# What celebrities have gone broke? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 16, 2003, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-gone-broke/182306 "2003-06-16T21:32:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-gone-broke/182306/41 "2003-06-17T17:22:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by In Conceivable \* > \*\*[http://www.thesmokinggun.com/monroe/mmestate1.shtml](http://www.thesmokinggun.com/monroe/mmestate1.shtml) > > Marilyn Monroe died pretty much broke. \*\* Nothing in the document you linked from The Smoking Gun indicates that Marilyn Monroe died nearly broke. She owned a [home](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0595010822/qid=/sr=/ref=cm_lm_asin/104-2289808-8893504?v=glance) in the exclusive Brentwood section of Los Angeles. Her [total estate](http://www.thepauper.com/article/thePaupersGrave/monroe.asp) was estimated at between $819,176 and $1.6 million (depending on the source). With [inflation](http://www.westegg.com/inflation/), that’s equivalent to between $4.7 million and $9.3 million today. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-gone-broke/182306/42 "2003-06-17T17:38:58Z")
There’s always Samuel Insull. He helped found GE, and was instrumental in several Chicago utility and transportation companies that are still in operation today. However, the Great Depression caught him with a lot of debt and his entire empire crashed. He left the country and a lot of very angry stockholders behind screaming “fraud” (modern anaysis indicates that it was primarily just bad judgment). He died of a heart attack in a Paris Metro station. Most accounts indicate he was penniless at the time, though it’s possible that rumor arose because someone stole his wallet after he collapsed; he did have a small pension. Still it was nothing like the millions he had at his peak. ---
**Author:** ![In\_Conceivable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4bbf92/32.png) [@In\_Conceivable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Conceivable)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-gone-broke/182306/43 "2003-06-17T18:22:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Walloon \* > \*\*Nothing in the document you linked from The Smoking Gun indicates that Marilyn Monroe died nearly broke. She owned a [home](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0595010822/qid=/sr=/ref=cm_lm_asin/104-2289808-8893504?v=glance) in the exclusive Brentwood section of Los Angeles. Her [total estate](http://www.thepauper.com/article/thePaupersGrave/monroe.asp) was estimated at between $819,176 and $1.6 million (depending on the source). With [inflation](http://www.westegg.com/inflation/), that’s equivalent to between $4.7 million and $9.3 million today. \*\* The document I linked from the Smoking Gun showed about $765,000 in assets and $830,000 in debt. That sure looks broke to me. In addition she only had $6,813 in actual cash. Your pauper article links to the Smoking Gun for her estate but doesn’t say where it got the estimated worth. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-gone-broke/182306/44 "2003-06-17T18:46:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by HeyHomie \* > \*\*O.J. Simpson is hardly destitute. He gets around $26,000 per month (not sure if that’s after tax or not) from his NFL pension. Because of some loophole in California law, it’s all his and it can’t be touched to pay off his wrongful death lawsuit. > > Granted, $26K per month isn’t much by Beverly Hills standards, but OJ will never have to work another day in his life and he continues to live quite comfortably. \*\* And under bankruptcy law, annuities and retirement plans can not be attached , which is the origin of the California law, i would guess. Though it was for wrongful death, it was still “only” a tort. And there are serious public policy arguments for protecting a person’s retirement funds from civil action. That is why most celebs will never be truly poor if they are honest enough to plan for absolute failure. Buy enough guaranteed annuties that provide annual funds sufficient to “survive” and the super rich can rest easy knowing they’ll always be able to live in the top 1% if somehow they fall out of the top .001%! (And doesn’t OJ live in Palm Beach, FL? I remember his KEEN analysis of the 2000 Florida Recount- including his take on the butterfly ballot and his humorous comments comparing the contested ballots being filmed in the Ryder truck going to the capitol). ---
**Author:** ![bafaa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e480ec/32.png) [@bafaa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bafaa)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-gone-broke/182306/45 "2003-06-17T19:13:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cat Fight \* > \*\*Oh, I’ll use any excuse to mention **The Coreys** (Haim and Feldman, that is). Haim was living with his mommy up until a few years ago and Feldman must have been desperate to go on _The Surreal Life_ with fellow has-beens Hammer and **Gary Coleman**. \*\* That was Emmanuel Lewis. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-gone-broke/182306/46 "2003-06-17T20:03:43Z")
Not sure how to do the smacking-one’s-forehead emoticon, put you get the picture. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-gone-broke/182306/47 "2003-06-17T20:47:09Z")
When Ernie Kovacs died, his widow, Edie Adams, discovered he had left her awash in gambling debts and back taxes. She hit the road, doing everything from nightclub dates to cigar commercials and eventually paid the government and all the creditors in full. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-gone-broke/182306/48 "2003-06-17T20:59:29Z")
**adam yax** wrote: \*\* > [@](#): > > Did the IRS win this? Is this SOP for the IRS? I can’t imagine that they could impose, what would amount to, punitive damages on somebody who got bad legal advice. \*\* This was 1970 during the Nixon presidency, and Crumb was a very visible figure in what’s loosely known as the “counterculture.” See the Abbie Hoffman biopic _Steal This Movie_ to see how politically suspect figures of that era were dogged into the ground. How was it resolved? I’m not sure, since this wasn’t covered in the movie _Crumb_ or in any of the several _Comics Journal_ interviews with him I’ve read. But Crumb did involve himself in some money-making ventures in the early 70s (Album covers, some ill-advised Ralph Bakshi movies) and I would presume that the money from these went to pay his tax “debt.” ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-gone-broke/182306/49 "2003-06-17T21:15:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Krokodil \* > \*\* > > . . . the IRS went after Crumb, claiming he owed taxes on the money he would have made if he’d properly copyrighted the "Keep On Truckin’ " image, which turned up pitated on posters, t-shirts, truck mud flaps, etc. . . . \*\* Huh - thanks for having the Straight Dope, **Krokodil**. Now, howinhell can the IRS tax you on income you COULD have made? Using their logic, I should owe billions. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7feea3/32.png) [@PatrickM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickM)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-gone-broke/182306/50 "2003-06-17T21:54:55Z")
Other sports figures who’ve gone bankrupt were Johnny Unitas (Baltimore Colts quarterback) and Jack Clark (1st basemen for St. Louis Cardinals, San Francisco Giants and other teams). Unitas played before the big money player receive today, but Clark received plenty of big money during his recent and lengthy career and still managed to blow it all. ---
**Author:** ![TaxGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@TaxGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TaxGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-gone-broke/182306/51 "2003-06-17T21:59:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Krokodil \* > \*\ ***pugluvr** wrote: > > Not exactly. Circa 1970, the IRS went after Crumb, \*claiming he owed taxes on the money he would have made \*if he’d properly copyrighted the "Keep On Truckin’ " image, which turned up pitated on posters, t-shirts, truck mud flaps, etc. This put him in a cascading nightmare with the taxman for years to come, but was settled long before he moved to France. > > \*\* :dubious: You got a cite for that? \*I know I’m probably the only one that cares about this, but someone’s gotta keep you folks honest on tax stuff around here . . . ---
**Author:** ![TaxGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@TaxGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TaxGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-gone-broke/182306/52 "2003-06-17T22:34:27Z")
Oops, I read the rest of the thread after posting the above, and see it was discussed, but still no one provided a cite for it. If I get bored at work tomorrow I may nose around on Lexis for a case or something. Suffice it to say, however, there’s no way the IRS could try to collect tax on income that someone should have (or could have) made. It just can’t happen; it’d be unconstitutional even (because money one could have made simply cannot be “income” within the meaning of the 16th Amendment). ---
**Author:** ![widdershins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f0a364/32.png) [@widdershins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/widdershins)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2003, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-gone-broke/182306/53 "2003-06-18T12:22:20Z")
Chuck Negron was the druggie Three Dog Night member in question. He also claims to have hocked his gold records for drug money during this period. Jerry Lee Lewis reportedly now makes his residence in Ireland because of tax problems in the US and the tax-exempt status Ireland grants some writers, artists, and performers. Country singers Dotty West and Johnny Lee both went broke. ---
**Author:** ![Tomcat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Tomcat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tomcat)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2003, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-gone-broke/182306/54 "2003-06-18T12:54:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by doctordoowop \* > \*\*Gary Coleman was working as a security guard at a So Cal mall/store (Fox Hills) in 1998. \*\* He also worked at a model train store in Denver during the late 80’s/early 90’s. It was/is one of his hobbies. He lived in a reasonable house in Highlands Ranch at the time… -Tcat ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2003, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-gone-broke/182306/55 "2003-06-18T12:56:46Z")
I don’t know anything about the state of **Veronica Lake’s** finances at the time of her death, but at the time she was living in Vermont, so she was rich even if she didn’t have a dime.😛 ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2003, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-gone-broke/182306/56 "2003-06-18T12:58:33Z")
Actually, given the state of Vermont’s tax policies, she wouldn’t have a dime even if she were as rich as Bill Gates… ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2003, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-gone-broke/182306/57 "2003-06-18T13:23:16Z")
Christy McNichol was sweeping floors at a hair salon, working her way up to become a stylist. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-gone-broke/182306/58 "2003-06-19T01:38:41Z")
**TaxGuy,** My citation–mentioned in a later post–was the movie **Crumb,** a documentary about Crumb’s life and work. My copy is out on loan, so I can’t give you a minute and second, but there was a part where he was at a comics convention/seminar, giving a slide show about his career highlights. When he got to the “Keep On Truckin’” poster, he briefly recounted his IRS nightmare. If it seems odd today that the US Government would sic the IRS on people perceived as political dissidents… it sure seemed a lot likelier 30-35 years ago. A trip to [http://www.comic-art.com/bios-1/crumb001.htm](http://www.comic-art.com/bios-1/crumb001.htm) says he was hit with a $30K tax bill in 1976 and had to move to Paris to live while paying it off (This throws off my timeline; his movie deals and album covers were several years earlier, and while he lives in France today and has since the early 90s, he definitely lived in northern California throughout the 80s). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrities-have-gone-broke/182306.md?page=2)