How Nicholas Cage blew $150 million fortune and was left on brink of bankruptcy despite stardom
With an absolute cult following, Nicholas Cage is pretty much best known at this point for being, well, Nicholas Cage.
From the Ghost Rider and National Treasure films to Longlegs and City of Angels, he was once voted one of the 100 Most Powerful People in Hollywood.
Reprising his voice work from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Cage plays the titular role in the upcoming Spider-Noir series.
But despite being such a huge star, the 62-year-old was once left on the brink of bankruptcy after getting into a huge amount of debt (I’m talking millions of dollars’ worth of debt).
Advert
Importantly, Cage never did have to file for it but he did have to absolutely work his arse off in order to pay it all off, as he cited the real estate market crash.
It’s widely reported that the actor once had a $150 million fortune that he supposedly blew on an array of wild purchases.
With a bit of a thing for flashy cars and wheels, in 1997, he bought a one-of-a-kind red Lamborghini Miura SVJ (once the Shah of Iran’s). And by 2004, he is said to have owned 30 motorcycles and a load of vintage vehicles – including nine Rolls-Royce cars.
Then there was the two albino king cobras (which he named Moby and Sheba) that he paid $276,000 for in 2005.
“I have them behind two computer-locked doors [with] bullet-proof glass. I like to go in there in my red leather chair and drink wine and watch them as they watch me,” he said on The Late Show with David Letterman.
He did end up surrendering those deadly snakes to the zoo though.
Cage has quite a thing for unique pets, having also owned a two-headed snake, an octopus, a crow and a cat among other animals.
In 2006, he bought a private Leaf Cay island for $3 million as well as a castle in Germany for $2.3 million. And a year later, he reportedly spent $10 million for a castle in England.
Other reported purchases include a haunted house, a waterfront mansion, a Las Vegas residency, an ultra-rare Superman comic, a meteorite from Mars, a private jet and four superyachts.
But in 2009, the Spider-Noir star ended up owing roughly $14 million to the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and various creditors.
“I was over-invested in real estate. The real estate market crashed, and I couldn’t get out in time,” Cage previously told 60 Minutes. “I paid them all back, but it was about $6 million. I never filed for bankruptcy.”
A ‘dark’ period in his life, he worked hard to pay it back as he said work was his ‘guardian angel’.
“It may not have been blue chip, but it was still work,” he added. “Even if the movie ultimately is crummy, they know I’m not phoning it in, that I care every time.”
He added to GQ that it was more so the ‘bad property decisions’ that did him in.
Cage ended up with a whole load of mortgages as he owned properties all over the world.
“I didn’t believe in stocks because I think they’re like gambling and they’re dangerous, but you can dump a stock,” he said, reflecting on the 2008 crash. “You can’t get out of real estate that quickly.”
However, nowadays, Cage is back to being worth millions himself, having settled his debts.
Topics: Celebrity
Jess Battison