13 Child Actors And Musicians Who Were So Successful, But Ultimately Lost A Lot Of Their Money Because Of Their Parents Or Other Factors

When he turned 18, Aaron Carter found out his parents allegedly spent a majority of his earnings and he owed $4 million in taxes.

1. First, Judy Garland, who, after landing her breakout role as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz at 16 years old, struggled with money later in her career. In 1966, she parted ways with her agents and found out they were mismanaging her money and allegedly embezzled a lot of her earnings. She reportedly ended up owing about $500,000 to the IRS near the end of her life.

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According to Rainbow's End: The Judy Garland Show, checks from Judy's account were written to cash, and endorsed by David Begelman, one of her managers, at numerous Las Vegas casinos. In 1970, Liza Minnelli, Judy's daughter, recalled how they moved around a lot, saying, “That was probably because Mama was so broke and maybe she owed money to landlords." The movie Judy depicts the end of Judy's life and how she was performing in small venues just to make money.

2. Cole Sprouse recently revealed that he and his brother Dylan Sprouse had lost "everything from the youngest parts of [their] careers," aka what they earned from sharing a role in Big Daddy and from Cole starring on Friends. Cole said his mother was "financially the most irresponsible woman ever."

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Finding out a lot of their early savings were gone came when Cole and Dylan's father was "given forced custody" after their mom lost custody of the twins when they were around 10 years old.

3. Dustin Diamond, who starred as Screech in Saved By the Bell, filed for bankruptcy in 2001. He revealed that his parents reportedly had spent the money he earned from Saved By the Bell and that he made massive tax miscalculations. In 2006, in order to delay foreclosure on his house in Wisconsin, he was reportedly selling $15 T-shirts.

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Prior to his death in 2021, Dustin talked openly about how hard it was to leave the character of Screech behind after Saved By the Bell ended. "I didn’t know what to do," he explained in an interview with Oprah in 2013. "It was hard to get work that wasn’t Screech-clone stuff."

4. Jena Malone, who starred in movies like Contact, Hope, and Stepmom when she was younger, sued her mom in 1999 for reportedly mismanaging her money and "squandering more than $1 million." The lawsuit also alleged that Jena owed $20,000 in taxes and her "college fund had been drained." When she was 15 years old, Jena became legally emancipated.

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Speaking about her legal emancipation in 2014, Jena said, "I wanted to be an adult, and I felt I’d already been an adult for a very long time."

5. Jackie Coogan, who starred in Charlie Chaplin's The Kid, thus making him the first child actor in Hollywood, found out after his father's death that all of the money he earned while acting as a child was gone. He sued his mom and former manager for his earnings, which led to the creation of the Coogan Law.

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Under California law at the time, all of the earnings made by a minor belonged solely to their parents. The Coogan Law helps protect child actors. In 2001, the current version of the Coogan Law was put into effect, which affirmed that the earnings of minors in the entertainment industry are the property of the minor, not their parents.

6. Aaron Carter filed for bankruptcy in 2013, after reportedly making "$200 million in [his] career before [he] even turned 18 years old." However, Aaron's parents, who managed his money, made a lot of financial mistakes, which led to him owing $4 million in taxes when he turned 18.

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Aaron explained that under the Coogan Law, which requires 15% of a child actor's earnings to be placed in an account that they can access once they turn 18, his parents were supposed to be saving money, but they weren't. When he turned 18 he only had $2 million, when he should've had at least $20 million.

7. Shirley Temple landed a contract with Fox Film that reportedly earned her $1,000 per week in 1934 at just six years old. However, by the time she turned 17, most of her savings were gone. Of her earnings, which were roughly $3 million back then, she only had $44,000 left because of her dad's poor financial management.

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Shirley's case was another example of the loopholes parents of some child actors found with the Coogan Law.

8. Devon Werkheiser, who played Ned on Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, said by the time he turned 25 years old, his savings, which he said he'd been living "pretty modestly on," had run out. Devon explained that it was a "real wake-up call" for him when he had to get a 9-to-5 job for the first time because he couldn't find a steady acting job.

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"I'd always be living on my savings until the next job came and refilled it, then I'd live on my savings some more," he wrote in an op-ed for Business Insider. "Over the years, supporting role jobs started paying less in the industry, and at the same time I was booking less and less. The only thing I knew to do was to go get some hourly job and start working my way out of my situation."

9. LeAnn Rimes, who became a country music star at just 13 years old, sued her father, Wilbur Rimes, and her former manager for allegedly taking more than $7 million dollars of her earnings and keeping "tens of thousands in cash" in a safe that was hidden on her tour bus. The suit also alleged that they made unreasonable fees among other things to take more money.

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Eventually, her father filed a countersuit that detailed what he believed was LeAnn's "egregious overspending." In 2005, LeAnn recounted this time in her life, saying, "I was being called a spoiled brat by some people. But, you know, people don't know me."

10. Corey Feldman, who starred in Gremlins, The Goonies, Stand by Me, and The Lost Boys all before he was 18, revealed in his autobiography that when he filed for emancipation from his parents at 15 years old, he allegedly found out that the $1 million he earned through his career was stolen by his parents.

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Speaking about becoming a child actor, Corey said, "I was basically a slave child. I started working at 3 years old, and it wasn't my choice..."

11. Christy Carlson Romano, who starred on Even Stevens and Kim Possible, revealed that she lost all of the savings she'd earned as a child actor because she was spending it on expensive purchases. When she was 21, she "parted ways" with her family for about a year because she "didn't like the way [her] money was being managed." It was the first time she controlled her own money, which led to her wild spending habits.

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She continued, saying, "My biggest thing about child actors, you aren't told that the work is going to slow down. In fact, I was told the opposite, specifically by my mom, some of my team, even my money manager at the time."

12. Gary Coleman, who was known for playing Arnold on Diff'rent Strokes, filed for bankruptcy in 1999. During the peak of his Diff'rent Strokes fame, he was reportedly making roughly $64,000 per week. He said, "I can spread the blame [of filing for bankruptcy] all the way around. From me to accountants to my adoptive parents, to agents to lawyers and back to me again."

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Gary attributed his money loss to a legal dispute with his adoptive parents, where he accused them of allegedly stealing up to $1 million from him, as well as his medical problems. Around the same time he filed for bankruptcy, he was also arrested and sentenced for the assault of a fan, who was seeking his autograph.

13. And finally, Joey Lawrence, who starred in Blossom alongside a music career and work with Disney when he was younger, filed for bankruptcy in 2017. Reportedly, Joey and his wife only had $8,000 in the bank at the time they filed. With dwindling residuals from Blossom and Melissa and Joey ending, Joey reportedly was also selling his clothes to try and make ends meet.

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The documents they filed in 2017, reportedly listed out their spending habits, which included standard rent, water, food, etc, and also credit card bills, unpaid loans, back taxes, and expensive personal items like a Rolex watch, their wedding bands, and more.