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Top 10 Famous Actors Who Became Broke

This list of famous actors who became broke, highlight the cause why some of this actors are considered broke and also states their current ne

Published

2 years ago

January 2, 2023

Oluwafemi Afolayan

A popular quote from Will Rogers says “Too many people spend money they earned..to buy things they don’t want..to impress people that they don’t like” that is the case with most of the celebrity actors on this list of famous actors who became broke. Most of them spent money on extravagant and luxurious things that later in years had to sell become of the expenses they were incurring.

The celebrity’s life has been portrayed as an extravagant one that celebrities, including musicians, actors, boxers, footballers and so on all have to live up to the expectations and demands of the life they have portrayed, Meanwhile, living an extravagant life, buying the most expensive things, pieces of jewelry, cars, houses, pets, properties, shoes or a whole town for $20 million dollars.

Furthermore, while most of the actors on this list have such wasteful spending, other actors who appear on this list famous actors who became broke came to be on this list not only because of wasteful spending but because of paying overlong due evaded tax or settling divorces that cost them a fortune and other court-related cases. Below is the list of the top 10 famous actors who became broke.

Note that the actors on this list are not without money or properties, but due to a reason or another, they have dropped to a great length from the estate they used to lord over.

1. Nicolas Cage – $25 million

The ghost rider actor and recipient of many awards is the first on this list of famous actors who became broke. Nicolas Cage was a top-earning actor in Hollywood at some point earning more than $40 million dollars and his movies made hundreds of millions box office. His spending which is considered wasteful made him lose most of his wealth after his movies made $5 billion dollars at the box office.

Furthermore, between the years 1996 and 2011, he made over $15o million only in acting, altogether he has made over $200 million dollars in his acting career but he is now worth just a fraction of his earnings due to large spending on homes, automobiles, and rare artifacts. Nicolas’s precarious spending made him sell his precious belongings. He is the only actor on this list that spent about $2.1 million dollars on a comic book collection.

According to nme.com, the actor had purchased a Tyrannosaurus bataar skull from a Beverly Hills gallery for $276,000 (£186,000) in 2007, without knowing it was stolen. Currently, according to Celebrity Net Worth, he is worth $25 million dollars at the time of this writing.

2. Pamela Anderson – $20 million

Pamela Anderson is a Canadian-American actress and model who is best known for her glamour modeling work in Playboy magazine and for her many appearances on the television series Baywatch.

Anderson was a top actress in Hollywood with a somewhat net worth of about $35 million dollars before she lost most of her wealth to expensive and luxurious spending, like buying luxurious houses, holding costly celebrations, and different plastic medical procedures. Furthermore, according to Wikipedia her $1.8 million beach home in Malibu, California which she bought in 2008 has now been rented out, making her about $50k per month.

3. Johnny Depp – $15o million

The legendary actor and musician Johnny Depp who is most famous for his trilogy movies Pirates of the Caribbean can’t afford not to have a place on this list of famous actors who became broke due to uncontrollable and wasteful spending.

Depp was once the highest-paid actor in the world with an earning of $75 million dollars yearly and his movies grossing over $8 billion dollars at the box office. Johnny Depp owns about 14 homes, an $18 million yacht, and 45 vehicles and spent a considerable amount on wine monthly.

One of his mismanagement and wasteful spending of his wealth made him incur an estimated $40 million dollars in 2017 and aside from all his wasteful spending, he also had to settle a lot of lawsuits that were raking in their millions. Depp now has a net worth of $150 million dollars from losing about $650 million dollars of his earnings over the period of some years, he is among the famous actors who became broke.

4. Lena Headey – $12 million

Lena Headey is a British actress that gained international recognition after she portrayed Cersei Lannister on the HBO epic fantasy drama series Game of Thrones. She is one of the most famous actors on this list to have lost their wealth fighting a lawsuit that was raking in millions for years.

While her movies have grossed over $2.2 billion dollars over the course of her career she makes over $1 million dollars per episode of films she appears in, for her role in the Games of Thrones she made over $40 million in total before tax and she was nearly bankrupt after she lost most of it to her lengthy and bitter divorce battle.

5. Wesley Snipes – $10 million

Talking about being famous Wesley Snipes is one of the biggest names in Hollywood at a point and his movie Blade grossed over $150 million worldwide. He was also one of the wasteful spenders but most important was his tax evasion fraud for which he later served his time in federal prison. He paid approximately $23.5 million in Federal tax liabilities for the tax year 2001 and the years 2003 through 2006.

6. Sinbad – $100 thousand

Sinbad is another actor on this list of famous actors who became broke due to luxurious spending or legal battle. Meanwhile, his case wasn’t that of buying the latest cars, shoes, or private jets, it was negligence and mismanagement of his wealth, he later had to declare bankruptcy after owing the state of California millions in tax. According to Celebrity Net Worth, he is currently worth $100k.

7. Kim Basinger – $20 million

Kim Basinger is one of the most famous actresses in Hollywood who also had an amazing career as a model before moving to act. Unlike many other actors on this list that lost to buying expensive things, Basinger lost her money to a bad investment and legal battle. Meanwhile, she is the only actor on this list to have attempted and bought almost a whole city in 1989 which cost her $20 million dollars hoping to turn the investment into a tourist attraction center with movie studios and a location for a film festival.

This was the beginning of her problem and he had to start selling the property bit by bit as the investment took a toll on her. Meanwhile, in 1993 she had to file for bankruptcy after her legal battle with the studio she was acting with that sued her for a bridge of contract awarding her to pay $8.9 million to the studio for damages which were later reduced to $3.8 million.

8. Tori Spelling – $1.5 million

Tori Spelling who was born into a rich family couldn’t escape the extravagant lifestyle that costs her more than what she bargained for. Furthermore, her problem also had roots in poor real estate decisions and legal battles. Being born into a wealthy family doesn’t just cut it, and the expectant inheritance from her father’s $500 million estate after he died was cut short after she receive an inconsequential amount. She is currently worth $1.5 million dollars.

9. Kelly Rutherford – $1 million

Kelly Rutherford is an American actress who is known for her television roles as Stephanie Whitmore on the NBC daytime soap opera Generations. She is among some of the famous actors who became broke on this list not because of wasteful spending but mostly because of the lengthy legal battle she had to fight. She also filed for bankruptcy in 2013 after she couldn’t pay the expenses she incurred due to divorce and custody battle with her former husband.

10. Lindsay Lohan – $2 million

Lindsay Lohan is an American actress and singer who is also one of the famous actors who became broke. Well, according to briefly.co.za Lindsay is ranked as the poorest popular person. Meanwhile, when she was a lot younger, Lindsay was the hottest young star globally. She was earning $7.5 million dollars per film.

In 2004, when she was just 18 years, she had a net worth of more than $30m. As of 2020, her fortune was estimated at only $800,000. That makes her one of the poorest celebrities.

Key Takeaways

Johnny Depp lost more than $650 million of his career earnings to years of wasteful spending
Nicolas Cage is far less worth than how much his movies have grossed
Kim Basinger bought almost a whole town