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Magician David Copperfield Is Now Officially A Billionaire

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Over the years, David Copperfield has pulled off some extraordinary and unbelievable stunts. He's made islands, jets and even whole monuments disappear into thin air. He walked through the Great Wall of China. He levitated across the Grand Canyon. David's efforts have earned him 11 Guinness World Records, 21 Emmy Awards, a Knighthood from the French government and "Living Legend" status from the US Library of Congress. Impressed yet? It gets better. As of today, you can add one more extraordinary and unbelievable achievement to his resume: David Copperfield has officially become a BILLIONAIRE.

David Copperfield has been performing magic for over 40 years. His first major media exposure came in 1977 when he hosted an ABC special called The Magic of ABC. This appearance led to a series of specials on CBS called The Magic of David Copperfield that aired between 1978 and 2001. As of this writing, David has hosted 17 specials and two television documentaries.

As we alluded to in the opening paragraph, some highlights of his television career include making a Learjet disappear (1978), making the Stature of Liberty disappear (1981), levitating over the Grand Canyon (1984) and walking through the Great Wall of China (1986).

Beginning in the early 80s, David began embarking on worldwide tours. As of this writing he has produced nine world tours, the most recent being the currently-running "David Copperfield: An Intimate Evening of Grand Illusion" which has been housed at the MGM in Las Vegas since 2003.

David's tours aren't just successful. They are EXTREMELY successful. During his career he has sold more than 40 million tickets worldwide which has led to more than $4.5 BILLION in gross earnings. That's more than any other solo entertainer in history. He performs over 500 shows per year. At his Vegas show, there are as many as three shows each day, seven days a week, 42 weeks a year in a theater dedicated to David himself. Ticket sales gross roughly $50 million each year and that doesn't include merchandising, which, by the way, Copperfield owns entirely.

David is consistently ranked as one of the highest paid celebrities in the world each year with earnings of $60-80 million.

Getty Images

David Copperfield's Real Estate Portfolio

David isn't a one-trick magician. Over the years he has used his income to make extremely wise investments outside of his stage show. And he has an especially magic touch when it comes to real estate acquisitions. When in Las Vegas, Copperfield and his 20-something year old French fiance live in an $18 mansion located in a gated community in the affluent Summerlin community just a few minutes from the Strip. This home features a private, fully-functioning nightclub. The subterranean garage can easily park 25 cars. It features a movie theater, several guest houses, multiple pools and a golf simulator. It's the most expensive house in Las Vegas.

Outside of Nevada, David owns a four-story penthouse in New York City. The first floor of the NYC apartment is entirely devoted to antique arcade games. He spent $7.4 million for the apartment in the 1990s and then spent five years and countless millions furnishing and restoring the property. Today his NYC home is worth north of $60 million.

But the real gem of David Copperfield's real estate portfolio is very far from glitzy Vegas and New York City.

In 2006, David spent $55 million to acquire eleven islands in the Bahamas called Musha Cay. Over time, he bought several more additional islands and, in total, spent $40 million of his money to build his own private version of Fantasy Island.

Today the property is 150-acres of pristine and private paradise 85 miles from Nassau.

(via Christina Hawkins and flickr)

David slowly transformed the property into one of the most exclusive resorts in the world. The resort features five waterfont plantation-style villas that can accommodate a maximum of 24 people. Visitors pay $40,000 – $50,000 per night and they must book four nights minimum. That's not all. Visitors must rent the entire resort. You can't rent just one villa. It's all or nothing so you better rustle up 23 friends if you want to get your money's worth.

During your stay at "Musha Cay and the Islands of Copperfield Bay", you'll be waited on by a staff of 40 who will lead you on a series of adventures and activities. But if you're thinking those activities come with the cost of room and board, you are wrong. If you want a night of fireworks, that's $25,000. The three-hour pirate-themed treasure hunt costs $20,000. Included in your booking fee is food, a laser tag night, boat trips and various other basic beach activities.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin held his 2007 wedding at Musha Cay.

This video gives a pretty good glance into life on Musha:

Magic Memorabilia 

David owns the world's largest collection of magic memorabilia. The collection contains more than 150,000 items and books with especially valuable items from Harry Houdini, Georges Melies, and the father of modern magic, Robert Houdin. The collection is housed in a 40,000 square foot warehouse located several miles off the Las Vegas Strip. The collection is irreplaceable and priceless. It is also open only to fellow magicians, historians, and academics as well as actors researching roles. He rarely opens the collection to a member of the media.

Copperfield's International Museum and Library of the Conjuring Arts sounds like something out of the Harry Potter universe. His collection is truly priceless, but to put some numbers on it, he's spent upwards of $200 million to assemble everything. That $200 million includes a monumental restoration process and safety precautions such as fireproofing the warehouse. Analysts have valued the collection at a mind-boggling $500 million. That $500 million is assuming you can even put a price on items such as Harry Houdini's straight jacket, artifacts from 19th century magicians, and the Best Director Oscar for Casablanca.

A local art expert once described the art collection as follows:

"You cannot put a price on the sheer amount of memorabilia in the warehouse. Copperfield knows his place in the pecking order of magic, and yet, shows so much reverence for those who came before him. Everything from the giant French one sheets of the father of modern magic Robert Houdin's shows, to unopened toy magic kits every kid from the 1950s to 1980s got for Christmas. His collection is awe inspiring, scary, and demands respect".

Copperfield owns the original Howdy Doody dolls and Shari Lewis' Lamb Chop puppet, which hang from the wall, grinning maniacally and staring you down. Robert Houdin's mystery clocks and automatons dating back to the late 19th century are also housed in Copperfield's collection, including the Singing Lesson – an over 100-year old machine valued at $1 million that teaches a robotic bird how to sing.

Billionaire Status

When we here at CelebrityNetWorth first performed a net worth evaluation of David back in 2009, we landed on a conservative $500 million estimate. By 2012 we had upped that number to $700 million. In 2014, Forbes jumped on the Copperfield train and valued his total net worth at $800 million. By our count, between $60 million in annual gross income and the global increase in real estate values over the last four years, we can now conservatively conclude that David Copperfield's net worth is at least $1 billion. Perhaps more if we're undervaluing his art collection.

That makes David Copperfield the world's first billionaire magician… which is perhaps his greatest feat of magic yet. Hopefully he doesn't make it disappear!

Oh, and by the way here's a fun little fact: When he was young and just starting out, David's mom told him "You'll never make any money as a magician" 🙂

Read more: Magician David Copperfield Is Now Officially A Billionaire


Why Are Tech Billionaires So Boring?

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When Warren Buffett was young, his family owned a grocery store. He couldn't even get a job there, because it was during the Great Depression and his family was just barely hanging on. However, Warren showed an aptitude for numbers. He timed everything. He calculated odds. By the time he was 15, he had earned thousands of dollars delivering papers. We all know how his life unfolded from there. Recently, 87-year-old Buffett was surpassed in wealth by 34-year-old Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Two factors contributed to this – Facebook's stock is up 15% this year so far and Buffett gives an enormous amount to charity. The three richest people in the world – Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg – all made their fortunes in technology.

Zuckerberg's childhood was a bit blander. He grew up in a middle-class suburb of New York. He is the son of a dentist and psychiatrist. His family had a home computer and Mark started using it. He showed an early aptitude for programming—long before he graduated from an elite prep school. And the thing is, Zuckerberg's story isn't unusual. Many of the newly minted technology billionaires have similar middle class typically American stories.

The tech industry has produced more billionaires that any other industry. This year alone, tech created 11 new billionaires. And yet, there is something missing from the stories of how this group of self-made men made their fortunes. Earlier generations of self-made billionaires had paper routes. Today's tech billionaires grew up upper middle class with early access to a computer and an elite education—even if they walked away from their Ivy league college to found their companies. Before Mark Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard, he created an instant messaging system for his dad's dental practice. He was 12. When Twitter's Jack Dorsey was 15, he was impressing his bosses at his programming internship. He dropped out of NYU. Uber's Travis Kalanick was a pro at writing code by the time he reached middle school. He dropped out of UCLA.

Andrew Burton/Getty Images

The billionaires of today are brilliant – no one is disputing that—but they lack the background in hardship or challenges that have characterized the chutzpah of past generations of billionaires.

Consider oil billionaire Harold Hamm. He was born in 1945, the youngest of 13 children. His parents were Oklahoma sharecroppers. He drilled his first oil well when he was 25. And then there's Burton Smith, who stepped down as the CEO of Speedway Motorsports in 2015 at age 88. He grew up on a farm. He didn't go to college and he once took a shotgun to a construction site to settle a dispute. The late Kirk Kerkorian faked his high school diploma so he could join the military. 

Don't get us wrong, it is great to live in the age of the nerd. However, kids growing up poor will have a harder path to success. To drop out of Harvard, you first have to get into Harvard, and then you have to pay for Harvard. Without the advantages of the middle class and upper middle class, that is a Herculean task.

True American rags to riches stories are becoming rarer. Zuckerberg, Evan Spiegel, Jack Dorsey, Travis Kalanick and their peers made enormous fortunes. But they were never poor. They never struggled to put food in their mouths or pay the rent. And there is something in learning to handle anything that happens to you that is character building. Today's billionaires walked an easy path to their fortunes compared to previous generations. And that makes their stories of success pretty boring.

The American Dream has always been a story of the people who rose from nothing to become tycoons. Today's billionaires followed a different path. Zuckerberg is a prime example. Today he is a husband, a father, a philanthropist. But it wasn't that long ago that he was a kid with a comfortable life in Westchester, the captain of the fencing club at his elite prep school, a Harvard student who developed a website to rank the hotness of fellow students.

The stories of Zuckerberg, Kalanick, Dorsey, and even Bill Gates depend on having a pretty comfortable life already. One so comfortable they can focus on learning to code and indulge their wild ideas. You can literally do anything when you don't have to worry about paying the rent or putting food on the table.

Read more: Why Are Tech Billionaires So Boring?

Steelers Cornerback Joe Haden Has Turned A Passion For Shoes Into A Business

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After eight seasons in the league, Joe Haden is still one of the more exciting cornerbacks in the NFL. Though the 29-year-old no longer plays for the Browns, his soul remains a big part of Cleveland. Or rather, his sole does.

Haden, who has more than 800 pairs of shoes in his personal collection, is the owner of The Restock in downtown Cleveland. The company opened in 2014 and sells rare sneakers. By his estimate, the Steelers cornerback has invested more the $200,000 in about 2,000 pairs of shoes.

Haden and his business team find shoes that were sold in raffles, work with collectors who sell in bulk, and explore online marketplaces to get their inventory.

Rob Carr/Getty Images

The shoes still carry a high price tag – a pair of Kanye West's Yeezys may go for $900, for example. But because of the nature of how they're acquired, The Restock's sneakers will typically be a little less expensive than at other places.

Haden is more concerned with continuing a steady flow of rare and limited-edition footwear. If he ultimately sells a pair for a few dollars less than he could have, it's fine by him.

The cornerback has a pair of business partners to help with the day-to-day operations of the store. However, he makes frequent visits and assists with major marketing moves. Being a well-connected athlete certainly helps build buzz.

It's not Haden's first foray into business, either. The two-time Pro Bowler founded Haden Properties, which includes investments in real estate and a gym in his home state of Maryland.

This is a man who grew up standing in long lines at 4 a.m. so he could purchase new shoes using his allowance money. Now he's running his very own store. Haden is certainly getting his kicks in.

Read more: Steelers Cornerback Joe Haden Has Turned A Passion For Shoes Into A Business

Pininfarina Is Working On A 250 MPH Electric Hypercar

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Many of the most famous Ferrari automobiles ever produced were actually designed by an Italian firm named Pininfarina. Now, CNN reports that an original outcropping of that same firm is working on an electric "hypercar" that will have a top speed of at least 250 miles per hour. At this early stage, the car is known only by its mysterious codename: PFO.

The PFO will come from Automobili Pininfarina, a separate firm spawned from the original Pininfarina. But more intriguing than that are the technical specs reportedly being aimed for in production of the PFO: A top speed of over 250 miles per hour, yes, but also the ability to accelerate from 0 to 60 miles per hour in less than two seconds, and a range of more than 300 miles on one battery charge. As Automobili Pininfarina's CEO put it: "It's not about what you will do with it but what you could do with it."

JACQUES DEMARTHON/AFP/Getty Images

That likely won't include driving 300 miles in one trip at the PFO's top speed, since obviously with an electric car the range depends strongly on how you drive it. But it also won't include any trips to any gas stations, making its redline performance stats even more impressive.

The electric PFO hypercar is slated to be introduced to the world at the Geneva Motor Show in March of next year, and between now and then "a prototype will be shown to select potential customers at private events around the world." After that, the plan is for it to go into production in 2020, when it will have a price tag of a little over $2 million — a lot for a car, obviously, but less expensive than a Bugatti Chiron, just for perspective. And then, assuming the PFO meets commercial expectations, the company says that a whole line of "ultra-luxury electric vehicles," including an electric SUV, will be soon to follow.

Read more: Pininfarina Is Working On A 250 MPH Electric Hypercar

Meet The Immigrant Billionaires Entering The Space Race

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Any way you look at it, $650 million is a lot of money. That's how much Eren and Fatih Ozmen and their Sierra Nevada Corp. spent developing the Dream Chaser – a reusable rocket designed to take astronauts into orbit. Eren Ozman and her husband Fatih own 100% of Sparks, Nevada based Sierra Nevada Corp. The Ozmens put $300 million of their own money into the Dream Chaser. NASA put up the other $350 million. The Dream Chaser's first flight was in October 2013. It was dropped 12,500 feet from a helicopter. It didn't go well. The landing gear malfunctioned, and it skidded off the runway. In 2014, NASA passed on Sierra Nevada's space plane. The multi-billion contracts were awarded to SpaceX and Boeing. This set back did not stop the Ozmens' dream of being a major player in the space race.

Just months after NASA passed on them, Sierra Nevada bid on a cargo project for NASA. The company was awarded that contract. Sierra Nevada will carry food, water, and science experiments to and from the International Space Station. Sierra Nevada is splitting the $14 billion contract with SpaceX and Orbital ATK. The unmanned cargo ship has not been built yet, but it has already been named. It will also be called Dream Chaser.

The Ozmens have a combined net worth of $2.6 billion. They are a part of the growing set of billionaires getting into the space race. They join Elon Musk's SpaceX, Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, Larry Page's Planetary Resources, Paul Allen's Stratolaunch and Mark Cuban's Relativity Space in the space quest.

NASA via Getty Images

The Ozmens are immigrants from Turkey who came to the U.S. in the early 1980s for graduate school. They acquired Sierra Nevada—the small defense contractor where they both worked, for less the $5 million in 1994. They used their house as collateral. In 1998, Sierra Nevada started an acquisition binge that was financed by the money made from the company's military contracts. Ultimately, the Ozmens bought 19 aerospace and defense firms. Today, Sierra Nevada is the largest female owned government contractor in the U.S. The company had $1.6 billion in sales in 2017. A full 80% of the company's revenue comes from its contracts with the U.S. government. It sells military planes, drones, anti IED devices, and navigation technology to the military.

The Dream Chaser promises to be the only space plan that will be able to land on commercial runways and then fly again to the space station. It will glide gently down to Earth, ensuring that scientific cargo won't be tossed around on reentry.

Sierra Nevada's entry into the space race has been fueled by acquisitions. In December 2008—right in the darkest days of the global financial crisis, Sierra Nevada spent $38 million for SpaceDev, a space startup based in San Diego. The company had just lost a huge NASA contract, its founder had just died of a brain tumor, and its stock was trading for pennies. Sierra Nevada wanted a vehicle from SpaceDev called the Dream Chaser.

Eren Ozman grew up one of four girls to nurse parents in Turkey. She was a voracious reader and an excellent student. Her parents encouraged their girls to focus on their educations. During her undergrad years at Ankara University, she studied journalism and public relations while working full time at a bank. In the little bit of free time she had, she studied English. She met Fatih Ozman in 1980. He was a national cycling champion who had just gotten his degree in electrical engineering from Ankara University. He was heading to the University of Nevada Reno to get his master's degree. In 1981, Eren headed to the U.S. to enroll in an English language program at Berkeley. She and Fatih reconnected. He suggested she apply to UNR's MBA program. Once she arrived on campus the two became best friends. They became roommates. Eren cooked homemade meals in exchange for help from Fatih in her statistics class. They never even considered dating.

Eren graduated from her MBA program in 1985. She got a job at a sprinkler company in Carson City, Nevada as a financial reporting manager. When she started, she discovered the company was still generating financial reports by hand. She knew automating the process with a PC would be much more efficient but her boss denied her the funds to buy a computer. Eren took her first paycheck and bought an HP computer and brought it to work. After she started producing financial reports in hours, she was promoted.

In 1988 Eren was laid off then the sprinkler company was sold. By this time she and Fatih were married. He had been working at Sierra Nevada since 1981. He told his wife that Sierra Nevada was also still doing financial reports by hand. She brought in her computer and automated the systems. In doing so, she realized that Sierra Nevada was on the verge of going out of business. The company had royally screwed up its accounting, basically. The bank would not give them any more money. The company had to stop payroll for three months until the next contract kicked in. That contract came in, but the company's finances weren't any healthier. In 1990, a government audit declared Sierra Nevada bankrupt. Eren was eight and a half months pregnant with her first child. The news sent her into labor. Less than a week later, she was back in the office. Sierra Nevada existed from contract to contract until 1994 when Eren and Fatih Ozman used their house as collateral to buy the company. Eren was tired of working for companies led by engineers. She was sure she and her husband could run the place more efficiently.

Fatih began to focus on acquiring companies that had a high tech product that would complement Sierra Nevada's ambitious space related goals. Of the 19 companies Sierra Nevada have acquired, not a single one of them was for sale.

Sierra Nevada's pricing structure also sets it apart. The company aims to provide 80% of the solution at 20% of the cost and time. This allows the company to compete with bigger, better funded companies for contracts.

In addition to the $300 million it spent on the original Dream Chaser, Sierra Nevada has also spent $200 million more on the cargo version. The company expects to invest another $500 million by the time it is ready to takeoff for the International Space Station. The big payoff will come when the Dream Chaser completes its six missions to the space station between September 2020 and 2024. If it succeeds, Sierra Nevada will take home about $1.8 billion.

Read more: Meet The Immigrant Billionaires Entering The Space Race

Wife Of U-Haul Billionaire Dumps 7 Dogs At Shelter, Refuses To Pay For Medical Care

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In the latest episode of billionaires behaving badly, we have Sylvia Shoen, the wife of U-Haul billionaire Joe Shoen. Sylvia left six Rottweiler puppies and their mother at an Arizona shelter. Some of the dogs, who were inbred and had parasitic infections, needed life saving medical care. Arizona rescue worker Shelly Froehlich almost had to pay a $20,000 bill for the dogs that were dumped by the billionaire.

Shoen did not pay a surrender fee when she abandoned the dogs, forcing Froehlich's Rotten Rottie Rescue dog adoption agency to pay those costs. Eventually, Froehlich found out that the owner was the wife of the billionaire heir to the U-Haul fortune, Joe Shoen. She then sent Sylvia a text asking for the money needed to save the dogs. Shoen responded:

"Crazy dog adoption lady trying to squeeze the Shoen's for $$$. This B**** will never see a copper penny!"

Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Shoen bought Coco,  the mother of the puppies from a breeder with the intent to breed her, Froehlich wrote in a Facebook text.

"She also purchased Coco's brother but didn't bother to fix him to make sure that they didn't accidentally breed and Sylvia allowed this to happen. Coco's first litter consisted of just three puppies as far as I can tell and they have severe hip issues. Then while she was in the hospital Coco got pregnant by her brother a second time. The next thing I notice is that the whole family has water shooting out their rear ends."

All of the dogs were so sick that Froehlich decided to look up the information on the dog's collar. That's when she realized that a billionaire had dumped the dogs. Two days after Froehlich's Facebook post, Joe Shoen came to take the dogs back. Froehlich refused to give them to him because of the condition the dogs were in when she got them.

Froehlich wrote:

"She allowed King to try to exist in this condition. Suffering through every time he tries to move. I'm not sure how he dislocated his hip but it doesn't take a brain to know that there is something seriously wrong with this puppy. And she refuses to get him the help that he needs? How dare she dump her dog on me in this condition, without any resources, and no options for him other than to put him to sleep or come up with $8000! My god what kind of a monster is she? How can a woman with such stature be so damn stingy, and self-centered ?"

Froehlich still did not get any money for the dogs' medical treatments, so she took to Yelp and started posting negative reviews of the local U-Haul facilities. That got the attention of Joe Shoen. She received $15,310 for the surgeries that two of the puppies needed and was also reimbursed for medical procedures already performed on the dogs.

Froehlich did update her Facebook post to acknowledge Joe Shoen's contribution. However, she is still concerned about the three dogs the Shoens still have. She claims the billionaire couple has two 11 week old puppies and their dad and that the dogs live in their own feces.

"They said that nobody ever cleans up the poop, that they are lucky if they get clean fresh water daily. Nobody is training these dogs, or socializing them or loving them. Joe himself admitted to me that Sylvia's immune system is compromised so she is not even allowed to go near the dogs! Why in the hell does she want them then? Those puppies will not survive the brutal summer months that are upon us. They will die if something is not done to help them."

Well as the saying goes, money doesn't buy taste or class!

Read more: Wife Of U-Haul Billionaire Dumps 7 Dogs At Shelter, Refuses To Pay For Medical Care

Mel B's Divorce Battle Has Left Her Strapped For Cash

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Mel B is not having an easy go of it in her divorce battle with Stephen Belafonte. In fact, court documents show that the former Spice Girl is close to financial ruin. Her travel expenses, spending habits, and attorney and accountant bills have driven her net income for 2017 to a -$3.2 million. It was revealed that Mel B's paychecks are being garnished by the IRS to pay off hundreds of thousands of dollars she owes in back taxes.

The filing also contains details of the huge cost of her divorce and other expenses. The scale of her spending over the past 18 months is staggering. She paid Belafonte $422,500 in spousal support and contributions to his legal fees in 2017. She also paid $58,339 on a private investigator, $63,325 on meals and entertainment, $49,162 on medical bills and $120,805.87 on travel expenses. The upkeep on her Hollywood home cost $42,549 in 2017 and a bit over $21,000 for the first half of 2018. She has paid nearly $1.1 million on lawyer fees so far and still owes almost $800,000 to several attorneys and forensic accountants. She owes her current attorney and accountant a combined $184,000. The 43-year-old also has $100,000 of credit card debt.

She also pays $9,072 a month on school for her kids, $5,000 for her oldest daughter's rent, $5,544 on childcare costs, and gives $3,217 a month to charitable causes. Mel B. spent $12,2447 on cars and $5,918 on flowers. Mel and Belafonte also owe the IRS $838,854 in back taxes for 2016. Her 2017 tax liability is estimated to be $1 million.

Craig Barritt/Getty Images

The filing reveals that the California Franchise Tax Board is set to garnish her wages for the 2016 back taxes. The FTB has also filed a lien against her Hollywood home due to nonpayment.

Mel estimates her current earnings are $250,269 a month—this includes investment income and income from her company Purple Owl, Inc. However, 2017 tells a different story where her income is concerned. In her profit and loss statement from 2017, Mel says she made $26,445 from her company and that for the first six months of 2018, she has made $11,181,54. Her biggest source of income for 2017 was the $250,000 she received in child support from Eddie Murphy. She's received $125,000 from him for the first half of 2018.

Mel claims that she finished 2017 in debt. Her total expenses were $3,510,292. She earned $276,445. That leaves her more than $3.2 million in the red.

Mel's current assets include nearly $76,000 in the bank and the $6.5 million Hollywood house she owns with Belafonte. The former couple still owes $3.1 million on the house, so if it sells at asking price, they would get nearly $3.4 million.

Mel divulged her financial woes to the court after Belafonte asked the court to force her to pay him more than $1 million towards his legal fees, accountant fees, and child support.

Mel did not hold back in her declaration. She called out Belafonte for not supporting himself, writing:

"Since Stephen cannot seek additional spousal support as the judgment clearly states that spousal support is non-modifiable, he is now using our child as another means in which to get more money. Stephen has not provided any information as if he is trying to become self-supporting or if his 'company' is making any type of income. Stephen's actual monthly earnings are unclear. He has listed zero income. He does not provide any documents to support his 'self employment'. I am sole provider for our daughter in every way. I have guaranteed that her standard of living would not be disrupted by way of this divorce. I pay the entirety of her education, summer camps, and extracurricular activities, without any contribution from Stephen whatsoever."

Mel pays all of the bills on their Hollywood Hills home. In her declaration, she also wrote:

"I have been unable to pay for my own attorney fees, yet alone contribute another $900,000 as Stephen has requested. If the court orders that I contribute additional funds to Stephen for attorney fees, I am extremely concerned that I will only continue to grow further into debt as I will continue to handle our community debts and Stephen will continue to financially prosper from me."

Belafonte also filed his own income and expense declaration. He claims to make no money at all other than the $15,000 he receives in spousal support. His monthly expenses are $18,000, which includes $2,000 on entertainment, gifts, and vacation, $1,500 on eating out, and $1,500 on clothes. He has spent nearly $225,000 on lawyer fees and still owes $701,000 to his legal team and $70,000 to a forensic accountant.

The former couple's house is on the market. Selling it will alleviate some debt. However, they will owe about $800,000 in capital gains taxes when the house sells. The former couple has no agreement in place on who is going to pay those taxes.

Pre-nups are a good thing, people.

Read more: Mel B's Divorce Battle Has Left Her Strapped For Cash

Hey Kylie – Here's An Actual Self-Made Makeup Tycoon Whose Company Is Really Worth $1 Billion (Unlike That Fake Clickbait Crap)

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About a week ago, Forbes dropped a bomb on the world when they announced that 20-year-old Kylie Jenner was worth $900 million thanks to her cosmetics company. They also predicted that the Jenner-Kardashian spawn was on pace to be the youngest "self-made" billionaire within a year. The world shook from these revelations. We here at CelebrityNetWorth received around 200 emails in a single day from people demanding that we update Kylie's net worth page to the $900 million number. Someone even started a gofundme to raise that last $100m so she could be a "billionaire", and amazingly, a bunch of idiots actually donated. Kylie and her mom Kris Jenner were quick to describe how the 20-year-old worked tirelessly and humbly with no outside assistance at all to lift herself by the bootstraps landing on self-made billion dollar status. These anecdotes were repeated in a thousand different publications across the world, including some that should have been way more diligent with their fact checking. But there's just one problem: The Forbes article was 100% pure BS clickbait. It was an entirely invented headline that used horrendously bad math, to sell magazines. Look, I admire Kylie Jenner's success, but she's not worth $900 million today. Maybe she will be some day. And if we're being really picky, she's obviously not self-made. Kylie, if you read this, we're not just being haters. But for your education, here's a story about a truly self-made female makeup entrepreneur whose company is worth one billion actual dollars. Not one billion fake Forbes dollars:

Pat McGrath was raised in England by a Jamaican-born single mother in a town called Northampton. Her father was not a world-famous Olympian and her mother was not a reality TV tycoon. Pat did not grow up in extreme wealth with Ryan Seacrest executive producing every moment of her childhood. Pat's roots were decidedly more humble.

Pat grew a passion for makeup and fashion while watching classic movies with her mother. Pat's mother would quiz her on all the different types of makeup, shades of eye-shadow, patterns and type of fabrics. And it wasn't just for fun. The game was partly out of necessity because, as black women, their makeup options were nonexistent. The typical commercial makeup at the time was not made with black women's skin tone in mind. So they were constantly mixing and experimenting to create their own concoctions.

This passion grew into a career. Though Pat didn't formally study fashion or makeup in school, she diligently pursued a career as a makeup artist. She moved to London in the early 80s where she worked as a receptionist during the day while launching her makeup artist side-hustle at night.

Her big break came when she worked with a fashion editor named Edward Enniful. Edward praised Pat's talents and credited her with helping put his magazine, i-D, on the map.

From there, Pat landed gigs working for some of the biggest designers in the world, including John Galliano and Alexander McQueen and some of the biggest photographers like Steven Meisel, Helmut Newton and Peter Lindbergh. Her work was featured in ads for Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, Miu Miu and many more.

In 1999, Armani hired Pat to design their new cosmetics line. From there she was off to the races.

Over the years, her work has graced countless magazine covers and fashion shows. She orchestrated the makeup for every Vogue Italia cover shoot for a decade.

In 2004 she was hired by Procter & Gamble to run all of their cosmetics brands, most notably Max Factor and Cover Girl.

Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour has referred to Pat as "the most influential makeup artist in the world."

In 2013, Queen Elizabeth named Pat a Member of the Order of the British Empire.

Not bad for the daughter of a single mother Jamaican immigrant! Well, it gets better.

Via Getty Images

Pat McGrath Labs

Following advice from her mother, in October 2015 Pat launched her own make up line, Pat McGrath Labs. Her first product, Gold 001, retailed for $40. She produced 1000 units and sold them exclusively through her own website. She sold out in six minutes.

Pat slowly expanded the line with additions like Phantom 002, Skin Fetish 003 and Lust 004. Her most recent product is called Lip Fetish Astrals.

By releasing in such limited quantities, online only in "drops", the products created a fever-pitched frenzy. It wasn't long before major retail outlets came calling. Today Pat McGrath Labs has dedicated displays at more than 50 Sephora locations with plans to be in 90 be the end of the year.

Pat McGrath Labs has expanded into other ventures including apparel where her tshirts, jackets and hoodies have become extremely hot commodities if you can get your hands on one.

Billion Dollar Valuations

Yesterday it was revealed that Pat sold a 5-8% stake to a company called Eurazeo for a price that values her company at $1 billion. That's $1 billion real dollars.

She had previously sold a minority stake at a lesser valuation to a company called One Luxury Group. In total, Pat has raised $88 million from external investors.

We don't know exactly what percentage of her company she still owns after these investment rounds, but let's be conservative and say 70% (though it sounds like it could still be closer to 80-85%). At a $1 billion valuation, that would give Pat McGrath a pre-tax paper net worth of $700 million.

In case you are unsure, here's what it means to raise money at a $1 billion valuation (and why the Forbes Kylie article is so silly):

When a company raises money at a $1 billion valuation, it essentially means that the outside investor is agreeing to buy equity where a single percentage is worth $10 million. They've seen the company's books, their profits and losses, growth prospects etc… and have determined that the company is worth $1 billion. So if you wanted to buy 20% of that company, it would cost you $200 million.

Here's basically how Forbes calculated Kylie Jenner's $900 million net worth: First they say that Kylie Cosmetics generated $330 million in revenue last year, a 7% increase over 2016. They fail to mention that a year earlier, Kris Jenner told Forbes that the company was on pace to do $400 million in 2017. And later in the article Forbes brushes by the fact that sales of Kylie's primary product are down 35% year over year. Forbes says they used a "conservative multiple" to value the company at $800 million. We call BS.

Since its inception, Kylie Cosmetics has generated $230 million in profits. Call it $100 million per year at this point. In order to achieve that $800 million valuation, she would need to find a buyer that was willing to pay 8 times profits for a company with extremely modest growth (7%) and triple-digit declines of the main product. Highly unlikely. A 3-4X profit multiple is more reasonable for the company I just described.

Another infuriating aspect of the Forbes article is that they seem to completely ignore taxes. They also tack on an extra $100 million to her net worth out of the blue. They basically say "her company is worth $800 million and she has $100 million from other sources that we're not going to describe or justify… bing bang boom she's worth $900 million." Huh?

Even if Kylie managed to sell the company for $800 million, which would be awesome, she'd have around $530 million after taxes. If she sold for $400 million, using a 4X multiple, she'd have $260 million after taxes.

We just crossed 1200 words in this article and we haven't gotten to the "self-made" stuff yet. So let me just say this – Compare what you read earlier in this article about Pat McGrath's upbringing, career start, rise to prominence and business launch, to Kylie Jenner's. Don't get me wrong, what she has done with her makeup line is extremely impressive. But Kylie Jenner was born on third base then carried over home plate by her famous family.

Kylie isn't self-made. Pat McGrath is self-made. And her company is worth $1 billion real dollars. Way to go Pat!

Read more: Hey Kylie – Here's An Actual Self-Made Makeup Tycoon Whose Company Is Really Worth $1 Billion (Unlike That Fake Clickbait Crap)


Pat McGrath Net Worth

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Pat McGrath net worth: Pat McGrath is a British makeup artist and businesswoman who has a net worth of $700 million. Pat McGrath was born in Northampton, England on June 11, 1965. She was raised by a single mother immigrant from Jamaica. When Pat was young, she and her mom would watch old movies and talk about the different costumes and makeup they saw on screen. Pat's mother would quiz her on all the different types of makeup, shades of eye-shadow, patterns and type of fabrics. And it wasn't just for fun. The game was partly out of necessity because, as black women, their makeup options were nonexistent. The typical commercial makeup at the time was not made with black women's skin tone in mind. So they were constantly mixing and experimenting to create their own concoctions. She moved to London in the early 80s to pursue a career as a makeup artist even though she had no formal experience or education in the industry. Over time she made progress and landed small jobs. Her big break came when she worked with an up-and-coming fashion magazine called "i-D". The fashion editor of i-D would later claim that Pat's makeup work on shoots was what allowed the magazine to break into the mainstream. During her career she would work with dozens of designers at fashion shows and on countless magazine cover shoots. She was the exclusive makeup artist for every Vogue Italia cover for a decade. Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour has referred to Pat as "the most influential makeup artist in the world." In 2013, Queen Elizabeth named Pat a Member of the Order of the British Empire.

Pat McGrath Labs: She launched her own makeup line, Pat McGrath Labs, in 2015. She produced 1000 units of her first product and sold it exclusively through her website. It sold out in six minutes. Today Pat McGrath Labs has dedicated displays at more than 50 Sephora locations with plans to be in all stores in the near future. In July 2018, it was announced that Pat sold a 5-8% stake in her company at a $1 billion valuation. She has raised $88 million from outside investors. Assuming she has managed to maintain at least a 70% stake in her company (though we believe it's closer to 80-85%), her pre-tax paper net worth would be $700 million

Read more: Pat McGrath Net Worth

Róisín Murphy Net Worth

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Róisín Murphy net worth: Róisín Murphy is an Irish singer, songwriter, and record producer who has a net worth of $4 million. Róisín Murphy was born in Arklow, Wicklow, Ireland in July 1973. Her musical genres include electronica, dance, and more. Murphy released her debut studio album Ruby Blue in 2005 which reached #7 in Belgium. She released the album Overpowered in 2007 which reached #4 in Belgium and #20 in the UK. Róisín Murphy released the album Hairless Toys in 2015 which reached #12 in Belgium, #13 in the Netherlands, and #19 in the UK. Her album Take Her Up to Monto was released in 2016. Murphy has had success with the singles "Overpowered" and "Let Me Know". She was also one half of the trip hop duo Moloko with her partner Mark Brydon. The duo released four albums including their final album Statues in 2003 which reached #1 in Belgium.

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Amber Rayne Net Worth

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Amber Rayne net worth: Amber Rayne was an American pornographic actress who had a net worth of $300 thousand at the time of her death. Amber Rayne was born in Detroit, Michigan in September 1984 and passed away in April 2016. Before her adult film career she was an extra for movies and TV series. She started in the adult industry in 2005 and retired in 2015. During that time she had more than 240 acting credits to her name. In 2009 she won an AVN Award for Unsung Starlet of the Year and an XRCO Award for Unsung Siren. Rayne won another Unsung Siren Award in 2016. She was nominated for several other AVN Awards including Best Supporting Actress and Female Performer of the Year. She also worked as a horse riding instructor and owned a horse farm and battled multiple types of cancer. Amber Rayne passed away on April 2, 2016 at 31 years old from an accidental drug overdose.

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Bo Hopkins Net Worth

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Bo Hopkins net worth: Bo Hopkins is an American actor who has a net worth of $3 million. Bo Hopkins was born in Greenville, South Carolina in February 1942. He has starred on stage as well as on television and in movies. Hopkins has more than 130 acting credits to his name. From 1981 to 1987 he had a recurring role as Matthew Blaisdel on the TV series Dynasty. Bo Hopkins has starred in several films including The Wild Bunch, The Getaway, American Graffiti, White Lightning, The Day of the Locust, Midnight Express, More American Graffiti, Sweet Sixteen, Radioland Murders, Uncle Sam, Cowboy Up, The Road Home, Shade, and more. In 1995 he won a Golden Boot Award. He has also appeared in episodes of the TV series Gunsmoke, The Mod Squad, Bonanza, Hawaii Five-O, Charlie's Angels, The A-Team, Fantasy Island, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Murder, She Wrote, and many more.

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Eumir Deodato Net Worth

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Eumir Deodato net worth: Eumir Deodato is a Brazilian musician, composer, arranger, and record producer who has a net worth of $10 million. Eumir Deodato was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in June 1942. He is a pianist who has primarily played jazz but has combined several genres including pop, disco, rock, R&B, classical, and more. His debut studio album Inutil Paisagen was released in 1964 and he has gone on to released several albums over the years. Eumir Deodato released the single "Also Sprach Zarathustra" which reached #2 in the US and #7 in the UK. He has worked as a sideman and arranger with several artists including Vanessa de Mata, Titas, Luiz Bonfa, Ray Bryant, Astrud Gilberto, Antonio Carlos Jobin, Paul Desmond, Milton Nascimento, Walter Wanderley, and Michael Franks. He won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance in 1974 and has been nominated for other Grammy Awards. As a producer he has also been responsible for hit singles such as "Celebration", "Too Hot", and "Ladies' Night" by Kool & the Gang. Eumir Deodato's daughter is graphic designer Kennya Baldwin. Kennya is married to actor Stephen Baldwin. Their daughter Hailey is a model who in 2018 became engaged to superstar Justin Bieber. That makes Eumir Deodato Justin Bieber's grandfather-in-law.

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Francesco Molinari Net Worth

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Francesco Molinari net worth: Francesco Molinari is an Italian professional golfer who has a net worth of $20 million. Francesco Molinari was born on November 8, 1982 in Turin, Italy. His older brother Edoardo is also a professional golfer. He won several amateur championships before turning pro in 2004. He earned his European Tour card in 2005 and ended up finishing 86th place in his rookie season. In May 2006 he won the Telecom Italia Open, his first European Tour win. He won the 2018 BMW PGA Championship and in July 2018 he won the Quicken Loans National. On July 22, 2018, Francesco Molinari won the 2018 Open Championship in Angus, Scotland. That win came with a $1.8 million prize. It was the first major won by an Italian professional golfer. As of July 2018, he has earned more than $30 million on the course and millions more from endorsements. His primary endorsement is with Nike for apparel. His uses TaylorMade clubs and Titleist Pro V1x balls.

Read more: Francesco Molinari Net Worth

Richard Harris Net Worth

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Richard Harris net worth: Richard Harris was an Irish actor and singer who had a net worth of $20 million at the time of his death in 2002. Richard Harris was born in Limerick, Republic of Ireland in October 1930 and passed away in October 2002. He starred on stage as well as in several films including This Sporting Life, Camelot, A Man Called Horse, Unforgiven, Gladiator, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and more. Harris also released several albums as a singer and reached #1 in Canada and Australia with the song "MacArthur Park" by Jimmy Webb. He was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role for This Sporting Life in 1964 and The Field in 1991. Harris was also nominated for Golden Globe Awards for Camelot and The Field. He was married to Elizabeth Ress-Williams from 1957 to 1969 and Ann Turkel from 1974 to 1982 and had three children: Damian Harris, Jared Harris, and Jamie Harris. He was also the uncle of Annabelle Wallis. Richard Harris passed away on October 25, 2002 at 72 years old from Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Read more: Richard Harris Net Worth


Lou Costello Net Worth

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Lou Costello net worth: Lou Costello was an American actor and comedian who had a net worth equal to $50 million at the time of his death in 1952 (after adjusting for inflation). Lou Costello was born in Patterson, New Jersey in March 1906 and passed away in March 1959. He was best known for being one half of the comedy doubt act of Abbott and Costello along with Bud Abbott. Their movies grossed more than $120 million at the box office and the duo reportedly earned around $25 million from their work. Costello acted for radio, television, film, and theater. He was the bumbling character while Abbott played the straight man. Lou Costello starred in several films including One Night int eh Tropics, Buck Privates, In the Navy, Ride 'Em Cowboy, Who Done It?, It Ain't Hay, Here Come the Co-Eds, Abbott and Costello in Hollywood, Little Giant, The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap, The Noose Hangs High, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Jack and the Beanstalk, and more. He starred in TV series including The Colgate Comedy Hour and The Abbott and Costello Show. Costello received three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion Picture, Television, and Radio. Lou Costello passed away on March 3, 1959 at 52 years old from a heart attack.

Read more: Lou Costello Net Worth

Justin Thomas Net Worth

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Justin Thomas net worth: Justin Thomas is an American professional golfer who has a net worth of $30 million. Justin Thomas was born in Louisville, Kentucky in April 1993. He competed at the University of Alabama and turned professional in 2013. He plays on the PGA Tour and has also competed on the Web.com Tour. His biggest win was at the 2017 PGA Championship. Thomas tied for 9th at the 2017 U.S. Open. He tied for 17th at the 2018 Masters Tournament and tied for 53rd at the 2016 The Open Championship. He won the CIMB Classic in 2015 and 2016. In 2017 he won the SBS Tournament of Champions and the Sony Open in Hawaii as well as the Dell Technologies Championship and the CJ Cup. In 2018 he won The Honda Classic. On the Web.com Tour he won the Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship in 2014. Justin Thomas won the Haskins Award in 2012. In 2017 he was the FedEx Cup Champion, PGA Tour leading money winner, PGA Player of the Year, and PGA Tour Player of the Year.

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Gary Cooper Net Worth

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Gary Cooper net worth: Gary Cooper was an American actor who had a net worth equal to $100 million at the time of his death in 1961 (after adjusting for inflation). Gary Cooper was born in Helena, Montana in May 1901 and passed away in May 1961. His acting career began in 1925 near the end of the silent film era. Cooper started out as an extra and a stunt rider. His first "talkie" role came in The Virginian in 1929 which catapulted him into the spotlight. Cooper would go on to star in several movies including A Farewell to Arms, The Lives of a Bengal Lancer, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Meet John Doe, Sergeant York, The Pride of the Yankees, For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Fountainhead, High Noon, Friendly Persuasion, Man of the West, and more. In 1937 he overtook Mae West to become the highest paid actor in the world with earnings that year of $370,000, which is the same as around $6 million today. In 1939, the US Treasury reported that Gary Cooper was the highest wage-earning person in the entire country, having earned $482,000 the previous year. That's the same as $8.6 million in today's dollars. Following the advice of his friend James Stewart, Cooper often took lower salary on films in exchange for a percent of profits. This strategy resulted in some fairly large paydays. For example, he earned a total of $1.4 million for his role in the 1954 movie Vera Cruz. That's the same as $13 million today. He finished his career with 117 acting credits. Cooper won Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Sergeant York and High Noon. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6243 Hollywood Blvd. Gary Cooper passed away on May 13, 1961 at 60 years old from cancer.

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Roddy McDowall Net Worth

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Roddy McDowall net worth and salary: Roddy McDowall was an English American actor, voice artist, director, and photographer who had a net worth equal to $10 million at the time of his death in 1998. Roddy McDowall was born in Herne Hill, London, England, United Kingdom in September 1928 and passed away in October 1998. He had more than 260 acting credits to his name beginning in 1938. McDowall starred as Caesar and Cornelius in the original Planet of the Apes film series and also played Galen in the TV series. Roddy McDowall started as a child actor in England and moved to the United States. He starred in several films including How Green Was My Valley, My Friend Flicka, Lassie Come Home, Cleopatra, The Longest Day, The Greatest Story Ever Told, That Darn Cat!, Inside Daisy Clover, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Poseidon Adventure, Funny Lady, Black Hole, Fright Night, Overboard, and more. McDowall won a Primetime Emmy Award in 1961 for Sunday Showcase. In 1964 he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Cleopatra and he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 at 6632 Hollywood Blvd. Roddy McDowall passed away on October 3, 1998 at 70 years old from lung cancer.

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R. Kelly Claims He's Broke On Crazy New 19-Minute Song

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R. Kelly just released a stunning new song on Spotify that claps back at all the various allegations and controversies he has faced in recent years. The 19-minute track, titled "I Admit" is basically R. Kelly free-form spewing out his feelings on everything from sex-cult allegations, liking younger women, being banned on streaming services, being sexually abused as a child and his current financial problems. We're not an outlet that deals with sexual assault issues, you can read about that stuff in a thousand other sites, we're gonna exclusively discuss the financial stuff:

On the song, R. Kelly says the following:

"Now the truth in this message is I'm a broke-ass legend. The only reason I stay on tour is 'cause I gotta pay my rent. I never thought it would come to this, to be the most disrespected artist. So I had to write a song about it.  Because they always take my words and twist it. Believe me, it's hard to admit all this."

This is a fairly shocking admission. In a later part of the song he claims to owe $20 million to the IRS, borrowed money from his label to cover basic living expenses and was forced to sell his publishing rights. Those publishing rights alone must have been worth a fortune.

We've known for a while that R. Kelly was experiencing financial problems, and have covered the topic on a number of occasions, but the idea that he could be broke is pretty insane. Despite all of his controversies, R. Kelly is still one of the most successful musicians of the last decade, selling 40 million albums in the United States alone. He has also written and produced countless hit tracks for other artists including Michael Jackson, Toni Braxton, Mary J. Blige, Celine Dion, Ginuwine, Jennifer Lopez and Whitney Houston.

If you removed all of his controversies, by our estimation R. Kelly easily could have had a net worth $150-200 million, especially when taking into account his publishing rights. Back in 2009, his net worth was high enough where a court ordered him to pay his ex-wife of nearly 10 years a $40 million divorce settlement. The timing was brutal because his marriage lasted from 1996-2009, which represented what turned out to be his most lucrative years. In the decade after the divorce Kelly's career has been mired by controversy and legal problems. He's been plagued by never-ending lawsuits that cost millions to defend and millions more to settle.

Kevin Winter/Getty Images

According to reports in the Chicago Tribute and BuzzFeed, R. Kelly has reportedly paid tens of millions of dollars to settle dozens of lawsuits made by women who claimed they were abused by the singer.

In 2012, it was revealed that Kelly owed $5 million in unpaid taxes dating back seven years. In 2013, he lost a house to foreclosure. In 2018 he was evicted from several Atlanta-area homes that he was renting due to lack of payment. Now if you believe him, he owes a total of $20 million to the IRS, is broke and needs to tour just to pay rent.

Or maybe he's just embellishing his problems to get sympathy? Either way, it certainly hasn't helped that all the major streaming services blocked his songs from appearing in public playlists and that many of his concerts today are blocked by an outcry of public protest.

What do you think of R. Kelly's admissions? Do you think he truly is broke today?

Read more: R. Kelly Claims He's Broke On Crazy New 19-Minute Song

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