In the popular imagination, celebrities live in a world of endless riches, but that's not always so, as these five famous people can attest. Perhaps no one went from vast wealth to debilitating bankruptcy as egregiously as actor Nicolas Cage. In his professional hey-day, the Francis Ford Coppola nephew banked nearly $40M in 2009, but proceeded to spend most of it while forgetting to pay his taxes. Cage filed suit against his business manager for failing to pay the taxes, but the manager countersued, citing an outrageous buying spree on the actor's part, which included "the purchase of three additional residences at a total cost of more than $33 million; the purchase of 22 automobiles (including 9 Rolls Royces); 12 purchases of expensive jewelry; and 47 purchases of artwork and exotic items." By the time it was all over, Cage owned some 15 personal residences around the world. Among them was this stone manor in Middletown, R.I., near Newport, known as Gray Craig. Cage purchased the place, and the accompanying 26.77-acre property, for $15.7M, but with the tax woes was finally forced to unload it in April 2011 for just $6.2M. Yes, that's right, he took a $9.5M loss on this house alone. That's more than $211K in depreciation per month!
Actor Randy Quaid, whose brother is the more commercially successful Dennis Quaid, lived out the saddest celebrity foreclosure story in recent memory when he was arrested in 2010 for squatting in the Montecito, Calif. mansion he formerly owned. The Quaids had owned the Mediterranean-style manse since the 1990s, but had sold it in 2007 to the current owner. After bouncing bad credit cards at a couple of local luxury hotels, Quaid was discovered living in the estate's guest house.
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