Meet the child stars who earned a fortune... and lost everything: From the highest paid teenager in Hollywood to the singer who made $200million before he turned 18

Daily Mail​

27-07-2025

It really wasn't supposed to be this way.
Not after a life spent living beneath the glaring spotlight of celebrity, a spotlight charged by a career that began with a significant role in one of the most prominent children's shows of the 2000s.
But Drake Bell admits the immeasurable wealth he may well have dreamed of at the height of his acting career is as beyond reach now as it was when he entered the industry as a naive 12-year old boy.
In a frank admission, the former child star, now 39, admits he's struggled to pay the rent on a home far removed from the sprawling Beverly Hills mansions one typically might associate with the Hollywood acting community.
'It's like, you know, "Oh, you made a Folgers Coffee commercial. You must live in a mansion in Hollywood. Like, I saw you on TV. You're rich,' he explained during a recent interview with The Unplanned Podcast.
'That's far from the case. And especially, which is the bummer for most of us on Nickelodeon, we don't get residuals for our shows.'
Bell became a household name thanks to his association with childrens' TV network Nickelodeon and a series of starring roles - first on The Amanda Show, before earning a wider fanbase on the hugely successful Drake & Josh.
Taking centre stage alongside fellow child star Josh Peck, Bell played the angsty, cool, music loving teenager Drake Parker to Peck's clumsy, bookish and socially awkward Josh Nichols.
It was an instant hit with viewers, pulling in an astonishing 3.2 million viewers for its show premiere and remaining one of the most watched children's' shows of the era, winning numerous awards along the way.
But while Peck has enjoyed significantly bigger roles since leaving the show - among them a portrayal of celebrated American physicist Kenneth Bainbridge in Christopher Nolan's Oscar-winning blockbuster Oppenheimer - Bell has struggled to match the early heights of his career.
Like so many child stars before him, he has seen those promising early roles amount to significantly less than the pot of gold he was promised.
But who else has suffered a similar financial fate?
1. Dustin Diamond
It's a show that appears to transcend the early nineties generation of teenagers it was originally made for.
Indeed, countless reruns have given Saved By The Bell the sort of multi-generational success one usually associates with the biggest era-defining shows, among them the tirelessly popular Friends.
Launched in 1989 and set at the fictional Bayside High School in Los Angeles, the NBC show became an overnight success - and rightly made household names of its genetically blessed principal cast.
But it was the nerdy pimple magnet Samuel 'Screech' Powers - named as such because of his grating, high-pitched voice - who claimed many of the show's accolades.
Dustin Diamond had already featured in two episodes of coming-of-age comedy The Wonder Years before making his first appearance at Bayside High, but it would be his portrayal of Screech that endeared him to millions.
The American actor was just 11 years old when he auditioned, ostensibly for a role in Disney show Good Morning, Miss Bliss - an early prototype of what would ultimately become Saved By The Bell - in 1988.
He would maintain the role for the next five years, with Saved By The Bell running across four seasons before airing its final episode for a prime time audience in 1993.
One could forgive Diamond for viewing it as a promising start, but it would prove to be a false promise, with bigger roles failing to materialise as he moved into adulthood.
Indeed, the actor subsequently reprised his best known role in numerous spin-offs throughout the 1990s - among them the forgettable Saved By The Bell: Hawaiian Style and short-lived sitcom Saved By The Bell: The College Years.
Screech would be resurrected yet again, this time for a prolonged six year spell on Saved By The Bell: The New Class - in which he returns to his old Bayside stomping ground as a teaching assistant.
'I didn't know what to do,' he admitted during an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2013. 'It was hard to get work that wasn't Screech-clone stuff.'
But for all his endeavours as the divisive character, Diamond's financial returns paled in comparison to the enormous success of Saved By The Bell - for reasons not unlike those that would later affect Bell.
While the actor was thought to have made an initial $2million from the show, poor residual deals meant Diamond and his cast-mates failed to receive payment for any of the show's extensive re-runs.
In later years the actor would turn to reality TV as a means of income, with Diamond memorably featuring on the British version of Celebrity Big Brother in 2013.
Tragically, Diamond died aged 44 in 2021, just weeks after being diagnosed with extensive small-cell carcinoma of the lungs.
The actor's estimated net worth at the time of his death ranged from $300,000 to $500,000.
2. Gary Coleman
'What'choo talkin' 'bout, Willis?'
For Diff'rent Strokes fans it became a signature catchphrase, but for the young actor responsible for delivering it throughout the show's run, it soon grew tiresome.
Gary Coleman was 10-years old and already a paid actor with a string of commercials to his name when a starring role on the show changed his life, but ultimately not his personal fortune.
Alongside co-star Todd Bridges - the aforementioned 'Willis' - Coleman played Arnold Jackson, the younger of two black children adopted into an affluent white family following the death of their mother.
It was a divisive premise, but Diff'rent Strokes became an overnight success following its launch in 1978, running for eight years and making household names of all of its principal cast-members - notably Coleman.
Earning a reported $100,000 per episode at the show's peak, Coleman was one of the highest paid child stars of the 1980s - but he only saw a fraction of the riches he earned as Arnold.
Managed by his adoptive parents, the actor - who was born with a growth deficiency - saw a larger percentage of his sizeable earnings diverted, leading to a bitter financial dispute in later life.
In 1989, just three years after the final credits rolled on Diff'rent Strokes, Coleman sued parents W.G. and Edmonia Sue Coleman, and manager Anita DeThomas, for misappropriation of earnings.
A judge at Beverly Hills Superior Court agreed that Coleman's parents and manager had wrongly banked $1.28 million in commissions, salaries, fees and pension distributions from the actor between 1982 and 1987.
He would walk away from court after agreeing to a $1.3 million settlement, pocket change when compared to the amount he'd lost.
The actor suffered an additional financial blow in 1995 through a failed attempt at launching an arcade business, the Gary Coleman Game Parlor, losing an additional $200,000 through the endeavour.
Four years later Coleman filed for bankruptcy protection.
'I can spread the blame [of filing for bankruptcy] all the way around,' he said at the time. 'From me to accountants to my adoptive parents, to agents to lawyers and back to me again.'
Coleman, who had struggled with a series of health issues, died aged 42 in 2010 following a fall at his home.
An initial will stipulated that his funeral service be '...conducted by those with no financial ties to me and can look each other in the eyes and say they really cared personally for Gary Coleman.'
At the time of his death, Coleman's net worth estimated at $75,000 - a fraction of the $18million he earned throughout his career.
3. Jack Wild
As film adaptations go, there's no denying that big-screen musical Oliver! was an enormous commercial success.
Directed by Carol Reed, this 1968 rendering of Charles Dickens' classic Oliver Twist won a remarkable six Academy Awards and raked in more than $40million at the box-office.
It also made overnight stars of its young cast, notably Mark Lester, who played the titular Oliver, and his 16-year old co-star, Jack Wild.
As precocious pickpocket Artful Dodger, the hitherto unknown Wild endeared himself to millions through his versatility as a highly capable actor, singer and dancer.
Indeed, his captivating portrayal of the beloved Dickens character would earn him deserved BAFTA, Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations the following year.
Reflecting on his early success in posthumously released memoir It's A Dodger's Life, he wrote: 'Even before the movie was released, people were saying, "You've stolen the film! You and Ron Moody [who played Fagin] have such chemistry!"
'But I couldn't begin to have any idea of what was to happen when the film was premiered three months later in Leicester Square.
'I'd never experienced anything like this before: the cameras, the attention, the noise; I thought I must be the fifth Beatle.'
Oliver! would lead to further roles, notably that of Jimmy in 17 episodes of American children's show H.R. Pufnstuf and a starring role in The Pied Piper - another musical, released in 1974 with a stellar cast that included John Hurt, Donald Pleasance and Roy Kinnear.
Fame led to fortune, and Wild later admitted to living the high life during the 1970s, frittering away his money on lavish restaurants, expensive clothes and handouts to friends and family.
'I had suits hand-made by a Mayfair tailor,' he recalled. 'If I asked for something, I got it. In restaurants, I'd get the best table and there were always chauffeur-driven cars to take me everywhere.'
But the actor's initial success would fail to provide a launch-pad for his career as he moved into adulthood and began a rapid descent into alcoholism.
'Over the years, people have tried to blame my battles on my early success as a child actor, but I just don't see that,' he wrote in his memoir.
'I'd have been an alcoholic no matter what career I had chosen and, rather than my success unbalancing me, I think it balanced me out.
'Without it I would have been capable of anything, even murder. Some of my family ended up on the wrong side of the law, and I think I would have been there too if it hadn't been for my success; my success did not destroy me, it saved me.'
By 1980 Wild's career was in freefall, the money was gone and he was forced to make ends meet with small roles in low-budget pantomimes while his drinking steadily escalated.
Finally, in an act of desperation, he turned to Jobseekers Allowance as a means of bringing in money to feed his crippling alcohol dependency.
'I'd sign on for Unemployment Benefit and use that for drink,' he recalled in his memoir. 'I would constantly have a drink within three feet of me so I could be unaware of what was going on around me.
'At the same time I was expecting a phone call from Spielberg saying: 'I want you to be in my next movie!' It was insane.'
Wild blamed excessive drinking for his oral cancer diagnosis in 2001. He subsequently underwent chemotherapy and had his tongue and voice-box removed - leaving him unable to communicate verbally for the rest of his life.
He died aged 53 in 2006, 17 years after successfully beating his addiction to alcohol.
'I only wish I'd invested the money and not drank quite so much,' he wrote. 'But other than that I don't think there is much else I'd change.
'And I did have a lot of fun.'
4. Amanda Bynes
Arguably one of the defining American child stars of her era, Amanda Bynes earned as much as $3million a year at the height of her career.
But a life overshadowed by mental health issues, hospitalisations and a strict conservatorship has decimated her earning power, with Bynes no longer working as an actress.
Aged just 14 and already established thanks to her role in Nickelodeon show All That, Bynes took centre-stage in spin-off The Amanda Show, a heavily financed vehicle for her evident potential.
The show ran for three hugely successful seasons following its 2000 launch, with the actress's versatility paving the way for subsequent roles in a string of Hollywood productions.
Indeed, she would take a starring role alongside Frankie Muniz in 2002 teen comedy Big Fat Liar before landing one of the biggest parts of her career, this time as Penny Lou Pingleton in Hairspray.
Released to critical and commerical acclaim, director Adam Shankman's 2007 screen adaptation of the legendary Broadway musical placed Bynes alongside acting greats John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer and Christopher Walken in a star-studded cast.
It all hinted at greater things for the young actress, by now 21 and commanding life-changing sums of money for her services, but her career would rapidly unravel following a final film appearance in 2010 rom-com Easy A.
By 2013, Bynes' most significant appearances were in court, notably for driving under the influence, reckless endangerment and possession of marijuana, as her life went rapidly off the rails.
That same year she was hospitalised under a 72-hour Mental Health Evaluation Hold after starting a fire on a complete stranger's driveway - prompting a successful conservatorship from her concerned parents, Rick and Lynn.
Bynes owned a reported $5.7 million worth of assets at the time of the conservatorship, much of it accrued through property investment.
But despite earning vastly more throughout the 2000s, her parents discovered she had pulled in just $144,000 in 2012, a fraction of her former income, the vast percentage of which coming from a $1.8million rental in southern California, bought by the actress in 2011.
In full control of her financial affairs, they also claimed she squandered $1.2 million of her savings in less than one year - among them two $100,000 cash withdrawals.
Worse, she was spending heavily despite having no significant source of income.
Rick and Lynn's conservatorship ran until 2022, when Bynes' successfully filed to end it.
Now looking to reinvent herself after walking away from the TV and film industry, Bynes - who is still said to be worth an estimated $6million - has turned to subscription only service OnlyFans for a source of income.
A source close to the former child star has claimed the move will not only afford her the opportunity to make money, share her fashion designs and provide a potential springboard into reality TV, but will also be a safe space to reveal 'what happened from her past at Nickelodeon.'
'Amanda was looking into making money and is convinced that OnlyFans will bring some serious cash her way,' the insider told DailyMail.com.
'Her intentions are to do this before she seeks any reality show opportunities. She understands the stigma around OnlyFans, but she is determined to make this very safe - nothing naughty.
'She wants to share some of her future designs with her fans, collaborate with them and she also wants to tell stories to people who don't know everything about what happened from her past at Nickelodeon.
'She is seeing OnlyFans as a bit of a career renaissance.'
5. Aaron Carter
He'd banked a reported $200million before his 18th birthday, but Aaron Carter would still struggle with financial problems as he entered adulthood - among them a $3.5million tax bill.
The younger brother of Backstreet Boy Nick Carter, the singer was only 10-years old when he recorded his self-titled debut album in 1997.
It would go on to sell more than a million copies worldwide and provide a launch-pad for an incredible run of early success for the baby-faced Carter.
By the time he was 18, the singer had already recorded four multi-platinum albums, but his departure from Jive Records - the label responsible for launching his career - would prove to be the catalyst for a dramatic commercial decline.
Indeed, there would be a sixteen year wait for his fifth album, Love, in 2018, but the popularity Carter enjoyed during the early years of his career had long since waned as his young fan-base inevitably grew up.
The younger brother of Backstreet Boy Nick Carter, the singer was only 10-years old when he recorded his self-titled debut album in 1997 (pictured in 1998)
By the time he was 18, the singer had already recorded four multi-platinum albums, but his departure from Jive Records would prove to be the catalyst for a dramatic commercial decline
Five years earlier, the singer had filed a bankruptcy petition to free himself of a $3.5 million debt, accrued through outstanding unpaid taxes in 2003, at the height of his career.
But despite his financial struggles, Carter- who battled mental health and substance abuse issues throughout his adult life - insisted he wasn't desperate for money.
'I'm not broke. I mean, I don't make all the money in the world right now, but I'm doing the best that I can,' he told Oprah Winfrey during an appearance on Oprah: Where Are They Now - Extra.
'I do a lot of shows and I write a lot of music. I'm rebuilding my life. Over the last 10 years, my story's been really difficult.'
He added: 'No disrespect to my brother, but when Nick was 18 years old and I was 10 years old, I was just kind of starting to make lots of money.
'I made over $200million in my career before I even turned 18 years old.
'We had this massive compound, with, like, 12 houses on it. It was worth over $10million, and I had paid a lot of that money.
'I had done a lot of that stuff, and I never got any of those returns back or anything like that… Even at this point, I've never even owned my own home.'
In 2013, the singer filed a bankruptcy petition to free himself of a $3.5 million debt, accrued through outstanding unpaid taxes in 2003, at the height of his career
Aaron (right) with older brother Nick in 2004. The singer claimed his parents mishandled his money and neglected his finances
Carter also claimed his parents mishandled his money and neglected his finances.
'There was a lot of neglect on my parents' part,' he said. 'They didn't do a lot of things right.'
The singer revealed he was only given $2million when he became an adult, despite the Coogan law - which is designed to safeguard a portion of child performers' earnings - stating he should have been given about $20million.
Carter died of accidental drowning aged 34 in 2022, after inhaling difluoroethane - a colourless gas - and taking Xanax.
His estate, valued at $550,000, was reportedly insolvent after debts and other financial commitments were met following his death.