
Skint celebrities struggling to make ends meet – from soap legend getting loans from pals to singer who lives in her car
MONEY WOES Skint celebrities struggling to make ends meet – from soap legend getting loans from pals to singer who lives in her car
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
THE SKINT celebrities that are struggling to make ends meet - from Dawn O'Porter to Mischa Barton.
Even if you have made lots of money, it doesn't always mean you're not going to run into money problems as these celebrities have found out.
Sign up for the Entertainment newsletter
Sign up
Mischa Barton
8
Mischa Barton even sued her mother over money
Credit: Rex Features
The OC actress Mischa, 39, has had a widely-publicised battle with her former momager, Nuala Barton, over her money.
In July 2015, she even sued her mother, alleging that she lied about how much Mischa was being paid for a film role and pocketed the rest of the cash herself.
She's also struggled to make mortgage payments on her home in the past, at one point falling five months behind.
Though she eventually sold the Beverly Hills mansion in summer 2016 for $7.05 million reports The BBC.
Dawn O'Porter
8
Dawn is married to Hollywood star Chris O'Dowd
Her husband is one of Hollywood's biggest comedy actors, but despite this, Dawn O'Porter has revealed she is struggling to make ends meet financially.
The television presenter, 46, who has been married to Bridesmaids actor Chris O'Dowd since 2012, has opened up about her money woes.
She expressed to MailOnline: 'I work pay cheque to pay cheque. I'm always broke. My card got declined last week. I'm like, what the f*** is happening? When will this end?'
The Scottish writer and director has had a varied career, presenting several documentaries and shows including BBC's Super Slim Me and How To Look Good Naked on Channel 4.
Meanwhile, Chris, 45, has starred in some of Hollywood's biggest productions, including This Is 40, Thor: The Dark World, Gulliver's Travels and St. Vincent.
The couple have two children, sons Art, 11, and Valentine, who is eight years old.
Wife of Hollywood actor claims she's 'always broke' and 'lives pay cheque to pay cheque'
Lindsay Lohan
8
Lindsay Lohan had her bank accounts seized in 2012
Credit: Getty
The Parent Trap's Lindsay Lohan had her bank accounts seized in 2012, for reportedly owing $234,000 in tax.
Lindsay apparently sent her 18-year-old sister to haggle with second hand stores to make some emergency cash from her old clothes.
Ali Lohan went to the vintage clothing store Wasteland to flog the singer's most valuable designer gear.
Ali was seen arriving at the Los Angeles store with bags bursting with shoes, clothes and accessories.
But she was reportedly shocked when she was offered a lot less than she was expecting.
She tried another tactic to increase the value of the items by listing all the occasions her famous sister had been pictured wearing them.
She went through items including a pair of Chanel pumps and a Balenciaga handbag, saying: "These have to be worth more, Lindsay was photographed wearing them, that has to add value."
But the manager would not be swayed, and Ali had to settle much lower than she had planned.
Her Scary Movie 5 co-star, Charlie Sheen, gave her $100,000 towards the bill and Lindsay now appears to have her finances under control.
50 Cent
8
50 Cent declared himself bankrupt in 2015
Credit: Getty
50 Cent declared himself bankrupt in 2015, but said the move was a 'strategic' one, and not because he'd spent all of his money.
He made the decision after he was sued for leaking a sex tape of Lastonia Leviston, who has a child with his rap rival Rick Ross, and didn't want other people to follow suit.
He told US talk show host Larry King in 2015L "It's a move that was necessary for me to make at this point.
"So I didn't allow myself to create that big red and white bulls eye on my back, where I become the person that people consistently come to."
He still had to pay off debts of more than $22 million, though, with $6 million going to Lastonia for invasion of privacy.
Shane Richie
8
Shane Richie had to borrow from friends and family
Credit: BBC/Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron
Back in 2020, the EastEnders legend said the coronavirus pandemic hit him hard and left him begging friends and family for loans.
Shane revealed how the pandemic and years of daft spending had left him "literally skint."
At the time he was relying on loans from friends and family, and government help to pay his mortgage.
He told the Mirror at the time: "I was going on tour, doing a TV series and panto but it all got cancelled in March. Now I am literally skint!
"You save for a rainy day but you don't expect the rainy day to last eight months. Thankfully, I've been able to borrow money from mates, my family and the bank."
He added: "I got rid of my car but only cos I lease a car for my wife for the school run. I can get around on a moped.
"I am alright, I have had a career and if it all finishes tomorrow, so be it. If the worst comes to the worst, I'll do stand-up or resurrect a musical."
Shane also revealed that he blew thousands on the strangest things, in particular Planet of the Apes memorabilia.
He said: "It was my favourite show as a boy, I couldn't resist. It harks back to Christmases when mum and dad couldn't afford much."
However, after his stint on I'm a Celeb and back on our screens in EastEnders, we are sure Shane's finances are in much better order now.
Courtney Love
8
Courtney lost about $27 million
In April 2014, Courtney was hit with a $320,000 tax bill, as well as being ordered to pay $96,000 to a fashion designer she defamed on Twitter.
Later that year, the singer told the Sunday Times, "I lost about $27 million.
"I know that's a lifetime of money to most people, but I'm a big girl, it's rock 'n roll, it's Nirvana money, I had to let it go.
"I make enough to live on, I'm financially solvent, I focus on what I make now."
And back in 2021 according to official tax records, the Hole lead singer had five outstanding tax debts that have accumulated from 2017 to 2021.
The iconic artist was hit with three outstanding Internal Revenue Service liens, totaling $1.9 million, while the rest of the debt was owed to the State of California.
At the time, a clerk at the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder's office confirmed to The Sun that all of the liens remained outstanding and were unpaid.
Dawn Robinson
8
Dawn has revealed she is sleeping in her car
Credit: Getty
Dawn, found early fame in the '90s alongside Terry Ellis, Cindy Herron, and Maxine Jones for their work as R&B group En Vogue.
With seven Grammy nominations under their belt, the foursome are considered one of the most successful R&B girl groups of the past quarter-century.
But now Dawn has revealed that she's been living in her car for the past three years.
She has likened it to a 'camping trip' that's helped her feel more 'free.'
The singer said in a recent video posted to her YouTube channel: 'You guys, for the past three years, I have been living in my car.
"I said it, oh my gosh, it's out,'
The Grammy nominee explained that she was living with her parents for a while in Las Vegas before the situation became unfavourable.
She eventually moved back to Los Angeles after her manager suggested she move in with him for a bit.
But the home was too small so Dawn ultimately resided in a hotel for eight months before deciding to research 'car life.'
Following her search, the singer began living in her car in 2022 and said that she 'felt free.'
She added: 'I felt free. I felt like I was on a camping trip. It just felt like it was the right thing to do.
'I didn't regret it. You know, a lot of celebrities have lived in their cars.'
The singer admitted that though the experience is sometimes 'scary' she's learned 'what to do in my car and how to do it, like, how to cover my windows and you don't talk to certain people.'
She explained: 'You're careful of telling people that you're alone, as a woman especially."
Her candid confession comes weeks after her former band - En Vogue - announced that they would soon be embarking on a European tour.
Cat Power
8
Cat Power had to cancel her European Tour
Credit: Getty
Charlyn Marie "Chan" Marshall, better known by her stage name Cat Power, is an American singer-songwriter.
She spent a lot of her own money on recording 2012 album, Sun.
Then, when it came time to tour Sun, she took to Instagram to share some bad news with fans.
She wrote: "I may have to cancel my European tour due to bankruptcy & my health struggle with angioedema.
"I have not thrown in any towel, I am trying to figure out what best I can do."
The tour was indeed postponed, with Chan later adding: 'The American tour has been wonderful and amazing, and with me being unable to afford to bring my show with full production (which i helped create), to Europe.
"Financially, really dumped a huge additional amount of stress on me as I was and still am fighting trying to get tour support."
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

The National
an hour ago
- The National
What reparations should Palestine receive? The Fringe show where you decide
That is the speculative future Farah Saleh, a Palestinian dancer, choreographer, and academic based in Edinburgh, is inviting audiences to step into at this year's [[Edinburgh]] Fringe show, Balfour Reparations. Focusing on Edinburgh-born Arthur James Balfour, who when serving as prime minister (1902-1905) and foreign secretary (1916-1919), denied Palestinian political rights, difficult questions are placed squarely into the hands of the audience — a community tasked with imagining a future of reparations for Palestine. READ MORE: Scottish women on taking their shows to the Fringe this year 'The performance starts from this year in which I say at the beginning of the performance we're going to look back at 20 years ago when the letter was issued exactly today. 'So it's the day of the performance 20 years before that the letter was issued. And we reflect on all the reparations process, the effective one that took place," she explains. The work, which runs for 40 minutes followed by a 20-minute Q&A, takes the audience on a journey that connects the past, present and future — a weaving together of grief, history, and hope which they are witnessing today as the genocide in Palestine is live-streamed. 'For me, when I connect past, present, and future, I manage to hold space for all of these different emotions and states,' Saleh says. Born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria and having lived in Jordan, Palestine, and now Scotland, Saleh carries with her a lived experience of exile and return. This long view of time and movement is central to her work. 'It's not only about love and peace that doesn't exist in like a hope in the sense of it will be peace and everything will be perfect. We say that peace is a white person's like concept or word for liberation or freedom.' What unfolds in the performance is not a linear narrative, but a shared space of responsibility. Audience members are given letters and sometimes embroidery. They are asked to read aloud from the stage. And, crucially, they are invited to imagine reparations — to speak them into the room. 'So if they want to fight, they can,' Saleh says, 'but it's just like one person says recommendations for the future... It's an accumulation of thoughts.' READ MORE: I'm performing at the Fringe but fear I won't be allowed to re-enter the US Tension, for Saleh, isn't a threat — it's part of the work. 'I have no problem with tension. Tension is part of our life. So I'm, I'm, it's welcome.' The audience suggestions range widely. 'Some people say we need reparations money because it's very material, what they destroyed, and some people say no reparations it's not only about money, it's more cultural, it's songs, it's all the people that passed away, their legacy, like how can you keep it,' she recounts. 'There's people talk about trees and seeds,' she adds. 'Some people were like saying what do we do? With these new settler plants, do we adapt to them or do we cut them?' A QR code at the end of the show invites further responses, and Saleh notes that 'around five people each performance send some further reparations, even if it's like a sentence or two.' This interaction — a sort of living archive of ideas — is as much a part of the work as the performance itself. 'It's how they experience that responsibility in and how they transport it outside and hopefully keep feeling that responsibility also outside the performance space,' she says. 'They take the letter with them home ... they can read through it and see all the different points they can contribute to.' The timing of the piece is deliberate. The year 2045, only twenty years away, anchors the performance's speculative structure in the near future. 'So hoping that all the people in the room will be around like the 20 years,' she says with a small laugh, 'it's also about thinking further than 2045 with them.' As Saleh reminds us, reparations are not abstract ideas or distant policies. They are embodied, cultural, material, and — perhaps most importantly — collective. 'It's their responsibility to keep the show going.'


Scottish Sun
7 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Oasis huge Scots shows will see major ban enforced over safety fears
A source said it is 'definitely the right move' STOP FLYING YOUR HEART OUT STOP FLYING YOUR HEART OUT Oasis huge Scots shows will see major ban enforced over safety fears Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A NO-fly zone will be in place over Oasis's massive Scots shows. Aviation watchdogs have banned drones over the stadium amid worries fans could be injured if a device falls from the sky. Sign up for the Entertainment newsletter Sign up 4 Oasis Live 25 will be coming to Edinburgh this week Credit: PA 4 A no-fly zone has been set up over Murrayfield during the concerts Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd 4 The drone ban zone was brought in to protect gig-goers Credit: Getty Anyone caught using the gadgets faces fines amid a huge security operation at Murrayfield in Edinburgh. Similar curbs were brought in for the Stop Crying Your Heart Out rockers' comeback performances in Manchester and Cardiff last month. Brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher are set to take to the stage at the home of Scottish rugby on Friday, Saturday and next Tuesday. And a source said: 'Banning drones above the gigs is the right move. "All it takes is something to go wrong or someone who doesn't know how to properly fly a drone to make a mistake. "If one falls into the crowd people could end up badly hurt.' A Civil Aviation Authority spokesman said the ban was 'in the public interest'. Up to 210,000 fans overall are expected to flock to the sold-out mega-gigs. They face strict rules with metal water bottles, hip flasks, large bags and umbrellas among banned items. And any louts found with knives, drugs and pyros will be reported to cops. Hundreds of Oasis fans queue down Scots street to bag gig merch as buzz begins ahead of Edinburgh shows A Scottish Rugby spokesman said security was 'of the upmost importance' at the gigs. The concerts coincide with the capital's world-famous Fringe arts bash of more than 3,800 shows. Police said a 'proportionate and considered plan' is in place' to keep visitors safe. A force spokesman added: 'We are working to ensure the safety of those attending events and minimise disruption.'


South Wales Guardian
10 hours ago
- South Wales Guardian
In Pictures: UK and Ireland facing the wrath of Storm Floris
Spectators at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival had to brave inclement conditions to watch artists perform on the Royal Mile. The promenade at Blackpool was largely deserted as the wind and rain persuaded people to stay indoors while in Birmingham brollies were out in force, although one man opened his arms and embraced the rain. With train services affected in Edinburgh, there were other issues for visitors to the Scottish capital, with some turned away from Edinburgh Castle. The conditions also made it difficult for those at the Fringe, both performers and spectators.