and '60s, he was making an astonishing $20,000 per week but admitted he would then head to the casino and lose twice that much. He first filed for bankruptcy in 1962, saying he owed creditors about half a million dollars (including alimony owed to three of his then-four ex wives), while only having $500 in assets. The actor filed for bankruptcy a second time in 1996, after he ended up owing $1.75 million to the IRS in back taxes. He was still traveling around performing live in 2005, aged 85, saying that he needed to because he was broke.

In his old age, Rooney was allegedly abused physically and financially by his eighth wife and stepson. The stepson was accused of embezzling $8.5 million from Rooney, who was only worth $18,000 when he died in 2014, aged 93.

Zsa Zsa Gabor had a very long career in Hollywood, but most people would be hard-pressed to name a classic film she starred in. Still, she had beauty and so many husbands that the press paid attention to her for decades. A new generation learned about Gabor when she slapped a traffic cop and ended up in jail in 1989.

The Hungarian native also had her share of financial problems, many through no fault of her own. During the recession of the early 1990s, her various properties in California plummeted in value. In 2009, her lawyer revealed the then-91-year-old had been swindled out of anywhere between $7 million and $10 million by notorious money manager Bernie Madoff. 

But then there was the problem very much of her own making: Gabor's feud with fellow actress Elke Sommer. The two had been sniping at each other for years when Gabor badmouthed Sommer extensively in an interview. Sommer sued and eventually won a $3.3 million judgement — then the largest personal libel judgment ever — against Gabor and her husband. "I'd rather see her starve to death than give her one single dollar," Gabor said (via the LA Times). "I used to like that girl. I liked her until I saw her calling me a fat pig. Then, I decided I didn't like her anymore." Gabor filed for bankruptcy the following year.

Gary Busey wasn't always the out-there character he is today. Back in the 1970s he had roles in films like "The Buddy Holly Story," which earned him an Oscar nomination. But in 1988, he was in a horrific motorcycle accident (he was not wearing a helmet), and his personality changed. Could that be the real reason Gary Busey lost most of his money? It probably didn't help.

In 2012, Busey filed for bankruptcy, with documents indicating he owed creditors over half a million dollars and against less than $50,000 in assets. In a statement to ABC News that seemed to prove Busey hired lawyers almost as quirky as he is, the actor's attorney stated, "As with many great American institutions, i.e., General Motors, American Airlines, and others who have utilized the strategic business plan of bankruptcy, Gary's filing is the final chapter in a process that began a few years ago of jettisoning the litter of past unfortunate choices, associations, circumstances, and events..." 

In theory, the bankruptcy was successful. Busey was allowed to keep his limited assets, and almost $60,000 of his debts were discharged — but the IRS doesn't allow for that when you owe it money. The vast majority of the actor's debts were to the government, which wanted just over $450,000 in back taxes, so Busey emerged from bankruptcy owing almost as much as he began the process with.