6 Millionaires Who Lost It All, but Came Back

published 19 April 2013

Just because you’ve attained wealth doesn’t mean you’ll keep it. In 2011, the number of millionaire households in the U.S. dropped by nearly 2.5% (from 5,263,000 in 2010 to 5,134,000 in 2011), according to The Boston Consulting Group, a global management consulting firm.

Even the richest of the rich aren’t immune from sudden -- and complete -- plunges in net worth. The big names we’ve rounded up here, from Olympic gold medalist Dorothy Hamill to financial businessman Bill Bartmann, all filed for bankruptcy at one point, falling into the same money-draining traps that can cost us all: poor budgeting, loose spending habits, failed business ventures, even extending too much financial support to friends and family. They’ve managed to rebuild their professional and financial lives. Here’s how they did it.

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Bill Bartmann

Who he is: Entrepreneur, author, founder and former CEO of the debt-collection firm Commercial Financial Services (CFS)

How he lost his money: In 1998, Bartmann, a one-time billionaire, was forced to shut down CFS and file for bankruptcy. He and his business partner, Jay Jones, were charged with accounting fraud and conspiracy for allegedly inflating sales reports to ratings agencies. “We were doing so well, and then one afternoon it was all over,” Bartmann told Kiplinger. Jones was convicted; Bartmann was cleared of any wrongdoing.

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Dorothy Hamill

Who she is: Olympic gold medal figure skater and television personality

Hamill toured the professional ice skating circuit for several years to help pay off her debt. She also returned to television, appearing in the 1998 NBC special “The Christmas Angel: A Story on Ice.” In October 2007, her autobiography, “A Skating Life: My Story,” hit bookstores and made the New York Times bestseller list. That same year, she appeared in “Blades of Glory,” an ice skating parody film starring comedian Will Ferrell. Recently, Hamill has found herself back in the spotlight as a contestant on season 16 of ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars.” She also continues to perform in professional ice skating shows and is currently on tour with “Stars on Ice.”

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MC Hammer

Who he is: Grammy award-winning rap artist and television personality

How he lost his money: At the height of his fame in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Hammer’s net worth was valued at around $33 million. However, he was reportedly spending $500,000 a month on his 200-person staff. Other costly expenses included the mortgage on his $10 million mansion, the maintenance and upkeep on 17 luxury cars, and the acquisition and care of 21 racehorses. When Hammer eventually filed chapter 11 in 1996, he claimed $1 million in assets and $10 million in debt.

After his superstar status faded, Hammer became an entrepreneur. He created a handful of record labels, has dabbled in tech start-ups and is currently the CEO of Alchemist Management, a Los Angeles-based athlete management and marketing firm specializing in mixed-martial-arts fighters. Hammer, who has more than three million followers on Twitter, often lectures about social media and marketing at business schools, including Stanford University and Harvard University. In 2009, he produced his own reality TV show on A&E, called “Hammertime,” and he performed at the 2012 American Music Awards, as well as on ABC’s “New Year’s Rocking Eve 2013.”

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Gary Heavin

Who he is: Co-founder of Curves International

How he lost his money: In 1976, Heavin dropped out of college at age 20 and started his first gym, Women’s World of Fitness. Success came right away, and he was a millionaire by age 25. However, Heavin’s aggressive expansion plans didn’t add up. He added amenities to the gym, such as tanning beds and swimming pools, that were expensive to maintain. “At 25, it was all about me, and that’s a foundation for disaster,” Heavin told Kiplinger. By 1986, overhead costs began to exceed the amount the company was bringing in from new memberships, and at age 30 his business went bankrupt.

Marrying his future business partner, Diane, gave Heavin the motivation he needed to give entrepreneurship a second try. In 1992, the couple opened the first Curves, a women-only gym, in Harlingen, Texas. Heavin once again found immediate success. In 1995, the pair turned the business into a franchise; today, there are 10,000 Curves locations across the world. In 2000, he released his first book, “Permanent Results without Permanent Dieting: The Curves for Women Weight Loss Method,” and it became a New York Times bestseller. On finding success a second time around, Heavin says, “I had to lose everything I owned before I was capable of running a business the right way.” Today, he’s a billionaire.

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Larry King

Who he is: Emmy-winning broadcast journalist and former host of CNN’s “Larry King Live”

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Wally Amos

Who he is: Entrepreneur and founder of Famous Amos cookies

How he came back: Despite hitting hard times, Amos’s entrepreneurial spirit never died. In 1993, he founded Uncle Noname Cookie Company (he’d lost the right to use “Famous Amos” as the result of his earlier failure), and in 1995 he changed it to Uncle Wally’s, with a focus on muffins. Last year, Amos returned to his roots with the launch of Wamos Cookies. When discussing how to become a successful entrepreneur and stay that way, he told Kiplinger, “You can’t be profitable unless you have a team that’s working as a unit. I learned that lesson from losing Famous Amos.”

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Browne Taylor joined Kiplinger in 2011 and was a channel editor for Kiplinger.com covering living and family finance topics. She previously worked at the Washington Post as a Web producer in the Style section and prior to that covered the Jobs, Cars and Real Estate sections. She earned a BA in journalism from Howard University in Washington, D.C. She is Director of Member Services, at the National Association of Home Builders.