Celebs Who Went Broke But Then Got Rich Again

This article contains references to suicide and sexual assault. 

Fame is a torturously fickle business. No matter how many millions a star may be raking in, the prospect of losing it all is never too outlandish. Countless A-listers have gone from bringing in the bread to being low on dough. Though such stories may be disheartening, not least for the cash-strapped stars themselves, not all tales of celebrity financial misfortune have unhappy endings. We all love an inspirational rags-to-riches story, but what about a riches-to-rags-to-riches story? For some stars, lady fortune is waiting right around the corner.

The personalities in this rundown prove that no matter how dire a situation may seem, there is always hope. While some of these stars have been able to recover part of their losses and become modest millionaires in the process, others have found ingenious ways of raking in more cash than they ever did in their pre-bankruptcy days. "The wealthy know big money requires thinking about it in non-linear terms," former tennis player turned millionaire, Steve Siebold wrote in his book, ″How Rich People Think″ (via CNBC). "The rich know that creative thinking is the highest paid skill in the world ... Training your mind to find solutions to difficult problems is the real secret to making money." Well, when it comes to creative solutions to making it rain, these stars are flooding it. Here's the lowdown on celebs who went broke but then got rich again.

The financial hardships of Nicolas Cage have become the stuff of legend. Per CNBC, in his heyday, the actor had a whopping $150 million to his name. However, his extravagant expenditure would prove his undoing, leaving the actor broke. Cage reportedly bought everything from a $2.6 million German castle, a $3 million Caribbean island, and shrunken pygmy heads (yes, seriously) — not to mention his various luxury cars and properties. All the while, he owed the IRS an eye-watering $6.3 million.

Cage opened up about his spending sprees with The New York Times – one of which included the purchase of a $276,000 dinosaur skull, which had to be returned after it materialized that it had been stolen from Mongolia. "Of course, it should be awarded to its country of origin," he conceded. "But who knew? Plus, I never got my money back. So that stank." The Oscar winner confessed that many of his subsequent acting projects were done simply for the money. "Financial mistakes happened with the real estate implosion that occurred, in which the lion's share of everything I had earned was pretty much eradicated," he said.

He elaborated on this shift in his career during a 2022 chat with GQ, admitting that his recent status as a staple of the direct-to-video circuit helped him pay off his debts and expand his waning bank balance. Accordingly, Cage revealed that thanks to his paycheck from the film "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent," he fully cleared his debts and is rich once again.

By the age of 20, Will Smith was a millionaire. A year earlier, he'd won a Grammy and was living a life of luxury, indulging in swanky vehicles, designer clothing, and living in a mansion. "When you get a large sum of money that young, it's real hard to keep control of yourself," he explained during a 1991 episode of "The Arsenio Hall Show." "I was out buying clothes and cars ... You just feel like the money never ends." But then, he lost everything.

While he was living the high life, Smith had no idea that he owed millions in back taxes. Subsequently, the IRS came by and seized his house and car, landing him in jail. "So the money's gone, the car's gone," he recounted on "The Oprah Conversation." "I'm laying on the floor in a jail cell and I'm like, 'You've got to be kidding me. I won a Grammy eight months ago.'" As the Oscar-winner revealed to CBS News, he owed the IRS $2.8 million, which was exactly how much money he had left, having spent up to $6 million.

Despite having no acting experience, Smith was soon asked to audition for "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air." The drive to get out of his dire financial situation propelled Smith to give the role his all. Although the IRS initially took 70% of his earnings, he was soon raking in megabucks due to roles in blockbusters like "Men in Black" and "Independence Day." Needless to say, his money woes were fully behind him.

She may be a queen of stage and screen, but there was once a time when Lady Gaga was scrambling to make ends meet. In an interview with the Financial Times, Mother Monster admitted that money meant very little to her, to the point that she had no idea she'd gone totally broke in 2009. "I actually went bankrupt after the first extension of 'The Monster Ball,'" she revealed. "And it was funny because I didn't know! And I remember I called everybody and said, 'Why is every­one saying I have no money?'" Despite Gaga's run of No. 1 singles at the time, she was told the hard truth: she was $3 million in debt.

The songstress elaborated on this difficult period in her life in the documentary, "Who the F*** is Arthur Fogel?" (via Digital Spy), in which she explained that she invested all her money into the Monster Ball tour, wanting the experience to be as spectacular as possible. However, this was to her detriment, and she had to explain to her confused parents that she was flat-broke. But as any Little Monster knows, Gaga is not one to give up at the first hurdle. She got in touch with Live Nation CEO, Arthur Fogel, who would prove her saving grace. "I remember he called me and he said, 'We want to do this'. And he got Live Nation to write me a $40 million check," she divulged. "And it changed my life and the life of my whole family."

In his boxing heyday, George Foreman was an Olympic gold medallist and the heavyweight champion of the world, having knocked out Joe Frazier in 1973, per The Ring. These victories meant that he could comfortably retire with millions in the bank. Or so it would seem. 

The truth is, Foreman found his finances spiraling out of control. By the late '80s, he'd lost his $5 million fortune and was facing bankruptcy, per The New York Times. "It was frightening. The most horrible thing that can happen to a man," he reflected. "... I had a family, people to take care of ... It was that scary because you hear about people being homeless and I was only fractions, fractions from being homeless." Accordingly, he decided to get back into the ring, earning the aging boxer millions of dollars. Foreman revealed that the experience helped keep him grounded, as he acknowledged the ephemeral nature of wealth, and thus, the importance of investing money wisely.

In addition to the millions he recouped through boxing in the '80s and '90s, Foreman made big bucks with his business ventures. In 1994, he launched his line of lean, mean grilling machines — the George Foreman Grill — which earned him hundreds of millions of dollars, per Forbes. "I didn't have any idea it would sell," he admitted. "Next thing you know, I had sold 500. Then 5,000. Then we sold 5 million of those things. If I told you that I could see that coming, I'd be lying."

Back in the 2000s, 50 Cent was living the dream. "In da Club" became a pervasive party anthem and his debut album, "Get Rich or Die Tryin'," sold a colossal 12 million copies when it was released in 2003, per Sydney Morning Herald. Though Forbes reported that Fiddy was worth a staggering $155 million in 2015, he soon found himself in financial turmoil. That year, the rapper filed for bankruptcy, with his assets and debts estimated to be in the range of $10 million to $50 million, per The Wall Street Journal. Another financial blow came when he was ordered to pay Sleek Audio $16 million after he was accused of stealing the company's designs, as Radar reports.

But Fiddy is not one to give up, and he was determined to, well, get rich again or die trying. In 2018, International Business Times reported that the rapper had become a millionaire again through bitcoin investments. He had reportedly forgotten that he'd invested in bitcoin in 2014 when he allowed fans to purchase his music with the cryptocurrency. As the price skyrocketed, 50's shrewd business tactic saw him raking in up to $8.5 million. Moreover, he made heaps of cash when he embarked on a career as a television producer, signing a $150 million deal in the process, per The Guardian. Living the good life once more, 50 makes no apologies, telling the outlet, "If you don't want nice things in your life, I don't even want to know you. I. Don't. Want. To. Know. You."

It may seem like she had a career breakthrough in her 30s, but before she became a Netflix mainstay, Natasha Lyonne was a super successful indie actor. She starred in LGBTQ+ classics, "But I'm A Cheerleader," and "If These Walls Could Talk 2," in 1999 and 2000 respectively, and also found fame with the "American Pie" franchise. However, the tide soon turned.

In the 2000s, Lyonne was beset by legal issues. Her landlord, fellow actor Michael Rapaport, evicted her in 2005 and there were rumors that she had been made homeless, per Heeb Magazine. Her darkest hour came in 2006 when she was accused of threatening to harm her neighbor's dog. As reported by the Chicago Tribune, she turned herself into the police and was booked for criminal mischief, harassment, and trespassing. However, the charges were eventually dropped. Soon, no one wanted to cast Lyonne, and her work and her money dried up. 

All hail the Lyonnissance. After British director Mike Leigh saw her potential and cast her in his play, "Two Thousand Years," in 2007, the actor began securing work again. Having enjoyed a notable role in "Orange is the New Black," and wrote and starred in the hit show, "Russian Doll," Lyonne now has a lucrative career under her belt. She's also set to earn an impressive $500,000 per episode for the Peacock series, "Poker Face," per Variety. As Lyonne once told Gothamist, "I could have been really screwed. It's kind of amazing to be given the chance to make a living at it again."

It's been a hot minute since Dane Cook was trending, largely because the once-successful comedian was left flat broke. The star was scammed by his brother, Darryl McCauley, and his sister-in-law Erika, per CNN. McCauley worked as Cook's business manager throughout the '90s, embezzling him out of $12 million. In 2010, he and his wife, Erika, were jailed for six and three years respectively, and ordered to repay the comedian. However, Cook wasn't going to wait around for the money. Accordingly, he concocted a plan to become rich again that's nothing short of genius.

As Cook revealed on "Steve-O's Wild Ride," he took initiative to make back the money he had lost. Subsequently, he scrambled together the only dough he had left — $450,000 from stocks that his brother couldn't get to — and came up with the idea of renting arenas in order to perform his stand-up, thereby eliminating the need for an expensive tour promoter. "The door's mine, the merch is mine," he explained. "We did some deal on the ... food and drinks and at the end of the two nights, I had already put like $1.8 million or something back in my pocket. And I went, 'Alright, here's $200,000. Rent me two more that are within that range.'" He rented around 80 more arenas on his own, and by the end of the year, Cook had made back everything that his brother took from him. "What took me, like, 17 years I pretty much banked in a year," he divulged.