Busted! 15 Celebrities Who Once Filed Bankruptcy: Cyndi Lauper, Stan Lee, Aaron Carter and More

Drake Bell filed for bankruptcy in 2014, according to documents obtained by People. He reportedly was $1.597 million in debt.

He later listed the value of his at $1.575 million and claimed his monthly expenses were $18,771, with his income only being $2,820 a month.

Nearly a decade prior to his death, Aaron Carter filed for personal bankruptcy due to his tax and credit debts exceeding $3.5 million.

According to the documents, Nick Carter's younger brother owed $2.2 million to creditors on top of his $1.3 million income tax debt and $31,166 American Express bill.

"Aaron filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection to alleviate past issues in an effort to move forward with his life and career," his representative said at that time. "The overwhelming majority of the debt he is asking to be discharged is from more than 10 years ago when he was a minor and not in control of his finances."

Although he recovered from the financial loss, a legal filing struck his estate and detailed the thousands of dollars of debts he made prior to his death.

Media outlets estimated that his liabilities at the time of his demise were over $2 million.

Dance Moms star Abby Lee Miller applied for personal bankruptcy in 2010, claiming to have $400,000 in debts. While a judge was yet to approve the Chapter 11 bankruptcy, she started working on the show and its spin-off, Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition.

The judge assigned to the case looked into Miller's financial capacity after seeing an episode of her show.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) soon discovered that Miller hid $775,000 of her income from the proceedings. They also found out that Miller asked her friends to divide and smuggle $120,000 she earned from her Dance Moms Australia masterclass tour.

She was convicted of financial and customs fraud and served eight months prison sentence.

Burt Reynolds' divorce from actress Lori Anderson and his extravagant lifestyle triggered his bankruptcy.

According to Vanity Fair, he declared bankruptcy in 1996, citing $11.2 million debt. Although he recovered years later, the late actor still dealt with rumors that he was broke after he put more than 600 personal items in an auction.

He later told Entertainment Tonight that the speculations were baseless and clarified that he was only selling his memorabilia.

Cyndi Lauper has been a successful soloist in the industry, but she had a dark past during his time with the band called Blue Angels.

The band's manager Steve Massarsky sued the group and the "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" hitmaker for the $80,000 he claimed they owed him. Lauper responded to the lawsuit by filing for bankruptcy.

After the legal battle, Lauper went on to savor her She's So Unusual album's success in 1983.

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's co-lead vocalist David Crosby lost $25 million all at once at the height of his career in 1985.

A year prior, he found himself broke as he owed hundreds of thousands of dollars while dealing with drug and weapon charges. The issues caused him to file bankruptcy two years before he started serving his prison sentence.

To avoid facing a similar situation, he sold off his music and publishing rights in March 2021. The singer was then able to control his financial setbacks and pay off his house.

Dionne Warwick filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on March 21, 2013, and blamed his former business manager over her $1 million tax liens dating back to the 1990s.

"She's actually paid more than the face amount of the taxes, but with all of the crazy interest and penalties that they add, the number kept mushrooming – even though she paid off the amount that she owed in terms of the actual taxes," the singer's attorney, Daniel Stolz, told Rolling Stone.

Warwick's case was dismissed and closed in 2019.

Even the great filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola faced bankruptcy not once but thrice.

His financial struggles started while the production of his 1982 film, One From the Heart, was underway. He ended up funding the movie with his own money, though the film was a flop.

"At the height of his career, Coppola had little trouble finding funding for a new film project," the Consumer Legal Service said. "He easily got Chase Manhattan Bank and other parties to invest in the film. In all, he raised $27 million dollars for the film (making Zach Braff's recent $3 million Kickstarter campaign seem like a joke)."

After having $98 million in liabilities and only $52 million in assets, he filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to help himself and his production companies to repay their debt.

Supermodel Janice Dickinson declared bankruptcy in 2013 after racking up $1 million in debt, The Telegraph reported.

The court documents revealed she had $500,000 unpaid taxes dating back over a decade and a whopping amount of unpaid plastic surgery bills. Aside from owing New York, California and IRS, the model also owed Arnold Klein and Dr. Uzzi Reiss.

"I had some trouble, so yes, it is true," Dickinson told Radar Online. "I am upset and taking every step to pay everyone back and I feel terrible about it."

Dickinson regained her financial stability after receiving a massive settlement from Bill Cosby's insurance company following a defamation lawsuit she filed.

Hollywood actress Kim Basinger made a wrong move that affected her career and finances.

She signed on to star in the film Boxing Helena but eventually dropped out of the role after having second thoughts. The creators of the movie sued her for breach of contract in return.

As cited by The Los Angeles Times, the Never Say Never Again star expressed her concerns about the films as she consulted several people about the project. As Main Line Pictures suffered a $6.4 million loss in domestic and foreign sales due to Basinger's decision, the court found her guilty of breach of contract and ordered to pay $7.4 million in damages.

The development pushed her to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and it was settled in 1995, according to Variety.

Mike Tyson's lavish lifestyle left him with around $23 million in debt in 2003, forcing him to file for bankruptcy. During a SALT Conference (via ) years later, he told the event's audience how he did not think he would make it through his "scary" thirties.

"We made it out of our h---hole," the former heavyweight champion said. "I just knew it was time to grow up. It was time to be a man. Time to be present in your children's lives."

He scored the chance to regain the losses by playing different Hollywood film roles and expanding his cannabis brand, Tyson 2.0.

Stan Lee's online media company, Stan Lee Media Inc., filed for bankruptcy protection in 2001 after its co-founder Peter Paul and corporate officer Stephan Gordon got involved in an alleged $25 million stock manipulation scheme.

The company's share also hit rock bottom and fell below $1, halting production and conducting layoffs.

In 2012, Todd Chrisley filed a petition for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection because of his outrageous spending, shopping sprees and ballooning debts.

The Chrisley Knows Best star had $4.2 million in assets at that time, but his debts totaled $49.4 million. Chrisley also had business debt on top of that, including a $4.4 million load from his wife, Julie, People reported.

Late musician Tom Petty was never broke even until his death, but he filed for bankruptcy after his label, Shelter Records, was sold to MCA.

Petty did all the action by financing his next record and having $500,000 in studio costs. After not releasing his work, he declared bankruptcy to force MCA to void his contract.

“If we don’t take a stand, one of these days, records are going to be $20,” he said at the time.

Petty signed a then-new contract with MCA that had more favorable terms compared to the initial agreement.

Toni Braxton filed bankruptcy in 1998 and 2010 as she claimed debts between $10 million and $50 million despite his sold-out shows across the globe.

In her interview with ABC News, the "Un-Break My Heart" singer said her spending addiction caused her first bankruptcy. On the other hand, she submitted the second filing after canceling her Las Vegas show — which she self-funded — due to her microvascular angina diagnosis.

Braxton has since bounced back and recovered from the losses, and she now has a $10 million net worth.