Advertisements

7. Lady Gaga – After Her First Album

OK, just to set the record straight, Mother Monster is no longer bankrupt — not even close, weighing in with a net worth of around $200 million in 2015. But there was a time not so long ago when she quite legitimately was, right before her Monsters Ball Tour in 2009, in fact. What happened was that Gaga, who was already a huge star making plenty of bank had about $3 million to her name in immediate, available cash. She wanted a cool stage for her show — I mean, a really cool stage. So she took her $3 million and bought a stage. Then she went bankrupt. While she was on tour. According to the Lady herself, her Dad even said to her, “I don’t understand. ‘Bad Romance’ is out. You are all over the radio. Everyone is talking about you and you don’t have a pot to p*ss in.” However, she also says she knew what she was doing all along. Her plan was to get Live Nation’s attention and score a big pay day. It worked when they wrote her a check for the paltry sum of $40 million. So perhaps, burning your last couple million on a stage show and declaring bankruptcy is the way to go.

6. Gary Coleman – Don’t Trust Mom And Pops!

Who doesn’t love a little bit of Different Strokes in syndication every now and then? Even if you didn’t grow up with the ’70s sitcom that made pint-sized actor Gary Coleman an international superstar, you surely know of his signature catchphrase “Whatcha talkin ‘bout, Willis?” The show made Coleman, who suffered from poor health later in life and died in 2010, was such a huge star that he was making $46,000 per episode. That was in the ‘70s — it was big cash back then. But by 1999, he had to file for bankruptcy, saying he was almost a million dollars in debt. What was most unfortunate for Coleman was that he had to name his parents as the responsible parties, saying that they dipped into his trust funds until there was nothing left. To which I can only say, “Whatcha talking ‘bout Mom & Dad?!!?”

Advertisements