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Lavish celebrity lifestyle can lead to crushing debt |
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Wednesday, 19 September 2007 |
At Oprah's 50th birthday party, guests dined on pound cake gilded with 23-karat gold and listened to the musical stylings of Stevie Wonder.
Angelina Jolie has sported a $10-million diamond necklace to the Oscars and lived it up in a $5-million luxury apartment in New York.
Victoria (Posh) Spice chartered a private jet to France to buy $460,000 worth of furniture.
But conspicuous consumption doesn't guarantee happiness. As the stars listed below can attest, sometimes it only leads to crushing debt.
MICHAEL JACKSON: The King of Pop's kingdom and legal fees are a little too lavish for his income. In 2005, a prosecutor in Jackson's molestation trial revealed the singer was more than $300 million in debt due to "spendaholic" ways. Yet Forbes estimated his lifetime earnings reached a cool $500 million by 2003. Reports said the singer was on the brink of bankruptcy. Meanwhile, his monthly expenses were an estimated $750,000.
MIKE TYSON: The infamous boxer was forced to commit to seven fights in 2004 to work off his debt, according to a bankruptcy court document. It's believed he blew hundreds of millions on tigers, 110 cars and jewelry, before news emerged he owed creditors $27 million.
ELTON JOHN: The British crooner made headlines in 1999 for a $40-million loan he required to pay off bills, despite earnings of about $26 million per year. Reports said he managed to rack up $400,000 per week on credit cards and once paid interest on an $11-million overdraft.
KIM BASINGER: The movie star declared bankruptcy in 1993 after a jury ruled she owed producers $8.1 million for backing out of a role. A judge later rejected her debt payoff plan saying it was vague. Her expenses included thousands of dollars per month in pet bills.
GARY COLEMAN: Growing up in the limelight doesn't always mean growing into wealth. The former child star filed for bankruptcy at age 31 in 1999. Once worth $18 million, the Diff'rent Strokes star had difficulty finding work after the popular TV series ended in 1984, while medical expenses, such as dialysis treatments, chipped away at his savings.
BURT REYNOLDS: First comes love, then comes debt. A messy divorce from actress Loni Anderson led the actor to file for bankruptcy protection to cover $10 million of debts.
COURTNEY LOVE: The bad-girl rocker faced the foreclosure of her Washington home in 2005. She owed about $367,000 in loan balance and legal fees and property taxes of $7,800. In 2004, the star was quoted saying she had been swindled out of $40 million, while others said her debt reached roughly $4 million.
SARAH FERGUSON: The Duchess of York proved a little royalty isn't enough to ensure a healthy bank account. In 2002, she signed on to host her own talk show as an attempt to help dig out of an estimated $6 million in debt.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 07 November 2007 )
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