Oh, how the mighty have fallen! Whether they are TV personalities, musical artists or former Major League Baseball players, these folks all have one thing in common: foreclosure proceedings. More than a dozen stories have appeared in mainstream media gleefully pointing fingers at foreclosure notices for famous properties, many associated with some recognizable names.
Reactions to these celebrity foreclosures vary widely. Some dedicated fans and supporters rally to raise money and save the estates of their favorite stars. Other onlookers find the pity expressed for financially strapped celebs ridiculous.
“It seems like over the past few months, the media just can’t get enough of showing swanky celeb estates in foreclosure. ‘Look! They're in trouble just like everybody else!’ They are not everybody else,” Diana Olick, a CNBC blogger, wrote on her “Realty Check” blog.
Ridiculous though it may be, it’s difficult to suppress our natural attraction to celebrity disasters. Just look at all the media attention garnered by the downward spirals of Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan. It’s like passing a horrendous accident on the freeway. You don’t really want to look, and yet…
Fortunately, neither Brit nor LiLo have any properties in foreclosure (yet), but plenty of other celebrities do. Let’s take a look at a few examples:
Hearst sold a second property to finance the debt from her Florida mansion
$45 million
Property: 52-room mansion
Location: Manalapan, Fla.
As the widow of Randolph Hearst—son of William Randolph Hearst, a leading newspaper publisher and the inspiration for Citizen Kane—it would seem that Ms. Hearst ought to have plenty of money to go around. She claimed that the foreclosure was the result of a “conflict of interest” rather than a lack of funds, according to The New York Post. The property sold at auction in February for $22 million, leaving her with $23 million in remaining debt. She mortgaged off some of her art and jewelry and later sold her “palatial” New York apartment for $30 million to get herself out of debt, according to The New York Post.
Michael Jackson
Debt: $23.5 million
Property: Neverland Valley Ranch
Location: Los Olivos, Calif.
For the moment, the foreclosure of Neverland seems to have been averted. In February, Fox News reported that Jackson had satisfied a tax lien against the property for more than $600,000, but that the loans were still in default and foreclosure proceedings could begin at any time. At that time, the loans on the property were held by Fortress Investment Group, but before the scheduled foreclosure auction took place in May they were purchased by Colony Capital LLC, according to the Associated Press.
Neverland Valley Ranch covers 2,500 acres and contains a merry-go-round, a Ferris wheel, a roller coaster and a zoo.
Evander Holyfield
Debt: $10 million
Property: 109-room mansion
Location: Fairburn, Ga.
Holyfield may not be down for the count: His 235-acre estate is off the auction block
Holyfield is a former heavyweight boxing champion, particularly well-known for the 1997 match against Mike Tyson that cost him a chunk of his right ear. In addition to the foreclosure notice on his home, Holyfield is also behind on child support payments to the mother of one of his 11 children, according to
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The property covers 235 acres and includes 17 bathrooms, three kitchens, a bowling alley and a movie theater, according to CNN Money. A foreclosure auction was originally scheduled for July 1, but was cancelled before the date arrived. The situation surrounding the auction’s cancellation is uncertain, but Holyfield’s attorney has stated that the property is no longer in foreclosure, according to CNN Money.
Ed McMahon
Debt: $4.8 million
Property: Six bedrooms, five bathrooms
Location: The Summit, a gated community in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Perhaps the most ironic of the celebrity foreclosures, given that McMahon used to represent The Publisher’s Clearing House Sweepstakes by handing out massive checks to lucky winners. It seems McMahon could use one of those checks—or two, or three—right about now. McMahon broke his neck 18 months ago and has been unable to work as a result, according to MSNBC. He has been making efforts to sell the home, but it has been on the market for two years and is priced at $6.25 million.
Jose Canseco
Debt: $2.5 million
Property: 7,300 square foot home
Location: Encino, Calif.
Canseco’s case is different from many. He simply decided it was in his best interests to walk away from his more than $2.5 million mortgage. When talking with "Inside Edition," he admitted that his situation is fundamentally different from that of many other Americans struggling with foreclosure. He said that he had lost $7 to 8 million during his two divorces, which left him strapped for disposable cash.
“It didn’t make financial sense for me to keep paying a mortgage on a home that was basically owned by someone else,” he told "Inside Edition."
