Living Like A Celebrity Made Me Bankrupt!

MILLIONS of women dream of living like a celebrity, but life can become a nightmare for those who splash the cash.

An epidemic of overspending among women has been called the "Kerry Katona Effect" after the reality TV star went bankrupt due to her lavish lifestyle.

In just three months this year, 14,827 women were declared bankrupt and they now account for a record level of 48 per cent of personal insolvencies.

The Sun interviewed three women whose taste for all things expensive, took their bank accounts into the negatives - here is one of their stories:

Aimee, 35

AIMEE ROBINSON lives in Bexhill, East Sussex, with builder husband Marc, 37, and son Harry, 15. She has been bankrupt twice – in 1999 and 2006. She says:

"When I look back at my celebrity obsession now, it was horrific. I loved the WAG lifestyle and Cheryl Cole in particular. That was exactly the way I wanted to live.

"When I went out, I ordered Krug champagne for £150 a bottle – because that is what the stars drink.
"Even though the outfits I bought were expensive, I only wore them once. I read all the magazines to see what they were wearing and spent £800 on Dior handbags and £500 on Jimmy Choo shoes.

"My car had to look like one a celeb would drive so I bought a Mercedes SLK sports car and paid an extra £3,000 to have the dashboard encrusted with Swarovski diamonds.

"When Jessica Simpson was pictured with her Bichon Frise dog, I decided I had to have exactly the same dog. I bought a puppy for £500... and flew to America to buy her a designer outfit.

"I paid £1,000 every few months for hair extensions, had my teeth whitened, spent £1,000 on botox, £2,000 on lip injections and had a £10,000 breast enlargement, going from a 34A to a 34DD.

"At the time of my first bankruptcy I was a single mother, working as a beautician. I maxed up my credit cards and store cards until I couldn't pay any more. I was £20,000 in debt.

"The second time I had 30 credit and store cards and debts of £85,000. I'm glad I learned my lesson, but millions more young women are going to fall into the same trap."

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Posted in bankrupt women , Celebrity Bankruptcy , celebrity debt

Kerry Katona - Celebrity Spokewoman for Going Broke??

According to a recent article published in The Sun...

KERRY Katona has been slammed for "inspiring" more women than ever to let themselves go bankrupt.

The reality TV star, 31, has been branded a "bankruptcy role model" following her well-publicised struggle to organise her finances.

And latest figures show that 14,827 women were declared broke in the second quarter of 2011 thanks to being unable to control spiralling credit and store card repayments in their bid to chase a WAG lifestyle.
Women now account for a record level of 48 per cent of personal insolvencies, with those aged 18 to 35 overtaking men for the first time.

Former I'm A Celebrity winner Kerry declared bankruptcy in 2008 over an £82,000 outstanding tax bill.
Mark Sands, head of personal insolvency at RSM Tenton, said: "People blame female money troubles on almost everything from a culture of consumption to alleged 'bankruptcy role models' such as Kerry Katona.
"Spending habits and attitudes to debt have changed over the past generation at the same time that women have achieved ever greater levels of financial independence.

"As women become more and more independent, lenders see them as a more and more lucrative market.
"There's an element of truth that the offer of buying handbags with pricey store cards is sending more and more women bust."

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Posted in 50 cent bankruptcy , Celebrity Bankruptcy , celebrity debt , Kerry Katona bankruptcy , women in debt

The Broke and The Beautiful

The Wall Street Journal has added a new section to their website, a weekly column that focuses on beauftiful people who are, well broke.

This week their column showcased actress Eva Longoria, Rapper 50 Cent, R Kelly and of course, the LA Dodgers.

According to the column, "Eva Longoria may be playing a town mayor in her new movie, but the “Desperate Housewives” actress was on the other side of the bench Wednesday. According to Vegas Inc., attorneys for creditors Mali and Ronen Nachum—who have been battling Longoria’s Beso LLC for money—responded to the closure of Beso’s Eve nightclub by picking up some dance moves of their own, in the form of an emergency motion for a trustee for the business. The Nachums say that a trustee could review Beso’s financial records and see whether it made sense to close Eve, noting the closure of the business’s “most important asset” is a big concern for Beso’s feasibility.

But Beso isn’t the only one on the roulette wheel this week. Las Vegas’s “original celebrity chef,” André Rochat, filed for Chapter 11 protection along with his restaurants located at the Palms Casino Resort and the Monte Carlo. As Bankruptcy Beat reported, Rochat’s Alizé and Andre’s took on too much debt while the economy tanked. Next on the menu: finding a way to reorganize.

Rapper Young Buck found 50 Cent in the club this week—the bankruptcy-court club. Bankruptcy Beat reported earlier this week that 50 is fighting his former protégé’s bankruptcy-exit plan, querying as to just how Young Buck will manage his business affairs post-bankruptcy. Unfortunately, it looks like it’s too late in the game for Young Buck and his former mentor to bond over a bottle of bub.

A bottle full of bubbly is just what R. Kelly might need, though. As Developments reported, the hip-hop artist might lose his mansion to foreclosure. But R. Kelly isn’t the only hip-hop artist to be trapped in the financial closet. (See Chamilionaire and Xzibit, for example.) As Developments noted, all of this brings up questions on such artists’ inner thoughts about debt obligations and the economy".

To read the entire article or to subscribe to the new Wall Street Journal Column, visit their website.

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Posted in 50 cent bankruptcy , broke and beautiful column , Celebrity Bankruptcy , celebrity debt , eva longoria bankruptcy , r kelly bankruptcy , Wall Street Journal

Ozzy Osbourne owes millions in tax debt, could bankruptcy be next ?

Tax Season is a nightmare for one celebrity couple who owes millions in taxes, could bankruptcy be in their future? One of the UK's wealthiest couples, Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne could lose their US home if they don’t pay the $2 million tax debt on it.

Aside from Ozzy’s music career, Sharon has had success with the Osbourne’s reality show, being a judge on the X Factor and America’s Got Talent, and now a panelist on The Talk. Sharon was also the first of the Osbourne clan to run into tax problems, when in 2009 she was slapped with a $23,000 tax bill to the State of California for payments going back to 2007.

TMZ has reported that daughter Kelly was hit with a tax lien of $34,000 last month.
According to an article on SanDiego.com, "Over the last few years, Ozzy and Sharon have accumulated a bit of debt. Documents filed by tax authorities state that “John” and Sharon Osbourne, ‘self-employed’, owe $718,948 in tax from 2008, and $1,024,175 from 2009.

Sharon did what most celebrities would do in this situation. She fired off a message on Twitter last Saturday. It said: You can’t rely on anyone but yourself. You have to be on top of your own business affairs. My fault. Lesson learned.

The most famous tax problem celebrity is Willie Nelson, who was hit with a $16.7 million tax bill in 1990. That stemmed from him not paying taxes between ’78 and ’82, and owing $6.5 mil. An additional $10.2 million was tacked on in penalties and interest. The IRS froze his accounts and auctioned off items in his personal position. Many of his fans bought those items, only to return them back to Nelson. Eventually, the IRS claimed Nelson owed $30 million, but that they’d settle for $17 million. This got Nelson poking fun of that in various commercials, and even releasing the album IRS Tapes: Who’ll Buy My Memories?
Releasing a record like that was nothing new. Marvin Gaye released an album called Here, My Dear, when he owed money on alimony payments.

When John Cleese played Spreckels Theatre here in 2009, he was calling it The Alimony Tour. His third wife got a $13 million divorce settlement, and he had to pay her a million a year in alimony. Perhaps he should’ve known better before marrying wife #3, but the comedic actor and Monty Python member does have a law degree – and is smart enough never to have run afoul of the IRS.

The Isley Brothers lead singer Ronald declared bankruptcy in 1997 after the IRS seized his property, including a yacht. He’s currently serving a 37-month sentence for tax evasion and failing to file a tax return.
Mr. Vegas, Wayne Newton, filed for bankruptcy in the early ‘90s with $20 million of debt. He got back into financial trouble in 2005, when the IRS claimed he owed them almost $2 million in back taxes.

Another singer that had a big Vegas show – Toni Braxton – filed for Chapter 7 a second time, late last year. She had well over $10 million in unpaid debts to numerous creditors, one of which was the IRS.
Wesley Snipes was recently given a sentence for years of failure to pay taxes. What a lot of people don’t realize is, the IRS is really good about working on payment plans with people, and the interest isn’t outrageous. Snipes was given jail time for continuing to run afoul of the tax laws. He made $40 million since 1999 (thanks mostly to the Blade films) and between 1999 and 2004, he never filed taxes. In 2006, he even tried to get a $7 million refund.

What a lot of people don’t realize is, if you don’t file, the IRS does a Substitute ForReturn for you. This doesn’t work so well for the rich and famous, as the IRS isn’t writing off all the things those folks probably would for deductions.

These days the IRS has more sophisticated resources and incentives (hundreds of billions owed to the federal government) for tracking down non-filers.

I’m guessing the Osbourne’s are in no real danger of losing anything they own. The IRS would have no problem believing they could pay back anything they owe from future earnings, and wouldn’t make them sell houses or personal items, the way David Crosby had to sell a yacht for a million bucks when he ran into financial problems.

Ozzy’s son Jack Osbourne has a production company (Jacko Productions) that has a documentary on Ozzy that is supposed to hit the theatres later this year. One of the things covered is all the craziness his dad was involved in over the years. We assume Jack has learned from the things that almost killed his father, and made him the punchline to many jokes."

When millions are running to their mailbox to file their taxes next week, the lines may be one shorter... if so, keep watching Ozzy may be making bankruptcy headlines in the future.

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Posted in Celebrity Bankruptcy , celebrity debt , irs tax problems , Ozzy Osbourne