Kim Basinger
The Oscar winner was part of an investment group that hoped to turn the town of Braselton, Georgia, into a tourist attraction and a hub for film and TV production. The plan ultimately failed and she lost millions. She was also sued by Main Line Pictures after withdrawing from a verbally binding agreement to star in “Boxing Helena.” The court told her to pay $8.1 million, but the ruling was overturned on appeal. She settled for $3.8 million after filing for bankruptcy.
Wesley Snipes
The “Blade” star filed for bankruptcy in 2006 and was indicted for tax fraud several months later. Snipes was found guilty of failing to pay over $12 million in taxes and served three years in prison.
MC Hammer
In 1991, the rapper made over $33 million. By 1996, he was $14 million in the hole and had to declare bankruptcy. He’d spent his fortune on cars, airplanes, a record company, a $30 million home and his posse of 200 friends.
Gary Busey
The “Point Break” star filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2012 after amassing over half a million dollars in debt with the IRS, lawyers, UCLA Medical Center, Wells Fargo, Los Angeles County Waterworks Districts, a storage company and a woman named Carla Loeffler, who sued him for assault at a Tulsa airport in 2011.
Pamela Anderson
The “Baywatch” bombshell owed so much money to the IRS in overdue taxes that she was forced sell her Malibu home in 2013 for $7.75 million.
Nicole Eggert
Another “Baywatch” star, Eggert was forced to sell her Los Angeles home in 2015 for $1.15 million to cover mounting bills.
Nicolas Cage
In 2009, Cage earned $40 million. Over the years, he owned a Malibu home, a country manor, a medieval castle, Midford Castle, property in the Bahamas and a 40-acre island in the Exuma archipelago. The IRS slammed him with a bill for $6.2 million and he promptly sued his money manager for negligence and fraud. These days, the actor is living more modestly.
Gary Coleman
Coleman, who died of a traumatic brain injury in 2010 after falling down the stairs at his home, was once the highest-paid actor on television with a $7 million fortune. He declared bankruptcy in 1999, which he blamed on costly medical issues and a drawn-out legal battle with his adoptive parents.
Todd Bridges
Bridges, who played the lovable Willis Jackson during eight seasons of “Diff’rent Strokes,” made a reported $15,000- $30,000 a week. He lost nearly all of it after battling drug addiction. Documents revealed he was barely making $22,500 a year.
Dana Plato
Coleman’s adoptive sister Kimberly Drummond on “Diff’rent Strokes” died in 1999 of an overdose at age 34 after years spent struggling with poverty and substance abuse.
Corey Haim
The ’80s teen idol began using drugs at 15 and struggled to overcome addiction throughout his life. In 2010, he passed away at the age of 38 of pneumonia.
Willie Aames
After investing in a bad coal mine deal, the teen heartthrob from “Eight is Enough” and “Charles in Charge” went from making about $1.6 million a year to owing a whopping $400,000 to the IRS and battling homelessness.
Jodie Sweetin
The “Full House” actress and recovering meth addict stated in divorce papers that her home with ex Cody Herpin was in foreclosure. She blamed Herpin’s refusal to find employment as the cause for their situation.
Willie Nelson
In 1990, Nelson owed $16.7 million to the IRS in back taxes. As a result, authorities raided his Texas ranch home, seizing the 44-acre estate and the rest of his assets. The country music icon blames his money woes on a no-good accountant.
“Sinbad”
Comedian and ’90s sitcom actor David “Sinbad” Adkins filed for bankruptcy twice and admitted he owed a debt of as much as $11 million. He said $8 million of that was for unpaid taxes.
Leif Garrett
After a long struggle with drug addiction, the ’70s child star/teen idol filed for bankruptcy and famously relied on a $1,000-a-month allowance from his mother.
Sherman Hemsley
Despite his enormous success playing George Jefferson in “All in the Family” and spin-off “The Jeffersons,” Hemsley filed for Chapter 13 in June 1999; he died in 2012.
