7 Celebrities Who Bounced Back After Being Broke

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Bouncing back after bankruptcy may not be easy but it can be done. The most prosperous of the rebounders analyze their past shortcomings, chart a better route, then march full force into the future. The sense of relief that comes with unloading debt obligations is often tempered with feelings of failure but it doesn’t have to be the end of the line, though. For some, discharging debt was not the final destination but a launching pad to a greater and more secure economic future. Like Henry Ford, the typical profile of those who bounce back from bankruptcy is a resilient risk-taker. These celebrities are great examples of this. While their debt may have slowed them down for a period or even taken them out of the spotlight, they picked themselves back up. Some were even able to transition from the depths of economic despair to soaring net worth. Here are seven celebrities who bounced back after being broke.

Will Smith

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American actor, rapper and producer Will Smith is in the running for most lovable actor of all time. Today, he has a net worth of $250 million, but he has had his share of financial struggles. There was a time when he owed $2.8 million to the IRS. Back in 1985, Smith collaborated with DJ Jazzy Jeff and released their first album, “He’s the DJ, I’m the rapper,” which went multi-platinum in 1989. Smith became an overnight millionaire and went on a spending spree. However, he was given a $2.8 million bill by the IRS and had to hand practically everything he owned to pay off some of the debt. Luckily, Smith landed the role as the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air a year later and managed to pay off the remainder, with the IRS charging him 70 percent of what he earned. After three years, he was paid up.

Lady Gaga

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Lady Gaga quickly became a pop megastar with the release of “Just Dance” and continues to be a force in the music industry, but during her 2009 Monster's Balltour, Gaga was technically bankrupt. She had $3 million to her name, and she threw it all into making a stage. “I remember I went home and I was with my dad and he said, ‘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,” she told the Mirror. “I said, ‘Just let me do this. Let me just put it on the stage because I think if I can do this, I can get Arthur Fogel’s attention.’ And I did.” After the show, Fogel and Live Nation wrote her a check for $40 million. Today, Gaga’s net worth is $280 million.

Mike Tyson

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Mike Tyson is one of the most well-known, celebrated boxers. Tyson was the undisputed world heavyweight champion, and still holds the record as the youngest boxer ever to win a heavyweight title at 20 years, 4 months and 22 days old. Over the course of his two-decade long boxing career, Tyson earned $400 million. However, these earnings didn’t last long, and Tyson filed for bankruptcy in 2003. He was $23 million in debt as a result of his $9 million divorce settlement, owing $13.4 million to the IRS and $4 million to the British tax authorities. It took Tyson over a decade, and a trip to rehab to pull himself out of debt. Tyson now says he is out of the hole and has regained control of his life. Today, Tyson’s net worth is estimated to be $3 million, which is quite a decrease from his earnings during the height of his career, but better than the earnings of many of us out here.

Donald Trump

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You’re probably wondering why President Donald Trump made it to this list. While he never personally filed for bankruptcy, his companies have gone bankrupt six times. The first time was in 1999, with the Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City. Then, several more of his casinos and hotels went down in 1992. It happened again in 2004 and 2009. “I’ve cut debt – by the way, this isn’t me personally, it’s my company,” Trump said, according to Forbes. “Basically, I’ve used the laws of the country to my advantage…just as many, many others on top of the business world have.” In 2016, he became the president of the United States and has an estimated net worth of $3.1 billion.

Walt Disney

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Walt Disney is a household name today, but this wasn’t always the case. In his early career, Disney had trouble paying his bills. He started his first film company in 1922 with a partner, where they made short advertising films and cartoons. They named the studio Laugh-O-Gram, but they ended up being cheated by a distributor, leaving them bankrupt in 1923. However, he didn’t let them stop his vision. Disney debuted the character Mickey House in 1928 and the rest is history. The entertainment giant has built itself up from its historical start in movies to become a huge media conglomerate, encompassing television, cinema, theme parks, retail outlet and interactive entertainment. Today, the Walt Disney Company is worth $165 billion.