10 Celebrity Foreclosures

Burt Reynolds' Florida Home. Photo provided by Realtor.comBy Dan Bukszpan, CNBC.com

Ever since the housing crisis began, Americans have gotten used to hearing a word that only used to apply to the very desperate - foreclosure. In the past, the word summoned to mind images of abandoned, dilapidated homes with boarded windows, a vacant porch swing and the occasional tumbleweed.

Those days are over, and the foreclosed home in move-in condition is an increasingly common sight today. It seems like something that can happen to anybody, including famous people. The idea that celebrities are immune to market forces is long gone.

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Many of the celebrities who went into foreclosure were in career decline at the time. However, some have gone into foreclosure while still having a popular movie in the multiplexes, or a recording that tops theBillboard charts. Fame is no longer protection from foreclosure, and neither is success.

Who are some of the celebrities who have gone through a foreclosure?

Toni Braxton

Grammy-winning singer Toni Braxton is no stranger to financial woe. Despite selling millions of albums and watching her single "Un-Break My Heart" reach the top of the charts, she filed for bankruptcy not once but twice, most recently in 2010.

In 2011, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles ruled that her Chapter 7 liquidation of the previous year wouldn't help her to stave off foreclosure proceedings on her Georgia home. Today, the singer still owes the full $1.5 million value of the mortgage.


Burt Reynolds

In the 1970s, the notion of Burt Reynolds having financial problems was laughable. He was a major box-office draw for years, thanks to starring roles in Smokey And The Bandit , The Longest Yard and Deliverance . However, his career declined in the 1980s and after a bitter 1993 divorce from actress Loni Anderson, his finances took a major hit from which they never recovered.

Finding himself $10 million in debt , the actor filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1996. He attempted a comeback and saw some moderate success, particularly in 1997'sBoogie Nights . However, it wasn't enough to help him get back on his feet.

Financial trouble has continued to plague him to this day, and on August 16, 2011, Merrill Lynch filed foreclosure papers against the actor, claiming that he owes $1.2 million in back payments on his Hobe Sound, Florida, home.

Nadya Suleman

Nadya Suleman was an ordinary single mother of six when she decided to up the ante and undergo in vitro fertilization. The procedure was a success and yielded eight children, which earned Suleman the moniker of "Octomom" in the tabloids and on talk shows.

Needless to say, she had a costly job ahead of her, as any single mother of 14 can tell you. Her financial situation deteriorated and she soon faced the prospect of foreclosure.

She accepted an offer from PETA to place a sign on her lawn saying "Don't Let Your Dog or Cat Become an Octomom. Always Spay or Neuter," and she accepted an offer to fight in an exhibition boxing match . However, none of it generated enough income to pay off her outstanding $450,000 balloon payment, and in March 2011, Forbes reported the foreclosure process was underway.


Nicolas Cage

Nicolas Cage's reputation as a talented actor began when he starred in Valley Girl and Birdyin the 1980s. Next he received an Oscar nomination for his work in Moonstruck, and he finally took the golden statuette home for portraying an alcoholic in 1995's Leaving Las Vegas . However, rather than stay on the serious acting track, he transitioned to roles in action movies, earning huge paydays in the process.

Despite the new tax bracket, he wound up in major financial trouble and owed millions of dollars in back taxes. On April 8, 2010, The Los Angeles Times reported the auction of the $35 million Bel Air mansion that Cage had lost to foreclosure. Despite a $10.4 million opening bid that was less than a third of the house's original cost, there were no takers. Maybe it was the décor, which real estate agent Bret Parsons characterized as "frat house bordello."


LaToya Jackson

LaToya Jackson is a sister of Michael Jackson and one of nine children born to Katherine and Joe Jackson. She began her career as a solo artist in 1980 but never achieved anything like the success of her famous siblings. When she posed for Playboy magazine in 1989, the move permanently alienated her from her family, and she and the Jackson music empire were officially on the outs.

She gained a moderately high profile by appearing on such reality shows as Armed & Famous and Celebrity Apprentice , but these were not high-paying gigs by any means and money became increasingly difficult for her to hold on to. In September 2009, The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported her Las Vegas condominium had gone into default and multiple liens had been placed against the property for delinquent fees.


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