Oscar winners, TV stars, and a '90s-era blonde bombshell. They've all been successful enough to be recognized everywhere they go — but even famous people can have money problems.
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00:00Oscar winners, TV stars, and a 90s-era blonde bombshell — they've all been successful
00:04enough to be recognized everywhere they go. But even famous people can have money problems.
00:09According to some estimates, Pamela Anderson may be sitting atop a multimillion-dollar
00:13fortune. But the former Baywatch star offered a far different characterization in her 2023
00:17Netflix documentary series, Pamela, A Love Story. In that documentary, her son, Brandon
00:22Lee, stated that his mother has been in debt for most of her life. The film's director,
00:25Ryan White, told Yahoo! Entertainment,
00:27She was the most famous woman in the world of the most famous show in the world, and
00:30she doesn't have a nest egg from Baywatch to rely upon.
00:33According to movie producer John Peters, during his brief 12-day marriage to Anderson, he'd
00:37covered her debts. He wrote in an email to Page Six,
00:39She had almost $200,000 in bills and no way to pay it, so I paid it.
00:43You're not good with money, are you?
00:44I'm not good with money.
00:45There was a time in the 1980s and 90s when Val Kilmer was among Hollywood's hottest A-listers.
00:50You can be my wingman any time.
00:53However, his 1996 divorce from Joanne Wally was followed by a career downturn during the
00:572000s. When he and Wally split, Kilmer agreed to pay her $27,500 per month in child support,
01:03a sum that became difficult as his acting paychecks grew smaller and fewer. Wally eventually
01:07got a lien on Kilmer's New Mexico ranch in 2007, when he'd fallen significantly behind
01:12on payments. Kilmer ultimately rectified the situation.
01:14Meanwhile, Kilmer experienced recurring issues with back taxes. The IRS took out a lien on
01:19his ranch in 2009 for more than half a million in unpaid taxes. After he'd settled that,
01:23in 2010, he was then hit with another lien for half a million. The following year, he
01:27hired a financial consulting firm to help him dig out of his quagmire, which then sued
01:31him for an unpaid bill of more than $128,000.
01:34Kilmer's struggles reached a whole other level in 2017, when he announced he'd been diagnosed
01:39with throat cancer. In 2011, Kilmer sold the bulk of his massive New Mexico property for
01:43$18.5 million.
01:45Kevin Spacey was one of Hollywood's most acclaimed actors, winning two Oscars and rave
01:49reviews for his performance as devious politician Frank Underwood in Netflix's House of Cards.
01:54In 2017, however, it all came crashing down when an avalanche of sexual misconduct allegations
01:59slammed the brakes on Spacey's career. Not only was he fired from House of Cards, the
02:04actor was deemed so toxic that scenes he'd shot for Ridley Scott's film All the Money
02:07in the World were re-shot with another actor, screen icon Christopher Plummer.
02:11By 2024, Spacey had been spending more time in courtrooms and soundstages, which had depleted
02:16his fortune to the point that a bank foreclosed on his luxurious Baltimore condo. During an
02:20appearance on Piers Morgan Uncensored, Spacey admitted that he'd come close to filing for
02:24bankruptcy, but had thus far managed to stave it off.
02:27How much money do you have?
02:29None.
02:31The actor then revealed to Morgan that he still owed millions in unpaid legal bills.
02:36Spacey never actually divulged the precise amount that he owed, but some reports indicate
02:39he may be as much as $2 million in debt.
02:43Among Nickelodeon's hottest stars, Drake & Josh actor Drake Bell seemingly had a bright future
02:47awaiting after his initial burst of teen stardom. However, after the end of Drake & Josh in
02:512007, that promising career proved to be elusive, and by 2014, things had gone so wrong for
02:56Bell that he declared bankruptcy. According to People, he had amassed more than $1.5 million
03:01in debt.
03:02In the years that followed, Bell pursued a career in music. He put out a few albums over
03:05the years, including 2024's Non-Stop Flight. Hand-in-hand with those albums, however,
03:10came plenty of controversy, including a brief jail sentence for DUI and exes' allegations
03:14of abuse, and an arrest on charges of child endangerment over some inappropriate texts
03:19with a minor.
03:20In 2024, Bell appeared in the blockbuster documentary series Quiet on Set, the dark
03:24side of kids' TV, revealing he was sexually abused by acting coach Brian Peck as a teen
03:28Nickelodeon star.
03:30Brian had been convicted, but getting all of this support from a lot of people in the
03:36industry, and…
03:37He rebranded himself as a Latin artist, enjoying modest success in Mexico after renaming himself
03:42Drake Campana and releasing a Spanish-language album. As of late 2024, Bell is worth an estimated
03:48$600,000.
03:50One of the most popular child stars of the 1970s, Melissa Gilbert enjoyed TV stardom
03:54during her ninth season run on the successful TV hit Little House on the Prairie. She ultimately
03:58went on to become president of the Screen Actors Guild, serving in that role from 2001
04:02until 2005.
04:04After her 2011 divorce from fellow actor Bruce Boxleitner, she remarried, tying the knot
04:08with former 30-something star Timothy Busfield in 2013. During that time, her acting career
04:13had hit a dry spell, leading the couple to move from California to Michigan. In 2015,
04:18USA Today reported that she owed the IRS $360,000 in unpaid taxes. Gilbert said in a statement
04:24to E! News,
04:25For so many people across the nation, the recession hit me hard. That, plus a divorce
04:28and a dearth of acting opportunities the last few years, created a perfect storm of financial
04:33difficulty for me. Interviewed by Next Avenue in 2022, Gilbert admitted she and Busfield
04:37now live far more frugally than she ever had before, adding,
04:40I have learned to be very mindful of my expenses.
04:43As the daughter of legendary TV producer Aaron Spelling, money was never an issue for Tori
04:47Spelling. The prototypical Nepo baby, Spelling catapulted to stardom when she was cast in
04:51her dad's hit series Beverly Hills 90210. However, Spelling has been plagued with financial
04:56problems ever since. In 2016, she and her then-husband, Dean McDermott, reportedly owed
05:01more than $250,000 in back taxes. In that same year, she was sued by American Express
05:06over an unpaid credit card balance of nearly $90,000.
05:09Tori Spelling did go from quite a lavish lifestyle to a lifestyle that involves budgeting.
05:15In 2023, she and her five children were photographed staying in an RV in a campground. The following
05:20year, she and her kids moved into a five-bedroom, $12,000-per-month rental. Clearly, Spelling's
05:24financial situation has been in flux. However, her mother, Candy Spelling, once told TMZ
05:29that she'd been paying her daughter's bills. Spelling even admitted in an episode of her
05:32podcast,
05:33I had a business manager since I was 18 years old, so I never handled any of my money.
05:38Australian actor Adelaide Kane starred in four seasons of historical TV drama Reign
05:42before going on to play Dr. Jules Millen in Grey's Anatomy in 2022. Back in 2020, however,
05:48she shattered any assumptions about her perceived wealth when she laid out her financial situation
05:52in a candid TikTok post, in which she addressed online reports of her net worth. She said
05:56in the since-deleted video,
05:57So I found out today the internet thinks I'm worth $4 million. My crippling debt says otherwise.
06:02Where?
06:03As Kane explained, she made $20,000 per episode for Reign, and estimated that she'd earned
06:07a total of $5 million since she began working at age 16. However, after taxes and fees for
06:12her agent, lawyer, and managers, her earnings amounted to an average of about $178,000 annually,
06:18and when factoring in the costs of a publicist, red carpet appearances, and stylists, it can
06:22easily tack on thousands of dollars to her monthly expenses.
06:25Drea DeMatteo is best known as Adriana LaServa on The Sopranos. After a stint as a series
06:30regular on the Jennifer Lopez-starring cop show Shades of Blue, her career slumped after
06:34the pandemic, which she believed was due to her stance opposing COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
06:39In 2023, DeMatteo revealed her money struggles had driven her to sell images of herself on
06:43OnlyFans. She told Fox News,
06:45I know some people have said some nasty things about me having joined OnlyFans. But you know,
06:49the way we see it in this house is mommy's a warrior, not accepting defeat.
06:53In a 2024 interview with the Daily Mail, DeMatteo offered more details, revealing that her financial
06:58situation had grown so dire that she had just $10 in her bank account, while poised to lose
07:02her home to foreclosure. With nothing left to lose supporting two children and her dementia-stricken
07:07mother, OnlyFans felt like her only option.
07:09Success on the spicy site was immediate. According to DeMatteo, within five minutes of sharing
07:13skin-bearing photos, she generated enough income to save her house from foreclosure.
07:17Immediately, I was like, oh my God, we're gonna be okay.
07:20As her subscriber base grew, she was also able to fund a new line of streetwear. She
07:24told the Daily Mail,
07:25OnlyFans saved my life, 100%. I can't believe I'm saying that, but it really did save us.
07:31Any devotees of the Disney Channel during the 2000s will be familiar with Christy Carlson-Romano,
07:36star of the hit sitcom Even Stevens and the voice of animated hero Kim Possible. However,
07:40as she explained in a candid YouTube video, all that success at a young age did not translate
07:45into a hefty nest egg once she grew up.
07:47I really regret not investing my money wisely. I didn't get a house. I didn't take any money
07:53and store it away.
07:54At 18, she went to college but quit after a year and a half.
07:57I was never told how much money I was making. Money didn't have a purpose for me. I didn't
08:01really know what it was.
08:03As residual checks grew smaller and she burned through her savings, she soon came to the
08:07shocking realization that she was broke.
08:09She wound up taking roles in projects she would have otherwise avoided just so she could
08:13pay her rent and maintain her SAG-AFTRA health insurance. She ultimately rebounded, finding
08:17success in podcasting by opening up about her real-life struggles as a former child
08:21star.
08:22She told Texas Monthly,
08:23I don't know what my possibilities are, but I know it's rooted in authenticness. Be authentic,
08:27but monetizing.