If you are considering filing bankruptcy, you may feel alone and defeated. There’s no need to berate yourself as a financial failure, however, or feel like you are the only one who has faced this dilemma. Many famous Americans have taken advantage of personal bankruptcy protection. Read the following article and you will realize that anyone can fall into this situation but can emerge on the other side better than ever.
Entertainers who Filed Bankruptcy
The list of famous entertainers who have filed for bankruptcy is long and surprising. It includes singers and actors alike. One of the most infamous cases on the list is that of country singer Willie Nelson. Several other country music stars join him there, including Tammy Wynette, Merle Haggard, George Jones, Johnny Paycheck and Mindy McCready.
Rock singers are no less vulnerable to financial woes. Famous rockers that have filed for bankruptcy include Tom Petty, David Cross, Toni Braxton, Elton John, Meat Loaf, M C Hammer and Ted Nugent. Other names you can add are Jerry Lee Lewis, Chaka Khan, Marvin Gaye and Andy Gibb.
Several well known Hollywood celebrities have also chosen to take advantage of bankruptcy protection. Talk show host Larry King was not only facing a financial crisis but a legal dilemma as well when he filed for bankruptcy in 1978. Actors that have needed a fresh financial start include Kim Bassinger, Mickey Rooney, Burt Reynolds, Gary Coleman, Lynn Redgrave, Margot Kidman and Lorraine Bracco.
Formerly Bankrupt Politicians
Several American politicians have filed for bankruptcy, the most famous being the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. In fact, in his younger years, Lincoln filed for bankruptcy not just once, but twice. The 18th president, Ulysses S. Grant, and the 25th president, William McKinley, both filed for bankruptcy protection as well.
Former Vice President Levi Morton and presidential nominee George McGovern are other famous politicians who have filed. John Conally, the Texas governor wounded during the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, went bankrupt at one time as well.
When you read the names of presidents and governors who have filed bankruptcy and then become illustrious American leaders, it brings home the fact that bankruptcy is a new beginning in your life, not the end of it.
Bankrupt Athletes and Authors
Several athletes must be included on this list of famous bankruptcy filers. Boxers Mike Tyson, Leon Spinks and Joe Lewis all asked the courts for bankruptcy protection, as did football player Johnny Unitas. Professional tennis player Bjorn Borg and Olympic gold medalist Dorothy Hamill each filed bankruptcy as well.
Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, is just one of the famous authors on this list. Others include the creator of the Wizard of Oz, Frank Baum, Oscar Wilde, Susan Powter and Kate O’Brien.
Entrepreneurs and Business Moguls Who Filed Bankruptcy
This list includes such famous names as Donald Trump, Henry Ford and Walt Disney. Comic book pioneer Stan Lee chose to file bankruptcy as did the founder of Hershey’s Chocolate, Milton Snavely Hershey and the founder of Heinz Ketchup, H.J. Heinz.
Do some of the names you’ve seen here surprise you? Have you been thinking that if you must file bankruptcy it brands you as a failure and terminates your financial future? Read the list again and think about it. Obviously, filing bankruptcy is not a permanent dead end on the road to success, just a curve along the way.
