The 1993 TV comedy show, ‘Grace Under Fire’, ran for five successful seasons, and its star, Brett Butler, was making a lot of money. Unfortunately, in a few short years, Butler went from living in a mansion to living in a homeless shelter.
The cause? A very ugly addiction problem. Hopefully, she’s managed to come out of it and recover in recent years.
Mickey Rooney
Even though Mickey Rooney is known as a famous actor, comedian, producer, and radio personality, he actually filed for bankruptcy way back in the 1960s. And hey, if you have a career spanning nine decades, it makes sense to have a few run-ins with money.
Many people don't know that Rooney spent a huge part of his career trying to recover from his dire financial situation. Clearly, this star spent his younger years having way too much fun and spending way too much money, having just $500 to his name at one point. Thankfully, he'd managed to fully recover by the time he passed away, in 2014.
Ed McMahon
The beloved TV personality Ed McMahon was a household staple back in the '50s and '60s. McMahon was a TV announcer, comedian, actor, singer, and famous game show host, catapulting to fame with the ABC show, "Who Do You Trust?". The game show, which he hosted with legendary Johnny Carson, ran from 1957 to 1962. And then, McMahon went on to host another famous game show with Carson, NBC's "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson", until 1992.
Needless to say, this American entertainer amassed quite a fortune throughout the years. However, McMahon couldn't hold on to his millions, and lavish spending habits got Ed in a pretty tight situation with lenders. A $4.8 million home loan left him almost broke by the time he passed away, in 2009.
Fantasia Barrino
Fantasia Barrino is a beautiful American singer that won the third season of 'American Idol' in 2004. Barrino had signed music deals, and even got nominated for a Grammy Award in 2006.
Unfortunately, she couldn't pay back a $1.1 million loan she took out for a house in North Carolina, and the once-famous singer ended up homeless.
Willie Aames
Willie Aames a case of a child star that was on top of the world one day, and nearly homeless and broke the next. Once a famous actor in the series 'Gunsmoke', Aames made a series of bad decisions and suffered from a serious substance abuse issue.
As the actor himself said in an interview, "I lost everything....at one point I went from eating at the White House to sleeping in the bushes and brought myself back again." Good on you, Willie.