20 Celebrities Who Went Bankrupt
The Atomic Kitten singer has infamously gone bankrupt twice, despite amassing an estimated £6.8 million fortune from her time with the band, adverts for supermarket Iceland and an appearance on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!.
Her second bankruptcy led to her being unsurprisingly dropped as the face of payday loan company Cash Lady.
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The Westlife singer racked up an incredible £18 million debt and declared himself bankrupt in June 2012 after some poor property investments.
Despite earning an estimated £8 million, Shane had just £470 left in his bank at one point during the group’s farewell tour.
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The former EastEnders star declared herself bankrupt with debts of £187,000 after failing to make it as a pop star or big-time Hollywood actress after being killed off on the soap.
She did appear in Love Actually, though.
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The N-Dubz star and ex of fellow bandmate Tulisa was reportedly declared bankrupt in December 2013.
According to The Sun, the singer - whose real name is Richard Rawson - was left potless after being unable to pay his tax bills.
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King is worth more than £100 million but he went through tough times before becoming one of the most successful talk show hosts in the US.
In 1971 he was charged with stealing £350,000 from his business partner. The charges were dropped but his financial problems continued for years and he declared bankruptcy in 1978 after racking debts of £247,000.
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The former Popworld presenter went bankrupt due to unpaid taxes and later admitted she set fire to all her bankruptcy letters because she was so worried about the situation.
She said: “I couldn’t tell anyone about it; I was so scared about my future and there were times when it felt like I couldn’t breathe.”
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The TV presenter filed for voluntary bankruptcy in 2004 over an unpaid tax bill believed to be in the region of £1.4 million.
The former Strike It Lucky host previously had contract with ITV worth a reported £2 million.
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All four of the singers in boyband Blue, Duncan James, Simon Webbe, Antony Costa and Lee Ryan have been declared bankrupt.
Duncan was the first to go in September 2013 and admitted at the time it was a “relief”, and just weeks later Simon went the same way.
Lee - who reportedly once had a £10 million fortune - was the final member to declare himself bankrupt in May 2015, just over a year after Antony.
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The singer has sold more than 70 million records but filed for bankruptcy twice in the 80s.
He owed more than £1 million at the time but hasn’t looked back since, selling out tours galore on his way back up the financial ladder.
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The Fleetwood Mac singer has been very open about his past bankruptcies and once admitted he has “lost count” of just how many times he had been declared bankrupt.
Mick, 68, admitted he “carried on like nothing had happened” each time and let it to his accountant to sort out.
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The late footballing legend went bankrupt twice, but his lack of money did lead to one of the most infamous and comical cash-related quotes of all time.
He once joked: “I’ve spent a lot of money on booze, birds, and fast cars. The rest I just squandered.”
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George’s party-loving son Calum followed his lead and in 2013, eight years after his father’s death, went bankrupt over an unpaid tax bill.
He said at the time: “I can confirm I have made the decision to declare myself bankrupt as a result of being unable to make tax repayments.”
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The rapper, who has posted several pictures of wads of dollars on his social media accounts, filed for bankruptcy in 2015 - three days after he was ordered to pay a woman £3.2 million.
A jury ruled he had intentionally acquired a sex tape Lavonia Leviston made with her boyfriend and had commentated over it and then shared the clip online without permission.
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One of the ultimate bankruptees, the business mogul may be a billionaire but he has filed for corporate bankruptcy on four occasions - in 1991, 1992, 2004 and 2009.
He once wiped £577 million of his debts by selling some of his companies, an airline and his yacht.
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The legendary singer is not the first name who springs to mind when you think of bankrupt celebs but the Let’s Get It On hitmaker did go bust in 1976.
He filed for bankruptcy after having to pay his ex-wife Anna Gordy royalties from his next album, Here My Dear.
According to Rolling Stone magazine, this was around $600,000.
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Another person you wouldn’t expect to be broke during her career is Gaga. But, the 29-year-old singer admitted she was indeed potless during her Monsters Ball tour in 2009 after splashing out $3 million on the stage set.
She said: “I had $3 million dollars in the bank to my name and I threw it all in to make my stage. So I was bankrupt during the show.”
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The Blade Runner star earned around £25 million from 1999 to 2004 but filed for bankruptcy in 2006.
To make matters worse, two years later he was jailed for three years for failing to file income tax returns.
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The former boxing heavyweight champion racked up an incredible £24.6 million worth of debt by 2004, despite earning around £300 million during his career.
The so-called ‘Baddest Man on the Planet’ couldn’t pay so had to had to declare himself bankrupt.
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The hip hop star made a name for himself in the world of music with his 1990 hit U Can’t Touch This, but six years later it was cash he couldn’t touch as he declared himself bankrupt.
He was rumoured to have amassed around £8 million worth of debt, despite previously being worth around $33 million, according to Forbes magazine.
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Another star to make a name for themselves with a huge hit was Toni, who achieved success with the powerful song Un-Break My Heart in 1996.
She first went bankrupt in 1998 due to a lack of royalties and a penchant for home decor, and again in 2010 after she had to cancel her Las Vegas show following her diagnosis with microvascular angina.
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You think of celebrities and you just assume they have all the money in the world which they don’t ever have to dip into because they’re always at glitzy events and having drinks bought for them. Wrong.
Some do have a lot of cash but end up splurging it on luxury houses or not using it to pay their tax bills.
Being a famous musician appears to be a popular route to end up poor, but it’s not just music stars who have been potless, even royalty have been left high and dry on occasions.
What’s more, some stars clearly haven’t learnt from their mistakes and had to declare themselves bankrupt on more than one occasion.