Nicolas Cage
Gossip

Nicolas Cage may have fallen on hard financial times, sure, but even the celebrity gossip media may have underestimated how bad his money problems are.

The guy taking the blame for leaving Nicolas Cage broke claims by the time he was hired in 2001, "Coppola [Cage] had already squandered tens of millions."

Moreover, he owed millions in taxes "with no funds available to pay them."

In his countersuit, Samuel Levin, CPA, says when he was hired he warned Nic Cage he needed to earn $30 million a year just to maintain his lavish lifestyle.

In 2007 alone, Cage bought three homes totaling $33 million-plus, 22 cars (including 9 Rolls Royces), 12 pieces of expensive jewelry and 47 pieces of art.

Nicolas Cage is so broke these days, he can't even afford a razor to shave off that goatee! Just kidding. He is probably sporting that thing by choice.

Even worse, Levin maintains that Cage spent his free time "shopping for high-ticket purchases," including 15 homes, a Gulfstream jet, and a flotilla of yachts.

And there's this: Cage "also spent huge sums taking his sizable entourage on costly vacations and threw enormous, Gatsby-scale parties at his residences."

And this: "The pinnacle of [Cage's] spending spree came with his Quixotic acquisitions of Midford Castle in England and Schloss Neidstein Castle in Bavaria."

Levin warned Cage that the decrepit astles needed a king's ransom just to make them habitable. Cage owes him $128,872.98 in unpaid business services.

He may blame his financial advisor, but it looks like the recent financial problems that left Nicolas Cage broke are, shockingly, at least partly his own fault!

After all, we are talking about the kind of outrageous, eccentric spending you think about with celebrities but puts his flamboyant counterparts to shame.

If you can dream it, Nicolas Cage bought it: yachts, a jet, a castle, over 50 cars, over a million dollars' worth of comic books, multiple (supposedly haunted) mansions in New Orleans, two Bahamanian islands, a $500,000 Lamborghini, etc.

Cage's lawyer, Martin Singer, told The Daily Beast "Half the stuff you say is false. I'm not going to get into detail," so we may never know which half is true.

Nicolas Cage is broke. That's due in part to buying ... well, everything.

Cage made headlinesn when he filed a $20 million lawsuit against his former business manager, Samuel Levin, claiming he failed to pay taxes and lost money in unsound investments, putting him "down a path toward financial ruin."

This summer, the IRS placed a tax lien of over $6 million on Cage's New Orleans homes for unpaid income taxes. Very sad, but it's hard not to look at Cage's extreme spending and not draw conclusions about his money woes.

Of course, however lavishly Cage spent on himself, he's also been a very generous guy. The actor gave $1 million to the Red Cross to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina, and $2 million to the human-rights group Amnesty International.

If you thought commanding $20 million a movie would leave you set for life, or at least able to pay the mortgage, Nicolas Cage is broke and totally proving you wrong!

Cage is rumored to have no more National Treasure ... or something. Moreover, the guy actually owes $6.3 million in back taxes, which he blames on his manager.

In a lawsuit against on October 16, he alleges that business manager Samuel J. Levin “lined his [own] pockets with several million dollars in management fees."

All the while, Nicolas Cage was headed "down a path toward financial ruin." The actor is said to have hired Levin in 2001 to oversee investments and finances.

Apparently he didn't do a very good job.

Broke, Nicolas Cage has been forced to unload a bunch of mansions.

The lawsuit further alleges that due to Levin sucking, "[Cage] is now forced to sell major assets and investments at a significant loss and is faced with huge tax liabilities because of this incompetence, misrepresentations and recklessness.”

Of course, he is not without some blame. Cage has begun selling his possessions, such as his Bavarian castle and homes in California, Las Vegas and New Orleans.

That's gotta be tough. How many houses does a single individual need? Seriously, at a certain point you ought to consider high-yield mutual funds or something.

Broke Nicolas Cage is asking for $20 million in damages.

There's a trend emerging in Hollywood these days. No, not going to the club commando style or releasing a sex tape of yourself as a career boost. At least that's not what we're referring to right now.

If these two prominent stars are an indication, middle-aged actors going the long-haired route may soon become commonplace. And we're not sure yet if that's a good thing. It certainly doesn't work for John Mayer - but then again, he's not middle-aged. Hopefully he'll be out of the public eye before he gets to that point.

ANYWAY. At left, we have annoying actor Nicolas Cage, 43, who's rocking the long locks and contemplating why he hasn't been in a good movie in years. At right, screwball comic Jim Carrey, 45, sports a similar hairdo.

 

Which of these guys wears it better? We're going to have to go with Carrey, if only because he is currently shacking up with Jenny McCarthy.