9 Celebrities Whose Partners Landed Them In HUGE Financial Trouble

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Money can be a huge source of stress in any relationship. You'd like to think you can trust your partner with your shared finances, but unfortunately, that's not always the case. And when it comes to celebrity couples with millions of dollars involved, the financial fallout can seem especially egregious.

Here are nine celebrities whose partners landed them in huge financial trouble:

1. Jane Seymour was married to her third husband, David Flynn, from 1981 to 1992, and it wasn't until after the divorce that she realized just how much he'd allegedly screwed her over. She told the Sunday Times, "I was 40 when I found out that David Flynn had left me more than $9 million in debt, with lawsuits from every major bank and the government."

She continued, "I was at the height of my career and had been nicknamed 'queen of the mini series.' My husband represented every big star at the time and was my business manager too, so I trusted him. He had me sign a lot of documents — usually when I was in a hurry and couldn't read them — and invested our money in office buildings without me knowing. Everything fell apart. It was frightening. We moved to a rental house at CBS [the TV network]; they let me stay there because I didn't have a home."

Ultimately, her desperation to pay off her debts led to one of her most iconic roles! She said, "My agent called all the networks and said, 'Jane will do anything.' As it happens, 'anything' turned out to be a movie of the week called Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. I was told it would never become a series because a medical show with a woman in the lead, set out West back in the day, full of family values and animals, wouldn't work. I never declared bankruptcy, but I came very close. It took me years to pay off the debt. If I could go back, I'd tell my younger self to separate relationships from money. ... I now 100 percent run my life."

The show more than solved her financial woes. She said, "Dr. Quinn was lucrative, too: after six years, I was receiving something like $600,000 an episode." Jane also found love on set. She was married to James Keach, a frequent Dr. Quinn director, from 1993 to 2015. In 2026, she got engaged to ER doctor/musician John Zambetti, her partner of three years.

2. Jamie-Lynn Sigler married AJ DiScala in 2003. In her memoir, And So It Is..., she claimed that when they divorced in 2005, she initially "hadn't disentangled" their finances. She wrote, "I didn't even know how much money I had or what I was worth." When an accountant/family friend helped her sort through their finances, they allegedly discovered that hundreds of thousands of dollars had gone missing.

She continued, "The forensic accountant broke down what he believed had been happening. I would be paid a certain amount per episode for The Sopranos, and that would go into my corporation account. The next day, a portion of that money would be moved to our joint account for living expenses. ... [A week later] a much smaller but still sizable amount of that money from our joint account would be moved to a different account that I didn't have access to or know about."

She said, "This was important money. My accountant was adamant we try to go after it, but my lawyer explained that if we pursued it, we would probably have to go to court, and there would likely be months of agita and legal bills to follow, and at the end of the day, it was possible that we would be unsuccessful in getting any money." So, at the time, she told herself, "I'm 24 years old. There is no amount of money worth more than getting this man out of my life. I'll make it back in some form one day. I need to move on." In a way, the money came back to her years later in the form of a 2022 Super Bowl commercial that paid "the exact amount of money that [she] chose not to pursue in the divorce."

Looking back on the situation two decades later, she wrote, "To this day, I don't know what happened with the money. But I don't care anymore. That money is a chapter I want closed forever." However, she regretted the marriage and claimed that, when AJ was drunk, he'd call her his "bitch wife." She said, "I was only 20, trying to figure out who I was. He seemed to me then a lifeline, but I know now he was a big mistake. Untangling those contradictions has taken me years." She went on to find real love with Cutter Dykstra, whom she married in 2016.

AJ has not publicly responded to Jamie-Lynn's claims. However, he is currently serving time for unrelated financial crimes. In 2021, he was sentenced to 138 months in prison for "orchestrating a multi-million-dollar market manipulation scheme." Additionally, a judge ordered him to pay a forfeiture of $2,484,873 as well as restitution. United States Attorney Breon Peace said, "Discala conspired to manipulate trading activity in penny stocks in furtherance of a scheme to defraud the securities market and investing public of millions of dollars. With today's sentence, Discala has been held accountable for his crimes and the harm he caused to investors."

3. In 2015, The Goldbergs actor Hayley Orrantia met Brandon Pelletier, a former Marine who was touring her sitcom set with a group of veterans. She "found him very charming," and they struck up a long-distance relationship. However, she claims that, after a year and a half together, she discovered that he'd stolen $9K from her through bank withdrawals and fraudulent credit card charges. She told People, "It was heartbreaking. I thought we were going to get married one day."

After being alerted by her bank, Hayley confronted Brandon, then filed a police report. In 2017, he was arrested, released on bond, and sentenced to four years of deferred probation. Hayley processed the situation by writing music. She said, "He didn't spend any time in jail, but he has to pay me restitution. So I got that. I kept asking myself, 'Why do I need to do this?' And really, it's for myself. It's the fact that I've always been a truth teller. ... It's taken a lot of therapy and a lot of time to reevaluate how to trust people, how to trust myself to know the difference between a person with good intentions and a person with bad intentions."

The same year that Brandon was arrested, Hayley met her now-husband, Greg Furman, through a coworker from set. They got married in 2023.

4. "America's Sweetheart" Debbie Reynolds married Richard Hamlett in 1984. In her memoir, Unsinkable, she wrote, "I'd married the devil." From the get-go, Richard used Debbie's money to fund his real estate investments. In 1992, he shared his big idea with the cash-strapped actor — buying a defunct hotel/casino. So, Debbie spent $200K of her savings on the Las Vegas property, and to come up with the remaining $2 million they needed, she sold off her jewelry and antiques, borrowed against her other mortgages, and borrowed money from her celebrity friends.

She wrote that, over the course of the next year, the couple transformed the property into an Old Hollywood-themed hotel. However, while Debbie hustled, Richard often disappeared for hours or days at a time. When the Debbie Reynolds Hotel and Casino finally opened in 1993, she performed — and watched her husband walk out in the middle of the show! He was gone for 36 hours. Later, she discovered that he'd gone to be with his affair partner, who'd trailed him all the way from his hometown. She also found another shocking secret — he'd added his name to the deed of her Bel Air mansion! When Richard finally returned to their apartment at 4 a.m., Debbie was scared by the "look in his eyes." He kept trying to get her to go out to their 12th-floor balcony.

She wrote, "Why did he seem so intent on getting me out to the balcony, which is only about 3 feet wide — not enough room to have a friendly conversation? Was he thinking about my million-dollar life insurance policy with him as a beneficiary? I could practically see the dollar signs floating above his head. I was sure he was going to toss me off the balcony. One shove, and all his troubles would be over. I pictured myself plummeting 12 floors to the pavement." So, she hid behind suitcases in the top of her closet, where she stayed for hours until he finally left.

Debbie was officially done with her marriage to Richard. At a café where they met to talk through their divorce settlement, he purportedly delivered this final devastating blow: "I'm in it for the money. I'm not leaving. You'll never get rid of me. ... You can't get rid of me. I control everything. It's all in my name. You're just a figurehead. You're nothing. And I don't love you." However, Debbie didn't let him discourage her from taking back control of her life. She discovered that he'd backdated their properties' deeds and transferred the estate to his brother and his girlfriend to keep them out of the settlement. Ultimately, Debbie bought Richard out of their hotel for $270K, and he ran back to Virginia with his girlfriend. Their divorce was finalized in 1996, and she never remarried.

5. Tisha Campbell and Duane Martin got engaged during a late-night dinner at Denny's. They got married in 1996. Then, 20 years later, the couple filed for bankruptcy. Later on, they were accused of hiding $50K and ordered to turn their financial records over. In 2018, they announced their impending divorce. A source told People, "What's the straw that broke the camel's back? I don't know, but I know that with their schedules and money issues, it all played into it. They've been through a lot of different stress tests. Sometimes couples just fall out of love."

Duane reportedly claimed that the supposedly hidden money was actually a misunderstanding and asked the court to not sanction the couple. He believed they were buying back their rights and misunderstood which residuals he was supposed to pay to the trustee in their bankruptcy. When he was delivering a check for Tisha's residuals, he "had problems determining what amounts might be owed to the estate." In a declaration, he said, "Prior to our separation, I handled the family finances and business finances by myself. I recognized then that I was not capable of preparing an accounting by myself. ... [Before divorcing] we were having difficulty communicating with each other and agreeing about major and minor issues, including who to retain to prepare the accounting requested by the Trustee."

Tisha reportedly said that she had trusted him to deliver the residual check, but when she learned of his mistake, she contacted her lawyers. Following their separation, she "wanted to take charge of [her] own finances."

Tisha later claimed that the divorce left her completely destitute, telling Entertainment Tonight, “Nothing. No one knows that, but I had nothing. Nothing in the bank. Nothing. I had maybe $7 to my name, and I was scared. It was like I was starting all over. I couldn't even afford my groceries."

She started over with her sons by her side. She continued, "The fact that I did raise children who didn't care about the big mansion that I had or that we had to start over or any of it. ... Starting over is not always the easiest thing, but it is the necessary thing. It's a beautiful devastation. ... I'm the happiest I've ever been, and I don't want a relationship, so don't ask me that shit no more."

6. The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills cast member Brandi Glanville married Eddie Cibrian in 2001. However, when Eddie starred in the 2009 Lifetime movie Northern Lights, he had an affair with his costar, LeAnn Rimes, leading to both their marriages ending in divorce in 2010. In the aftermath, Brandi was left not only with a broken heart, but also no credit and little income.

She told the New York Post, "I was a 36-year-old woman who couldn't lease a car and couldn't lease a house. For 13 years, my name wasn't on one account. I am still building my credit [two years later]." In the divorce, she didn't get much. She said, "We were living way above our means in a 10,000-square-foot house. There wasn't a lot to get, honestly."

Eventually, Brandi managed to rent a single-story home in San Fernando Valley. She said, "I had to pay the whole year in advance. I had to get my daddy to co-sign." Signing on to RHOBH full-time helped her to recover financially. She added, "I am treating this show as a platform and a window. If it is gone tomorrow, I made the most of it. I joke that I whore myself out to anyone that will pay me. But that is kind of what is happening." Brandi hasn't remarried, but since the divorce, she's dated people like Gerard Butler and Ryan Seacrest.

7. Esther Williams, a swimmer and Old Hollywood icon who was known for her "aquamusicals," was married to her second husband, Ben Gage, from 1945 to 1958. In her memoir, The Million Dollar Mermaid, she wrote, "Ben had made my personal life a constant turmoil for years with his out-of-control, erratic, alcoholic behavior. I had three young children I loved and worried about constantly. Between Ben's drinking and the demands of a movie career, I saw them as fragile victims who needed a lot more of my help. Over the years, I'd always shielded the children from seeing Ben at his worst — passed out drunk in the car in the driveway, or staggering around the house. As a result, they never fully understood how hard he was to live with, or why I'd finally left him."

However, it wasn't just the emotional fallout she was dealing with. She continued, "And then I found out I was broke. Ben had literally thrown away money as fast as I could make it — no — in fact, faster than I could make it. In a series of disastrous investments, he managed to lose nearly $10 million. And what he didn't lose that way, he gambled away at the track."

"Worse yet, he had hidden all of this from me and from the Internal Revenue Service. After the divorce, I was left with three wonderful children and memories of happier times. But the IRS wanted cash. By their estimate, I owed three quarters of a million dollars in unpaid back taxes. Suddenly, I was without resources. To make matters worse, all of Hollywood was reeling from the rapid onslaught of television. My beloved MGM had all but crumbled after the departure of studio chief L.B. Mayer and the ensuing damage inflicted by Dore Schary. Nobody was going to make multimillion-dollar aqua-musicals ever again. I was 37 years old. I was still working, but I knew that there was not much mileage left in my movie career," she wrote.

Esther retired from acting in the '60s, and she went on to marry Fernando Lamas in 1969. She claimed that he was abusive and controlling and forced her to choose between him and her kids. They were together until his death in 1982. However, she then met French literature professor/actor Edward Bell, who was event planning for the 1984 Olympics. They were married from 1994 until her death in 2013.

8. Old Hollywood icon Doris Day married Martin Melcher in 1958. Alongside being her husband, he was also her manager, and she entrusted him with her $20 million fortune. Martin put his faith in Jerome Rosenthal, a Beverly Hills lawyer who took kickbacks, invested in shams and shady deals, and charged excessive fees. Doris reportedly said, "My husband thought Rosenthal was a genius. I was working away, knowing nothing and trusting."

However, the truth finally came to light after Martin's untimely death in 1968. Jerome made a claim on half of the remaining money. The lawsuit got intense, with sheriff's deputies having to get his files by force. Finally, in 1974, a judge ordered him to pay her $22.8 million. Unfortunately, his insurance company paid her a $6 million settlement.

But that's not the only truth Martin hid from Doris! He reportedly signed her contract to star in The Doris Day Show without her even knowing. So, she did five seasons, then booked it out of Hollywood. In her retirement, she spent her time hanging out with friends and taking care of abandoned animals. She was also married to Barry Comden from 1976 to 1982.

9. And finally, while starring on Pan Am in 2011, Christina Ricci met dolly grip James Heerdegen. Two years later, they tied the knot. However, she filed for divorce in 2020, and a year later, she got a restraining order, alleging emotional and physical abuse. She used the expensive handbags and jewelry she'd splurged on as a '90s star to fund her legal battle.

She told the Sunday Times, "I burnt a lot of money on bags and shoes and jewelry when I was younger. You know, coming from no money and suddenly having money ... So that was a mistake. I've learned to be a little bit more intelligent about my investments. I don't buy a ton of fashion. There are certain things that I have collected, certain bags. I had quite a Chanel handbag collection for a while, but I sold a lot of things. ... Well, certain traumas in life go along with financial traumas, extended court situations, custody situations, fighting restraining orders. Having said that, I'm absolutely doing fine; there's no issue. But I learned to use these investment pieces in different ways. I also had a Chanel Fine Jewelry collection that I put to good use."

She later found real love with hair stylist Mark Hampton, whom she met on a photo shoot and later married in 2021. Upon discovering that, because of her challenging childhood, Christina hadn't saved any memorabilia from the '90s, Mark found a way to help her recreate those memories. She said, "What has been interesting with Mark was that he was horrified that I hadn't saved anything, so he has gone on eBay and found my old magazine covers, which is really lovely. He is trying to show me that it is safe to have those things."

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