This list tells the stories of public figures and celebrities who went from successful and rich to homeless and poor, with pictures whenever possible. Many of us have heard the success stories of famous poor people who worked their way up from nothing and celebrities who were once homeless who are now living in million dollar mansions. What about the other side? The once-rich homeless people who, despite years of success, have tumbled not only into obscurity, but have lost everything along the way.
Celebs and public figures who were evicted, went broke, or became homeless include Debbie Clark, Margot Kidder, Alex Lambert, Natasha Lyonne, and Brett Butler.
The former celebrities listed below made their living as actors, sports stars, and musicians with varying degrees of fame. No matter how high they soared, they all reached the same low and became homeless. The good news is that many of the celebrities listed here have entered recovery from drugs, started to work again, or have got back on their feet in other ways.
Sly Stone
At one point in time, Sly Stone was one of the biggest names in music. The head of the legendary funk band, Sly & The Family Stone, used to own multiple houses throughout the United States. These even included a vineyard in the Napa Valley.
These days though, Sly is living out of a van on the streets of Los Angeles. The singer has made some poor spending choices in his life. This coupled with a history of drug abuse has forced him out of his homes and onto the streets.
Not that he is complaining. Sly has gone on record as saying that he doesn’t mind his lifestyle as he is still able to continue to write his music. He goes as far as saying that he doesn’t think that he will ever want to have another stationary house again, preferring to live out of his small camper.
Source
These days though, Sly is living out of a van on the streets of Los Angeles. The singer has made some poor spending choices in his life. This coupled with a history of drug abuse has forced him out of his homes and onto the streets.
Not that he is complaining. Sly has gone on record as saying that he doesn’t mind his lifestyle as he is still able to continue to write his music. He goes as far as saying that he doesn’t think that he will ever want to have another stationary house again, preferring to live out of his small camper.
Source
John Drew Barrymore
John Drew Barrymore was the son of famous actor John Barrymore, as well as being Drew Barrymore’s father. Coming from a family of famous actors did not sit well with John. Throughout his life he was compared with his father and Grand-father.
After years of struggling in less than stellar roles, Barrymore gave up on acting and started to drift throughout the world. He was known to disappear for months at a time only to pop up in jail for drug abuse and public drunkenness.
John Drew Barrymore succumbed to cancer in 2004.
Source
After years of struggling in less than stellar roles, Barrymore gave up on acting and started to drift throughout the world. He was known to disappear for months at a time only to pop up in jail for drug abuse and public drunkenness.
John Drew Barrymore succumbed to cancer in 2004.
Source
Debbie Clark, AKA Storm
Back in the late ’80s and early ’90s there was a very popular show called American Gladiators. This was a competition show that pitted contestants against athletic contenders in different games. Debbie Clark was one of the Gladiators, going under the name of Storm. She performed on the show for three years until she suffered from an injury that ended her career.
She had then gone from job to job working as personal trainer, chef and even a country singer. Unfortunately, none of those jobs panned out for her. After years of this, compounded with the fact that she does not receive any royalty checks for the show and fleeing from domestic violence, Debbie Clark is now living on the streets of San Diego with her 10 year-old son.
Source
She had then gone from job to job working as personal trainer, chef and even a country singer. Unfortunately, none of those jobs panned out for her. After years of this, compounded with the fact that she does not receive any royalty checks for the show and fleeing from domestic violence, Debbie Clark is now living on the streets of San Diego with her 10 year-old son.
Source
Natasha Lyonne
After a couple of arrests followed by a hospitalization, ’90s actress Natasha Lyonne (American Pie, Slums of Beverly Hills) found herself living on the streets. She has since revitalized her acting career, appearing in the Netflix hit series Orange Is the New Black.
Source
Source
Randy Quaid
Randy Quaid is the star of numerous films. Yet for some reason he has been having troubles with the law in recent years.
First, he and his wife were charged with skipping out on a hotel bill of over $10,000. Now it seems that they are completely without a home as they were caught squatting in the guest house of a property that they used to own.
It looks like they need to make a new Vacation movie already.
Source
First, he and his wife were charged with skipping out on a hotel bill of over $10,000. Now it seems that they are completely without a home as they were caught squatting in the guest house of a property that they used to own.
It looks like they need to make a new Vacation movie already.
Source
Gary Glitter
Gary Glitter has had a very sordid life. Though very well known as being a glam-band star earlier in his life, the fact that he is a known pedophile has completely over shadowed everything else.
After serving jail time in Vietnam for sex crimes against 10 year-old girls, he was released and made his way back to England.
Glitter tried to move into different areas but found that he was unwelcomed by the neighbors. He is currently living place to place without being able to settle down due to complaints.
Source
After serving jail time in Vietnam for sex crimes against 10 year-old girls, he was released and made his way back to England.
Glitter tried to move into different areas but found that he was unwelcomed by the neighbors. He is currently living place to place without being able to settle down due to complaints.
Source
Ted Hawkins
While most of the people on this list came from somewhere only to fall into homelessness, Ted Hawkins had a sort of rise and fall.
Hawkins was born and lived in Mississippi where he was very poor. At the age of 15 he was arrested for stealing and sent to the penitentiary. After that he lived as a hobo, riding the rails up and down the east coast. He found himself in Los Angeles as it was warmer and easier to live outdoors.
Throughout his life, Ted Hawkins loved music. He made what little living he had playing on the Third Street Promenade. It was here that he was discovered by a record producer and was able to make his first, and only, studio album. Before he died in 1995, Ted Hawkins was able to live out his dream of playing around the world.
Source
Hawkins was born and lived in Mississippi where he was very poor. At the age of 15 he was arrested for stealing and sent to the penitentiary. After that he lived as a hobo, riding the rails up and down the east coast. He found himself in Los Angeles as it was warmer and easier to live outdoors.
Throughout his life, Ted Hawkins loved music. He made what little living he had playing on the Third Street Promenade. It was here that he was discovered by a record producer and was able to make his first, and only, studio album. Before he died in 1995, Ted Hawkins was able to live out his dream of playing around the world.
Source
Alex Lambert
Former American Idol contestant Alex Lambert is currently homeless, living out of his car in Los Angeles.
Lambert moved to LA from Texas to pursue a musical career after scoring a spot on American Idol. When he failed to win, he didn’t give up on his dream to become a working musician, he poured everything in to it.
He has been quoted as saying that he would rather live in his car here, than go back home and give up.
Source
Lambert moved to LA from Texas to pursue a musical career after scoring a spot on American Idol. When he failed to win, he didn’t give up on his dream to become a working musician, he poured everything in to it.
He has been quoted as saying that he would rather live in his car here, than go back home and give up.
Source
Margot Kidder
Kidder, the actress who played Superman’s love interest Lois Lane in the Christopher Reeve-era films, was once a Hollywood star who dated famous leading men like Richard Pryor and Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.
According to Daily Finance, Kidder battled schizophrenia and manic depression and even refused treatment at one time. “Plagued by paranoia, [Kidder] slept in cardboard boxes and backyards around Los Angeles in 1996. With her front teeth missing and her hair hacked off, a disheveled Kidder announced to the Glendale, Calif., woman whose yard she occupied, ‘I may not look like it, but I’m Margot Kidder.’”
She has since recovered and lives in Montana where she is a political activist.
Source
According to Daily Finance, Kidder battled schizophrenia and manic depression and even refused treatment at one time. “Plagued by paranoia, [Kidder] slept in cardboard boxes and backyards around Los Angeles in 1996. With her front teeth missing and her hair hacked off, a disheveled Kidder announced to the Glendale, Calif., woman whose yard she occupied, ‘I may not look like it, but I’m Margot Kidder.’”
She has since recovered and lives in Montana where she is a political activist.
Source
“Sugar Ray” Williams
Iran Barkley
Iran “The Blade” Barkley amassed $5 million from his boxing career until he fell on some difficult times ofter his retirement. Penniless and unemployed, he became homeless in November 2010 after he was evicted from his Bronx apartment.
Through the support of the Bronx nonprofit BronxWorks and the Ring 10 boxing charity, the former world champion found housing and receives assistance so he can become self-supporting.
Source
Through the support of the Bronx nonprofit BronxWorks and the Ring 10 boxing charity, the former world champion found housing and receives assistance so he can become self-supporting.
Source
Houston McTear
At one time, McTear was dubbed “the world’s fastest human” and tied the world record, running a 100-yard dash in 9.0 seconds while still in high school. He was able to escape poverty in Florida and moved to Los Angeles where he tried his hand in boxing under the coaching of Muhammad Ali and Harold Smith.
However, his meteoric rise was effectively ended by the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics, and he subsequently fell into obscurity, drug abuse and homelessness. He ended up sleeping on Santa Monica Beach for years before being rescued by an older woman.
In 1993, he married former Swedish sprinter Linda Haglund.
Source
However, his meteoric rise was effectively ended by the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics, and he subsequently fell into obscurity, drug abuse and homelessness. He ended up sleeping on Santa Monica Beach for years before being rescued by an older woman.
In 1993, he married former Swedish sprinter Linda Haglund.
Source
Danny Bonaduce
Bonaduce became famous at the age of eleven in the television series The Partridge Family, starring as the middle son, Danny Partridge. Following the end of the series, Bonaduce’s late teens and twenties involved drug abuse and even a period of homelessness.
On his own radio show on August 4, 1997, the actor told listeners that he had lived in his car behind Grauman’s Chinese Theatre for a time, while being greeted by fans and autograph seekers.
Source
On his own radio show on August 4, 1997, the actor told listeners that he had lived in his car behind Grauman’s Chinese Theatre for a time, while being greeted by fans and autograph seekers.
Source
Brett Butler
Butler found her rise to stardom in the ABC sitcom Grace Under Fire, but during the show, she battled a recurring drug addiction and spent time in rehab.
After Grace was cancelled in 1998, Butler moved out of LA and onto a farm in Georgia where she lived with 15 pets. When the money ran out, she turned to a homeless shelter for cover.
Source
After Grace was cancelled in 1998, Butler moved out of LA and onto a farm in Georgia where she lived with 15 pets. When the money ran out, she turned to a homeless shelter for cover.
Source
Willie Aames
When the child star of Charles In Charge and Eight Is Enough faced bankruptcy and foreclosure, he sought shelter by sleeping under bushes and in parking garages.
Source
Source
Rocky Lockridge
As a professional boxer, Rocky Lockridge is best known for handing Roger Mayweather his first defeat: a first-round knockout after just 98 seconds—earning him the WBA super featherweight championship. For the past two decades, Lockridge has suffered drug problems; he became homeless and suffered a stroke that forced him to walk with a cane.
Lockridge recently had a comeback fight against an unknown opponent in an open air venue.
Source
Lockridge recently had a comeback fight against an unknown opponent in an open air venue.
Source
