Celebs Who Left Behind Massive Amounts Of Debt

Most celebs live luxurious lives in the spotlight. And, along with the adoration of millions of people and swag bags full of free stuff at Hollywood awards shows, certainly the best part of being a famous actor, singer, or comedian is the money. They get paid millions upon millions of dollars to do the things they love and to do the things that they're exceptionally talented at doing. Yes, with all its various perks, it's very good to be rich and famous.

But every now and then, the money apparently gets to be too much for some unfortunate celebrities. Either they think the cash will always flow at a scandalously high rate and they squander it on mansions and cars, or they get swindled out of it by nefarious business managers or family members ... or, sadly, they blow it all on drugs. But really, when we're talking fortunes reaching millions of dollars, who really knows where it all goes? At any rate, there have been several celebrities who blew through fortunes big enough to last multiple lifetimes before their number was up. And once some passed, they left behind not a large bequeathment to loved ones but instead piles of bills and crushing debt.

Sammy Davis, Jr. was a consummate entertainer and the very definition of a triple threat. One of the more famous members of singer Frank Sinatra's well-known "Rat Pack" squad (via the Las Vegas Sun), Davis starred in cool '60s movies like the original Oceans 11 in 1960 and Robin and the Seven Hoods in 1964, sang classic songs like "What Kind of Fool Am I" and the "The Candy Man," and tap-danced his way across screens both big and small. Adding insult to injury for the late singer-actor-dancer's wife, Altovise Davis, when he died in 1990 at the age of 64, was the star's massive accumulation of debt. When he died, Sammy Davis, Jr. had racked up a whopping total of $15 million of debt, according to Page Six.

According to Matt Birkbeck's book Deconstructing Sammy: Music, Money, Madness, and the Mob (via NPR), the Davis family's Beverly Hills home and basically everything in it — including "jewelry, furs, a Rolls-Royce" — were sold off to pay the late singer's bills. But that still wasn't enough, and the IRS pursued Altovise Davis to resolve what her husband owed in back taxes. By 1994, Altovise was living in the home of a family friend, her "last stop before a homeless shelter," with the IRS taking whatever royalties her husband's work brought in.

Born Joe Yule, Jr., Mickey Rooney became one of Hollywood's top-grossing stars for playing teenager Andy Hardy in 15 movies over a span of nine years. Then Rooney entered the second big phase of his career, starring in a bunch of big screen musicals with fellow former child star Judy Garland. Among them were the likes of Babes on Broadway, Babes in Arms, and Girl Crazy. After serving in World War II, Rooney was eager to stay in the public consciousness and was up for just about anything. He landed his own short-lived TV series The Mickey Rooney Show in 1954, co-starred in the harrowing war movie The Bold and the Brave in 1956, and guest-starred on a number of TV shows in the '50s and '60s. He also portrayed a racist Asian stereotype in 1961's Breakfast at Tiffany's and earned himself an Oscar nomination in 1979 for the movie The Black Stallion. 

But Rooney reportedly didn't keep much of his paychecks throughout the years. In 2011, he sued his stepson Chris Aber, claiming elder abuse and theft of his money. And while Rooney won a $2.8 million settlement, Aber reportedly never paid up (via The Hollywood Reporter). After he passed away in 2014, Rooney ultimately left very little behind. According to Radar Online, the famous actor had no assets, and, while his relatives reportedly fought over his will, they had to sell the late star's house in order to pay off creditors.

When music icon Michael Jackson suddenly died in 2009, it seemed like the entire world went into mourning. It was the end of an era, and millions were saddened by the loss of the explosively talented little boy who sang and danced his heart out with The Jackson 5 in the early '70s and moonwalked into history in the '80s with Thriller. Jackson's Thriller would become the bestselling original album of all time presumably thanks to its cinematic music videos and remarkable singles including "Beat It," "Billie Jean," and "Human Nature," though the title was later taken over by The Eagles (via Rolling Stone). Grieving fans focused on the good times of Jackson's life and chose to look past the controversial behavior exposed in his latter years, such as him dangling his son Blanket off of a balcony. Not to mention incidents involving Jackson allegedly giving his children wine, which he called "Jesus Juice" (via E! News), and numerous accusations of his alleged predatory crimes against minors, as reported by Rolling Stone. 

During the later years of his life, Jackson was also under serious financial strain. With his lavish spending habits and poorly executed business deals and loan agreements, Jackson, by one estimate reported in Billboard, spent as much as $30 million a year more than he brought in. All told, Jackson owed various individuals and institutions about $400 million at the time of his death.

Truly the '80s was the era of Coreys. Boys named Corey briefly enjoyed superstar status, particularly The Goonies and Stand By Me star Corey Feldman and his frequent collaborator Corey Haim. Together, Coreys Feldman and Haim starred in a number of near-classics: The Lost Boys, License to Drive, and Dream a Little Dream. 

As the '90s dawned and new teen idols came along, each Corey adapted. Feldman started dressing like his friend Michael Jackson and starred in B-movie schlock like Rock 'n' Roll High School Forever, while Haim got caught up with drugs. At the time of his death at age 38 in 2010, People reported that Haim had struggled with an addiction to prescription drugs. Not long afterwards, Feldman discussed his friend's tragic end on Larry King Live (via Us Weekly), revealing that Haim had been living month to month in a bargain-rate Los Angeles apartment with his mother and was so broke he "didn't even have a car." 

It's unclear how much money Corey Haim had at the time of his passing, although he'd filed for bankruptcy protection back in 1997. At that time, Haim owed at least $200,000 in both state and federal back taxes and, according to E! News, his only assets were an old car, $100 in cash, and residuals worth $7,500.

Redd Foxx revolutionized American comedy. His ribald "party records" in the 1950s were among the first-ever comedy albums, and the celeb predated Roseanne Barr and Jerry Seinfeld as stand-up comics with their own sitcoms, starring as the outspoken junk dealer Fred Sanford on the smash hit Sanford and Son, from 1972 to 1977. That show's most famous bit was when Foxx, as Sanford, faked a heart attack and called out to his long-dead wife, "This is the big one!" Unfortunately, Foxx's previous on-screen antics caused his co-stars on 1991's The Royal Family to think he was only kidding around when he suddenly became seriously ill. "They were rehearsing on the set and clowning around, and Redd was sort of breaking people up when he collapsed," the show's spokesperson Rachel McCallister told the Los Angeles Times. "They all thought he was joking around at first, and then they called the paramedics."

It really was the big one, as Foxx died of a heart attack. And he died owing $3.6 million in back taxes. His estate wasn't worth much at the time, and so it fell to John Cahill, a public administrator of Clark County, Nev., to get the government what it was owed. After selling off the rights to Foxx's images for use in media and merchandise, as late as 2010, Cahill was still trying to pay down Foxx's tax bill with a plan to sell the rights to make a movie about Foxx's life story.