Toni discusses declaring bankruptcy at 1:27
Singer Toni Braxton declared bankruptcy for the second time in October, listing debts from $10 to $50 million to multiple personal creditors including Neiman Marcus, Tiffanys, The IRS, BMW, and The Four Seasons Hotel. She also owed money to hospitals and for medical bills, and according to Toni that’s why she became bankrupt. In a new video in which she answers user-submitted questions to the Huffington Post, Toni said that her medical issues with Lupus led her to pull out of her Vegas tour, and that she declared bankruptcy so that business creditors “couldn’t come and sue me for the show that I couldn’t complete.”
Everyone talks about my financial issues. What they don’t know is that my health is what led to my financial troubles. Everyone talks ‘she spent her money.’ That’s so not true, I don’t think [people] understand the bankruptcy rules and the laws, it’s to protect you. So once I got ill and had to cancel my Vegas show, all my concerts I had to file bankruptcy so I would be an protected so everyone wouldn’t come and sue me for the show that I couldn’t complete.
Everyone says ‘Oh she spent all her money, she has to lower her spending habits. It’s so not true.
[From video on Huffington Post]
Many years ago I worked as a consultant for a company that declared bankruptcy and stiffed me out of over $5,000 that I really needed to make ends meet at the time. I understood that the company needed to declare bankruptcy to stay in business, but they screwed everyone including the lowly consultants who had already done work for them, not just the large creditors who could afford not to get paid. That’s the thing that gets me about “bankruptcy,” everyone gets stiffed. Toni did it twice, once 12 years ago and again last year. While I understand that she may have needed protection after her health affected her ability to work – does that mean she gets all her loans for jewelry, high end clothing, and her car forgiven too? Why was she getting those things on credit instead of paying for them with money she already had? (The luxury goods I mean, I understand getting a car loan, although she could have bought something outright with the type of money she makes.) She didn’t pay her parking tickets in multiple states for God’s sake. That’s not something that has to do with “business,” that’s a personal failure to take responsibility for her bills. I understand bankruptcy when people lose their jobs due to health issues, but this is a millionaire who did it twice and is blaming the second time on business reasons. Meanwhile she never could be bothered to put a $15 check in the mail for any of her parking tickets. I’m sorry that she has lupus along with her heart problems and had to go through all that though. She also has a son with autism, although she says he’s doing well and is in public school.
Toni is shown on 3/30/11 at a Lindt chocolate event for Autism Speaks. Credit: WENN
Nope. Sorry. Not buying it.
her fug azz nosejob makes me wanna punch her in it! 😈
So she sold 40 million albums on top of touring revenue, and is now $50 million in the red? So essentially she must have spent AT LEAST $100-150 million in order to get herself into this position. No-one’s that ill!
While I feel badly for her health issues, money is clearly something that slips through her hands as soon as she gets it. She needs good money management or she should not be allowed to make millions, squander it and then look to the Courts to continually bail her out.
And now what? She starts working again, resumes blowing money and living the glamorous life for another 12 years until she can file for bankruptcy again?
That’s just poor management. I get that many entertainers don’t pay much attention to the money and let others handle it, but one bankruptcy should be a wake-up call.
The idea that she needed to declare bankruptcy to get out of her concert commitments is either complete BS or an indication that she has the dumbest lawyers/managers of all time. Who signs a contract that would require them to perform even if they are seriously ill?
@TQB – exactly. She/her tour was not insured? Who would advise her to do that? It’s not like she’s some 18 year old kid just starting out, not knowing any better. Surely she was insured against something unforeseen happening, especially since she already knew she had an illness. But, again, I don’t buy this as the reason for her filing BK again.
Aretha Franklin doesn’t pay her Saks or Neiman Marcus bills either. There are more celebs in debt out there than there are rich ones, because they all do live beyond their means and then they blame health or something else.
Maybe if they would cut out the Bentleys, the Hermes Birkin bags, the salaries for their ridiculous entourages and their 10 million dollar homes, they might have a dime or two left.
No, I am not jealous, before anyone makes the comment. I just know that I have had to adjust my spending due to the economy, no reason why these people cannot do the same.
Her career/profile has been on a steady decline for almost a decade now, and she isn’t reflecting that in her spending (The Four Seasons? A BMW?). She stopped topping the charts years BEFORE she started getting serious diagnoses. The medical bills further compacted an already existing condition – perpetual debt.
She WAS a multi-millionaire and didn’t want to give up the lifestyle (or the appearance of it)…THAT’S why she had to declare again.
She’s no Halle Berry so enuff with that do. It’s not working with her round face.
Complete BS and no excuse for her wreckless financial misbehaviour.
Not buying it. I’m currently drowning in medical bills and therefore I don’t shop at places like Neiman Marcus or buy expensive cars. If she was living a less extravagant lifestyle – and hadn’t already filed for bankruptcy once – I might feel sorry for her because I do understand how financially draining health problems can be. But I just don’t buy it in her case. And I’m very irritated that she’s using her health as an excuse here – it’s an insult to those who are sick and truly struggling to pay their medical bills.
This is absolutely crazy. I don’t get how you end up 50mil in debt. Do you really NEED golden toilet seat and dimonds incrusted phone and house with 20 empty bedrooms and 10 Bentleys that rust in your garage?
There is no excuse for people like her. She could afford to pay all her medical bills and still live comfortably with the money she had. There were absolutely no need to borrow those millions.
She has shown that she blows money like it’s going out of style. Her health problems made it so she didn’t have any income to offset all the spending.
Loosely translated, she is bad with money and had no solid plans for future income.
@Devilgirl, no, you do NOT sound jealous. You sound RATIONAL.
@Grace, I agree. It’s gross that she’s blaming her illness. Also, if you read her closely, she’s not actually saying it was medical costs that overwhelmed her! Some huge percentage of personal bankruptcies in the US are caused by staggering medical bills – these are not folks who ran up big bills on handbags! They are hard working people who had the terrible tragedy of an illness or injury, and on top of their suffering they face financial ruin.
I find the concept that multi-millionaires can declare bankruptcy, to be unethical.
They had their chance with their wealth, and now leave people who live and make much less, responsible for eating the loss?
Just wrong, wrong, wrong.
What so her answer to all her financial/health problems is to file bankruptcy every other year or so? What a waste.
Thanks TQB!
When you earn the kind of money she has, you can afford to put away money for unexpected things like sudden health issues. You can also live very well, within your means, and not from concert to concert and album to album. She is irresponsible. ‘Nuff said.
Lupus is brutal business, but don’t use that an excuse not to pay for your BMW and all that junk you got at Neimans. Stupidity is not a medical issue.
Filing bankruptcy once I can understand because of illness, but twice, it sends a red flag. No matter what celebs buy outright, if their mindset is not into managing their money, they will end up broke period. There are celebs who buy extravagances and still hold on to their money, yet in this case, it doesn’t make sense.
You know who I feel sorry for? I feel sorry for people in their 50s who have worked hard and saved all their lives and then get laid off their jobs with two kids in college and the mortgage still unpaid and they are too old to be hired but too young to qualify for even minimal social security benefits. People like that I get my sympathy. People like Toni Braxton get the back of my hand. She should sell her clothes and jewelry to pay her bills. She’d probably have plenty left over.
TYPICAL LOSER! ONE HIT WONDER…ENTITLED MUCH! HATE HER AND HER WHOLE HOE FAMILY!!!
I’m sorry about her health issues.
Not buying that as an excuse for declaring bankruptcy though.
But more importantly…
LINDT GOLD CHOCOLATE BUNNIES!!!!!!
The First bankruptcy was a business bankpruptcy(mismanagement) like Donald Trump’s bankruptcy, this one is a personal bankruptcy due to illness and cancelled tour.I watched her interview w/ Wendy Williams.
@DevilGirl – I agree with TQB, You don’t sound jealous at all, just responsible & rational. (Like an adult who knows better than to spend so freely to the point of being ridiculously in debt.)
I agree that there’s no way her medical bills were worth 50 million. Her previous bankruptcy shoud’ve made it obvious what mistakes she made, but now she’s doing it again? I’m sorry about her health problems, But I refuse to buy that those are the reason she’s this far in the hole. Her tour should’ve definitey been insured, I don’t know of a single financially valuable event that isn’t.
She’s irresponsible, & continues to purchase THE BEST of everything, whether she can afford it or not. The traffic tickets are insane, she’s not above the law because she had a music career at one point. It’s really obvious that this new show is an obvious attempt to make money.
Sounds like Toni may have a shopping problem. Why in the world would an entertainer of her caliber need to charge anything?
Part of this is true. She could not meet her obligations for her Vegas show at the Flamingo, due to health issues and had to cancel a big chunk of dates. As a result, she was sued and claimed banko again. The real issue for me though, is that she cannot live within her means. She quite obviously did not learn anything from her first BK.
I find it very disturbing how people think they have the right to judge celebrities and think they have to justify their life to you, which they don’t. I have lupus and it is a very painful illness to live with, you have no idea how tired you feel and ill you feel on most days. Leave Toni alone, focus on your own imperfections for a change.