15 Celebs Caught Red-Handed Lying About Their Wealth

August 2024 · 16 minute read

Quick Links

How do you know if you’ve made it as a celebrity? The crazed fans, the popularity, having gossip columns dedicated to you, paparazzi following you around, barking at your heels – all these indicate that you’ve made it. Another thing that is a sure sign of being a celeb is wealth. Most people experience an increase in their bank balance when they’ve achieved the status of a celebrity. The majority of those in the celeb world are rolling in dough due to finding success in their craft and the other ventures that materialize due to spending time in the limelight. Most of them love showing people that they’re successful and wealthy too. Due to the dawn of social media, it’s easier than ever for people to showcase their wealth and their celebrity lifestyles. They’ve got the cash and they love flaunting it.

This ticks a lot of people off, but they don’t care. They’re just engrossed in living their luxurious lifestyles. Although plenty of people despise such celebs for the way they go about flaunting their wealth, on the flip side, it really is up to them, as long as they’re not deceiving anyone in the process. That’s where the problem lies. Some celebs appear to be people they’re not, and in essence, they’re living a lie. They’re living lives of excess and want people to think they’re living a certain way, when in reality, it’s just an image they’re trying to uphold. That’s the problem with the celeb world. Plenty of celebs feel that there’s this image that they need to fit, otherwise people will perhaps look down on them. You’ve heard the term, "If you’ve got it flaunt it." Well, flip that around. If you don’t have it, don’t flaunt it, or you could end up being burned. These are 15 celebs who’ve been caught lying about aspects of their wealth and luxurious lifestyles.

Looking After 14 Kids Is Pricy For Nadya Suleman

Nadya Suleman achieved fame, and at one point she also had a small fortune, not because she’s a movie star, singer, or anything like that. Does the term "Octomom" ring any bells? Nadya achieved fame in 2009 when she popped out eight healthy babies. By doing so, she became mom to the second full set of octuplets to be born alive and healthy in the U.S. This led her to gain international recognition. Her popularity increased further when she began appearing on TV shows and became something of a media personality. She achieved lots of cash and donations, and as a result she became quite rich. Well, that’s what she wanted people to think.

She was essentially living the high life off other people’s money. She passed off her flashy house in Orange County as her own. It was eventually discovered that her family had taken out loans to buy it for her. At the same time, she was using food stamps and had to turn to dancing to make a bit of extra cash. By the way, she also has six other kids. For those of you bad at math, that’s 14 kids! With that many kids to support, perhaps living a life a luxury wasn’t the way to go. She’s admitted she could have gone about things a different way though, saying, “I own all of the responsibility for my poor choices in the past.”

Britney Spears Couldn’t Get Her Spending Under Control

Britney Spears was the superstar singer who ruled the pop world during the late 90s and early 2000s. She’s still around doing her thing, but has gone through plenty of issues since her initial rise to fame, and it’s safe to say that she’s no longer the pop princess she once was.

There are plenty of people who say that everything about Britney Spears is fake. From her look, to her voice, music, lifestyle and just overall personality, everything about Britney is an illusion for the media. She might take umbrage with that, but she can’t really deny it when it comes to a certain point in her life. After her golden period, she went on a hiatus, and that’s when she was dealing with plenty of things. When Sam Lutfi was her manager, she was still acting like a pop princess, but was seriously hemorrhaging money. She was hardly earning during this time, but was spending what cash she had on anything and everything – cars, homes, shopping, you name it, she splurged on it. Britney was broke, yet was spending a whopping $700K a month! She was caught when it was discovered her dad had to step in and help her get a grip.

Sean Kingston Trying To Impress A Beautiful Girl

Sean Kingston was a one-hit wonder if ever there was one. The Jamaican-American singer achieved fame as soon as he stepped into the limelight when he released the single Beautiful Girls. Since then it’s fair to assume people haven’t heard a whole lot about Sean, who’s still trying to recreate that success. Well, back then, being one of the biggest stars around, you’d think it would be easy for him to try and impress beautiful girls. You’d think he’d have women falling at his feet due to his superstar status. Perhaps he did, but Sean still played fast and loose with the truth and still felt he needed to add to his image. He was found out lying to a date when he revealed to the paparazzi that he owned a sports car given to him by Justin Bieber. They later discovered, after some digging, that Bieber had only lent him the wheels for a matter of days. We hope for his sake that his date was impressed anyway!

DMX Has Been Caught Lying About Everything

DMX is one of the wackiest rappers out there. Some people might say that that’s just the industry he belongs to, and that every rapper has a screw loose and is different from other celebrities. But DMX takes things to the next level. He achieved a tremendous amount of success in the late 90s and early 2000s. But since then, despite releasing the odd track here and there, he’s dropped off the radar. The new up and coming talent has surpassed him, and DMX is still living life back where he was at during his golden period – you know, the stereotypical flashy image of rappers that includes the fast cars, women, and the riches. He raps about how he’s rich, but has been found out numerous times to be lying. He’s been found guilty of tax fraud, and owes millions to the tax man. He’s conned companies out of their cash and is basically a liar and a fraudster.

Diego Maradona Is All Flash But No Cash

Diego Maradona is regarded to be one of the greatest players to have ever stepped foot on the soccer field. He set the world record transfer fee a couple of times, and deservedly so. But when he stepped away from the game, he began spending like he had earned the big bucks of the players today. He probably thought he deserved it, and was probably right, but the fact remains that transfer fees weren’t as extortionately high as they are today. If he was around in today’s game, he’d without doubt be one of the wealthiest players in the world. After he stepped away from the game he battled a number of serious problems, health problems and otherwise. He still lived a flashy lifestyle, though. He drove fancy cars and was always seen wearing diamond encrusted earrings and luxury watches on both wrists. But he was found to be fraudulently lying about his wealth. During his time in Italy, he didn’t pay the taxman and ended up owing them millions. He had to sell a lot of his assets to keep up with the payments.

Chris Tucker Went From Hollywood A-Lister To Totally Broke

Chris Tucker was once one of Hollywood’s top men. Actually, forget that; he was Hollywood’s top man. Once upon a time he was raking it in. At the height of his powers, he was earning $25 million for films like Rush Hour 3, despite that film being a major flop. His comedic timing and general funnyman persona meant he was loved by one and all. The once bankable star, despite still living the high life, soon went broke. He blames this on a number of things. Firstly, he had tax problems and had to shell out millions to the taxman. But secondly, he became a born-again Christian. This meant that he became very choosy with the roles that were offered to him. Almost all were too inappropriate for him and didn’t sit well with him on his mission to wanting to be closer to God. But many would say he’s been using this as an excuse and that he’s been lying about this aspect of his lifestyle. He said he was going to keep his comedy clean, but anyone who’s seen his work recently would know that that’s not the case.

Soulja Boy Was Mysteriously Flush With Cash

Rappers have an image to uphold. They think they need to be seen splashing the cash. Well, that’s the impression they give with their music videos and the lyrics to their songs anyway. But even in real life, these guys want to live up to that image. Soulja Boy, being a young man when he achieved fame, was probably easily swayed. But as he got older, the bells probably tolled in his head and he realized that he’d have to be a bit more careful with his finances. We can only guess that’s what happened, because he still tried to portray that image of a wealthy rapper living a life of luxury. But he got caught out, and in pretty embarrassing fashion too.

He posted an image of himself with stacks of $100 bills on Instagram. Except that it wasn’t really that much. It didn’t take long for someone to notice that there were only hundreds on the outside of the stacks. The rest was just white paper. Having been caught out, the post was quickly deleted, but unfortunately for him – luckily for us – not before someone had captured it.

Bow Wow Lied About Owning A Private Jet

Here’s yet another rapper on this list. You probably understand by now why we mentioned the whole thing about rappers trying to keep up an image and that they’re a special type of celebrity. Flashing the cash is one thing. Celebs posting pics of themselves with stacks of cash is nothing new. Neither are pics of celebs posing with their fancy cars. But the latest craze amongst rappers, is owning – or appearing to own – a private jet. That’s something that shows you’re one of the wealthiest individuals walking the planet. They all fly in private jets, but owning one is a new kind of wealth. Only the likes of Jay-Z in the rap game own private jets. Bow Wow’s not up to that level. He’s pretended to be, though. In 2017 he posted a photo of himself with his fancy car and private jet. But it was discovered that he’d just lifted the pic from a private jet hire website. He was also pictured sitting on a commercial flight at the time he was meant to be traveling on the jet… Oops.

Lindsay Lohan's Life Is Riddled With Lies

Lindsay Lohan has been through a lot, and she’s still relatively young at the age of 31. She started out as a child actor, but as she rose through the ranks and got older, she struggled to deal with the fame, fortune and everything that being a celebrity entails. Her downward spiral was dramatic, and she’s still struggling to find her feet again on the Hollywood scene. Although it was evident she was going through numerous problems, Lindsay tried to hide it as best she could – although she didn’t do a very good job of it. She was broke and filed for bankruptcy, yet she was still living in her plush accommodation, dining in seriously fancy restaurants, etc. She has also been caught lying about other aspects of her life, many think just to keep herself relevant in the eyes of the media. Wild stories about her crop up time and time again, and sources close to Lindsay have revealed they’re all lies.

Justin Bieber Pretended That He Bought A Private Jet When It Was Just A Rental 

If anyone in the singing profession could afford to buy a private jet, it’d be Justin Bieber. The guy’s been continuously raking it in from a relatively young age, and he’s one of the highest paid singers around. He’s also someone who loves to splash the cash. What he’s spent his money on is a subject that often warrants plenty of attention from the media. He’s spent his cash on the usual things, such as parties, cars, and houses. And we suppose buying a private jet is usual when it comes to superstar singers in his line of work. He wanted everybody to think so anyway, posting a picture one Christmas casually announcing he’d bought himself a little Christmas present in the shape of a private jet. But as soon as he posted that pic, TMZ began doing their homework. They discovered that the jet was basically a rental, and it wasn’t long before people began getting on his back.

50 Cent Has Had Plenty Of Bankruptcy Woes

If you think about some of the wealthiest rappers in the world, you’d have to assume that 50 Cent would feature on that list. He’s been around for an awfully long time. He has had a string of successful hit singles, was a movie star, boxing promoter, and you can add businessman to that list too. But some of his business decisions and financial planning have gone south, leaving 50 Cent in dire straits. At one point he was broke and filed for bankruptcy. It was then that we realized that the whole image he was portraying and the lifestyle he claimed to be leading at the time was fake. He had other money issues too and was ordered to pay back some of his debts because it was thought, judging by his lifestyle, that he could afford to do so. That’s when he pulled back the curtain and revealed his lifestyle was an illusion. His gold chains were recycled, cars were rentals, and he lied about placing million-dollar bets on boxing fights – the list just goes on and on.

For Paris Hilton, The Simple Life Wasn’t So Simple

Paris Hilton has been caught faking an aspect of her persona. Well, she was caught because she chose to come out with it herself and reveal all. We probably all know that Paris lives a life of luxury. She’s an heiress to a fortune, and is basically famous for being famous and flaunting her cash. But there’s an aspect of her lifestyle that she has faked. Remember when Paris Hilton first did reality TV along with her best buddy Nicole Richie? They were a part of The Simple Life in the early 2000s, and it’s fairly self-explanatory from the title – it’s about the two getting to grips with living a normal so-called simple life. Nicole was the troublemaker and Paris portrayed the young dumb ditzy blonde. Apparently, it was all staged. Paris was asked to portray that character, and due to the success of the show, went along with it for the next five years.

Sean Combs Once Had To Lie About Owning A Private Jet 

This guy is probably the only other person who can rival Jay-Z when it comes to the money side of things. Sean Combs has earned his fortune as a rapper, singer, songwriter, actor, record producer, and entrepreneur. He’s made some savvy decisions and it’s led to him acquiring a vast sum of wealth. It seems like rappers just love lying about private jets they supposedly own. Combs can certainly afford his own private jet, and does have one now, one that’s actually his. But even he, once upon a time, lied about owning a private jet. He once said he that owned one, but didn't use it regularly because of the sky-high prices of fuel. At the time he said that, of course people began doing some digging, and it wasn’t long before it was discovered that he rented a jet by the hour and didn’t actually own one.

Jonny Mitchell's Instagram Life Is Fake

Johnny Mitchell achieved fame in the UK for being a contestant on the show Love Island. It’s a British reality dating show in which contestants who are stranded on an island must couple up with other islanders. Many people deem it to be extremely silly, but at the same time strangely addictive. Johnny had an infamous Love Island romance, and since then has continued doing the whole reality TV thing, appearing on shows here and there. Scroll through Jonny’s Instagram page, and you’ll quickly get the impression that he’s loaded. He flaunts what he wants people to believe is his lavish lifestyle, but it’s all a façade. Of course, people have done their digging and have brought him up on it. His luxury timepiece is fake. The flashy car he drives is actually his dad’s, the swanky apartment he supposedly lives at is a rental, and the holidays he always seems to be on are pics of the same holiday he went on years ago. Apparently, his actual job title is that of a business director. But his actual business is experiencing some significant losses. It’s all fake – the gig is up, Jonny!

Chloe Khan’s Fake Millionaire Lifestyle

Nowadays you really can become a celebrity for doing anything. So long as your face gets picked up, you get a little bit of popularity, you can build upon that. That’s exactly what Chloe Khan did. She may not be too familiar to those outside the UK, but on British shores she’s created quite a name for herself. Her rise to fame began when she unsuccessfully auditioned for the show The X Factor. Unsuccessfully auditioned? Most people would just disappear after achieving their five minutes of fame, but not Chloe. She gained a bit of popularity, and this just grew. She then achieved fame after dating Spearmint Rhino CEO John Gray, and subsequently becoming the face of the chain of clubs.

Chloe has also achieved webcam success, and has launched a premium social media fans-only site. She’s been dubbed the Millionaire Princess, but her luxurious lifestyle is all an illusion. For example, she claims she owns a mansion. It’s been discovered that the mansion consists of apartments, and she only rents one of them. She’s told people the fancy car she owns was bought with her own hard-earned cash. Then she told other people that it was a freebie, for promotion purposes, and she’s told others it’s a rental. A source has said she got used to living a life of luxury when she was with John Gray. The lines got blurred but Chloe didn’t let up. She has an image to maintain.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEq6CcoJWowW%2BvzqZmsKeiobFuuc6nnLJnYWp6pLHLnpmsZZOWwqi002apnpxdna6vsMSdZKWxmaO0bq3BqKytZZ%2Bsu6q6xmajrrClp8Zur8CrqmaZnpl6sb7Ir5itnV2fsrW%2Fjg%3D%3D