Rich Celebrities Who Have Gone Broke

#1 50 Cent

Curtis James Jackson III is the rapper 50cent who shook the world with his hit album “Get rich or die trying”; that’s really funny when you see it in the new light of his financial status.Get rich he did, but in recent years he has tried so hard to stay afloat and has cried out saying he is bankrupt.

Back in May 2015, Forbes named 50 Cent one of the five wealthiest hip-hop artists, pegging his net worth at $155 million. But bad investments and a big lawsuit — he was ordered to pay $5 million to a woman who says he posted a sex tape of her online — put the rapper’s fortune in jeopardy.The man who once promised to “get rich or die tryin'” filed for Chapter 11 protection in a Connecticut court, a move that allowed him to reorganize his finances while developing a plan to repay his creditors.At the time, he estimated his debt at between $10 million and $50 million and his assets in roughly the same range.A recent report by TMZ suggests that 50 Cent’s bankruptcy case has ended, with a judge signing off on a deal that finds the rapper paying out $23 million to his creditors over the next five years, a deal for which is indeed grateful.

#2 Donald Trump

Trump has never personally declared bankruptcy, his companies have gone bankrupt six times, according to Politifact. The first was in 1991 when his Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City went bust. Several more of his casinos and hotels went bankrupt in 1992. Two more casino and resort bankruptcies happened in 2004 and 2009.

After the last bankruptcy, Trump stepped down as chairman of Trump Entertainment Resorts and reduced his share in the business to 10%. Challenges in the casino industry were to blame for at least some of those business failures, rather than business missteps by Trump, Politifact concluded.For what it’s worth, the brash real estate mogul sees declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcies as a strategic business decision.

“I’ve cut debt — by the way, this isn’t me personally, it’s a company,” Trump has said. “Basically I’ve used the laws of the country to my advantage … just as many, many others on top of the business world have.”

#3 Marvin Gaye

Marvin Gaye known as one of the greatest rhythm-and-blues/soul singers of all time, Gaye's seductive impact on the music world came from such hits as "I Heard It Through The Grapevine," "What's Going On" and "Let's Get It On." Gaye had 41 Top 40 singles including three No. 1 pop hits and 67 singles on the Billboard charts overall.The master of the sexy single was taken down financially by divorce. Gaye filed for bankruptcy in 1976 after failing to keep up with alimony payments.

According to reports, Gaye owed his ex-wife about $600,000.

He is said to have promised her royalties to his next album, a collection of songs wrapped around their divorce.Gaye continued performing, but he still faced financial troubles and a drug addiction. He seemed to be making a comeback from 1982's "Sexual Healing" until, following a heated argument, he was killed by his father in 1984, the day before turning 45.

#4 Joe Francis

Joseph R. "Joe" Francis (born April 1, 1973) is an American entrepreneur and film producer.He is best known for being the founder and creator of the Girls Gone Wild entertainment brand. Francis worked as a production assistant on the syndicated program Real TV before releasing the direct-to-video film Banned from Television in 1998.

Francis has, at various times, been convicted of tax evasion, bribery, false imprisonment, assault causing great bodily injury, dissuading a witness, record-keeping violations and has pleaded no contest to child abuse and prostitution.In June 2007, Ashley Alexandra Dupré alleged that Francis and his company filmed her without permission, but she dropped the suit after Francis released footage showing her consent.In 2008, four women sued Girls Gone Wild for allegedly filming them as minors.In February 2012, Clark County, Nevada judge Mark Denton awarded Steve Wynn $7.5 million for defamatory statements made by Francis.In September 2012, a jury awarded Steve Wynn $20 million in a slander case against Joe Francis for claiming that Wynn had threatened to kill him over a gambling debt. Francis' witnesses all denied hearing Wynn make such threats.The jury added $20 million in punitive damages. In November 2012, Judge Joanne O'Donnell reduced Steve Wynn's award by $21 million to $19 million. O'Donnell reasoned that the jury's award was "speculative," and based on their dislike of Francis.

In May 2015, a U.S. District Court judge issued an arrest warrant for Francis after he failed to comply with terms of his bankruptcy agreement. As of 2015, he was reportedly living in Mexico with his girlfriend and their twin daughters. Extradition treaties between the U.S. and Mexico are not applicable for civil contempt warrants

#5 Jerry Lee Lewis

Jerry Lee Lewis known as "The Killer," the "Great Balls of Fire" singer was famous for wild theatrics, making "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" an understatement as he played his piano like a man possessed, kicking over benches and slamming the keys with his feet. And as wild as he was on stage, he was wilder off. He courted controversy as a 22-year-old by marrying his 13-year-old cousin.

By the late '80s, Lewis spurred on by trouble with the Internal Revenue Service and $3 million in debt, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. His manager later told Fortune magazine this gave him a "new lease on life." Lewis, one of the subjects of the hit Broadway musical "Million Dollar Quartet," recovered quite nicely. He still tours, and his latest album, "Mean Old Man," was released in September 2010. It reached No. 30 on the Billboard album charts.

#6 Mike Tyson

Tyson raked in $30 million per fight at the peak of his career, but he bled money as readily as he earned it. In 2003, the Times called him “a cash machine to himself and others,” detailing lavish spending on “jewelry, mansions, cars, limousines, cellphones, parties, clothing, motorcycles, and Siberian tigers.” In December 2002, he bought a $173,000 gold chain on credit, adding it to the $27 million in debts listed in his 2003 bankruptcy filing.

Tyson’s largest debts included a $17.4 million in tax liabilities to U.S. and British authorities, a $9 million divorce settlement with former wife Monica Turner, several million in obligations to a gaggle of lawyers and producers, and more than $300,000 to a limousine company. His largest assets included a Farmington, Connecticut mansion, soon sold to fund the divorce settlement, and two extravagant properties in Las Vegas.

At the time of his bankruptcy filing, Tyson was pursuing a $100 million lawsuit against boxing promoter Don King, who Tyson claimed bilked him out of millions of dollars in revenue. In 2004, he settled with King for $14 million, according to the Times – trimming, but not eliminating, his debts. Tyson did eventually exit bankruptcy after forfeiting much of his trove of physical assets and setting aside a substantial share of his future earnings to pay lienholders.

#7 Scott Eyre

Eyre was taken for a fool during last year’s stock market/investment madness. His money grew tied up in the $8 billion fraud allegedly perpetrated by Texas financier Robert Allen Stanford. Eyre told the New York Post that 99% of his fortune is frozen and possibly gone. After admitting that he was broke, the Phillies agreed to advance Eyre a portion of his $2 million salaries.

#8 Teresa Giudice

By 2009, Teresa and Joe Giudice were set to auction their furniture, but that was put off till 2010 and later canceled altogether. Still, they were accused of fraud.Reports suggest that sometime in July 2015, Giudice’s primary residence in Towaco was in the preliminary stages of foreclosure.]t was also on records that the couple’s summer home in Beach Haven West, in Stafford Township, New Jersey, was foreclosed, and later auctioned in a sheriff’s sale in August of the same year.]The the auction received no bids.In late 2016, Teresa got off the hook, regarding her messy bankruptcy case.

#9 Nicolas Cage

According to Forbes magazine, Nicolas Cage earned $40 million in 2009, making him one of Hollywood's highest-paid actors. Unfortunately, Cage, 49, appears to have some major spending issues — and equally hefty problems with his financial adviser. After Cage faced foreclosure on several properties and the IRS slapped the actor with a $6.2 million tax lien in 2009, Cage sued his money manager, claiming negligence and fraud. In a counter suit, Cage's manager alleged that the actor had blown through at least $33 million on dozens of specialty or vintage cars, four luxury yachts and 15 palatial homes around the world, including two European castles, as well as rare art and high-end jewelry. Those contentious lawsuits have been settled, but Cage still appears to be trying to fix his finances. The Oscar-winning actor is currently trying to unload several properties, including a chalet in Aspen, Colo., and an entire island in the Bahamas.

#10 Gary Busey

When Gary Busey emerged from bankruptcy protection in December 2012, he listed his assets at roughly $26,000 and was able to shed more than $57,000 in liabilities, according to the celebrity website TMZ. The problem for the 68-year-old actor, though, is that he has more than $451,000 in tax debt outstanding — not to mention other bills. Despite making more than 70 movies in his career, Busey hasn't yet been able to stabilize his personal finances. The actor's rep told TMZ: "Gary's [bankruptcy] 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."

#11 Bjorn Borg

Borg’s famous Swede cool never made it off the court. After retiring from tennis, Bork overdosed on drugs. Some people speculate that it was a suicide attempt, though Borg denies it. His wife left him after that. Borg then courted a string of women, one of whom police busted on possession of cocaine. He tried launching a clothing line but failed miserably. Years later, Borg has rebounded after starting an underwear line and a new dating site.

#12 Larry King

Before he became one of cable TV’s most recognizable talking heads, Larry King’s journalism career was almost completely derailed by criminal charges and subsequent financial troubles. In 1978, the newsman filed for bankruptcy after he found himself more than $300,000 in debt.

It was the culmination of a rough few years for King, which began when a former business partner accused him of grand larceny. The charges were dropped, but his professional reputation was in tatters. He didn’t work in journalism at all for a time, but eventually, he found his way back to broadcasting. In 1978, the Larry King Show was first broadcast on Miami radio station WIOD, and the rest is history

#13 Shane Filan

At some point in his life, the former singer who used to be a part of the band “Westlife”, could not buy toys for his son.This was due to a £18 million debt which was as a result of a series of ill-fated property investments.When in 2011, the band decided to split, Shane’s fate seemed sealed.But for a solo career that surprisingly bloomed for Shane, the story would have been worse for him and his family.

#14 Tom Petty

How many music legends can inspire a major director, such as Peter Bogdanovich, to direct a documentary about them -- that's almost four hours long? Between solo albums, records with his band the Heartbreakers and the scratchy-voiced guitarist supergroup The Traveling Wilburys, Petty has sold more than 60 million albums with hits such as "Don't Come Around Here No More," "Runnin' Down a Dream" and "Free Fallin'."

By 1979, Petty had several hits, including "American Girl," but not much money to show for it. When his record label was sold, Petty had a major problem with his contract simply being transferred from one label to another without his having any say in the matter. Not wanting to be "bought and sold like a piece of meat," Petty self-financed his next album for around half a million dollars, then refused to let the label put it out. He declared bankruptcy to help get released from his contract, got his release, and then re-signed to the same label, MCA, for considerably better terms. In taking this shrewd tactic, he set an example many musicians have since followed.

#15 David Cassidy

Former teen idol David Cassidy has fallen on hard times recently, People reported. He’s had problems with alcohol and was charged with a DUI three times between 2010 and 2014. In 2014, his wife filed for divorce. By 2015, the Partridge Family star was broke. In a bankruptcy filing, he claimed to owe $10 million. Among his creditors are a lawyer, several banks, and American Express.

In court documents, Cassidy said the royalty checks he’d been receiving since his Partridge Family days were no longer as big as they once were, and health problems made it difficult to earn money from touring, Radar reported. He announced his retirement in February 2017.

#16 Kim Basinger

This American actress, singer and ex-fashion model had it all at her beck and call. However, luck is said to have turned, after she was persuaded to buy the bulk of a privately owned land in the small town of Braselton, Georgia.

The land in question was about 1,691 acres in 1989, and it sold for $20 million. Kim was to use the land for establishing a tourist attraction with movie studios and a film festival, but the crisis took it all away.With the financial storm at her door, Kim Basinger began to sell the land in pieces.She confessed in a 1998 interview that she made nothing of the land, as a family dispute took it all.]Her the bankruptcy case was filed, following her pulling out of the controversial film Boxing Helena.

The studios were to get $8.1 million from Basinger, however, a jury’s decision saw the case settled at $3.1 million.

#17 Final Word

Lots of children, and a fair number of full-grown adults, the dream of being famous. Celebrities seem to float above the world in privileged, perfect bubbles, avoiding the petty trials and concerns that define life for the rest of us.

The beautiful veneer of celebrity is all too often a cruel mirage. It’s hard to feel bad for people who earn millions of dollars per year and have small armies of assistants and sycophants shielding them from reality, but celebrities really do face problems that normal people don’t.

Actor Kristen Stewart told The Telegraph that being famous “is like having your limbs cut off” and makes it “logistically impossible” to perform simple public acts that most people take for granted, like going to the store. Meanwhile, Jezebel reports that performers (including actors and musicians) and athletes die five years earlier, on average than their regular Joe and Jane counterparts. Neat explanations for public figures’ shorter life expectancies are elusive, but substance abuse and intense stress likely contribute.

If you truly have a gift for performing and believe you can handle the harsh glare of the spotlight, by all means, follow your dreams as far as they’ll take you. If you like the idea of being famous but aren’t sure you’ll enjoy the reality, a less glamorous line of work might be in order.