Putting Celebrity Finance in the Spotlight
Jeffree Star has been breaking the internet recently with his cosmetics line. This summer he launched the “Jawbreaker” collection which nearly sold out overnight. In November, he collaborated with fellow makeup artist Shane Dawson on a collection and nearly sold out in under two hours. Just last week, he nearly broke the web again with his Black Friday sales. What are these millions of dollars in sales doing for Jeffree Star’s net worth and how does he make money?
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Thanksgiving is this week and if you are on Instagram you are probably waiting to see what John Legend’s wife is cooking for the holiday. Chrissy Teigen started out as a model, transitioned into a television host and star, and has now become a celebrity chef. What has this success done for Chrissy Teigen’s net worth?
Teigen was born on November 30, 1985, in Delta, Utah. Her mother, who she features on her Instagram and Twitter often, is of Thai descent, while her father is Norweigan. The family moved around a lot when Teigen was younger, but eventually, they settled in Huntington Beach, California when she was a teenager. In high school, she was a cheerleader and worked at a surf shop, where a photographer discovered her.
IMG Models in New York eventually signed Teigen on as a model in 2004. She became a substitute model for Deal or No Deal between 2006 and 2007. Since then, Teigen has been able to earn money through various lucrative endorsement deals and even co-hosting television shows.
Some of her most popular and successful campaigns have been with Billabong, Gap Factory, Gillette Venus, Nike, Nine West, Olay, Skullcandy headphones, UGG Australia, and XOXO. Fellow model Brooklyn Decker put Teigen in contact with individuals at Sports Illustrated who put her in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 swimsuit issues. In 2014, she landed the cover of the 50th-anniversary swimsuit issue.
Sports Illustrated isn’t the only magazine Teigen has modeled for either. She has appeared on the cover of Cosmopolitan and Ocean Drive. Teigen has also provided interviews and done photoshoots for other publications such as Cosmo, Esquire, Galore, Glamour, and Vogue.
When she isn’t working in the modeling world, Teigen has found plenty of different sources of income to keep her busy. She has taken on the job of being a mother, social media and TV star, writer, and cook.
In 2013, Teigen was featured in a Cooking Channel special called Chrissy Teigen’s Hungry. During the episode, she detailed wedding food tasting with her soon-to-be hubby. She also filmed another Cooking Channel special called Cookies and Cocktails. In addition to these cooking specials, Teigen has also released several successful cookbooks, including Cravings and Cravings 2.
On television, Teigen has landed a number of gigs. She is most famous for her role as co-host of Lip Sync Battle. Teigen has also served as a guest host and contributor on other shows such as America’s Next Top Model, E!, Extra, FUSE, MTV, and TMZ.
Other projects Teigen has had her hand in include designing a collection with swimwear designer DiNeila Brazil. The collection debuted at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Miami in 2011. She also appeared as a character in the video game Need For Speed: The Run that year as well.
Eventually, Teigen took to social media and people grew to love her – like a lot. She has racked up millions of followers and each one has opened up a door for more endorsement deals. Not to mention, she gets to share what a day in the life of Chrissy Teigen is like and people love seeing photos of her family, food, and her and John Legend constantly loving all over each other. Additionally, she’s become the queen of the social media clapback. People love her attitude! But what has all of this done for Teigen’s wealth?
It is estimated that Chrissy Teigen’s net worth sits around $11.5 million. In 2017, Forbes listed her at number three on the list of highest-paid models in the world, earning $13.5 million that year.
While that is impressive, Teigen came from extremely humble beginnings. In fact, she didn’t have a bank account and ate McDonald’s to save money. At the beginning of her modeling career, she shared a living room in an apartment with six other models.
Teigen remembers this point in her life saying, “I knew exactly how much it was with tax to get a McDouble and fries.” Now that she’s become a successful career woman, Teigen has taken the chance to give back to her parents. Her mother even lives with the family in their Beverly Hills home today.
Teigen appeared in the music video for the song All Of Me, which was inspired by the relationship between her and John Legend. The couple got married in Como, Italy in 2013, after six years of dating. Combined with her husband’s $40 million fortune, the pair is the definition of a power couple.
Like many celebrity couples, John and Chrissy own two homes: one in New York and one in California. This makes it easy for the family to be together when John is traveling on tour. Their Beverly Hills home, valued at $14.1 million, used to belong to pop star Rihanna. The couple also owns a penthouse apartment in Manhattan (valued at $9 million).
Both John and Chrissy fly pretty often and don’t drive much. When she does drive, Teigen can usually be seen in the couple’s Tesla Model S (starting price of $75,000).
The key for Teigen to reach this type of wealth has been finding new ways to earn money. Some of her latest collaborations have been on social media. She has partnered with Blue Apron, which has made endorsing her cookbooks and recipes easier. Teigen has adapted some of her favorite recipes to be delivered to subscriber’s doors.
Speaking of recipes, as mentioned before, Teigen has launched two successful cookbooks. The first cookbook, Cravings, sold more than 400,000 copies ($12 million in sales). Her second book, Cravings: Hungry For More, sold around 150,000 copies just two months after it was published. Because of this success, Teigen launched a cookware line with Target. The collection sold out almost instantly.
Other recent collaborations Teigen has been involved in have been with brands like BECCA Cosmetics, who she partnered with to create a palette. She also helped collab with Quay Australia to promote their latest blue light blocking glasses.
Teigen has used motherhood as another source of income as well. She joined Pampers as a creative consultant for its Pure collection. She and her husband John collaborate together sometimes as well. The couple could be seen in a Google Assistant ad this past March that aired during the Oscars.
There is no doubt with such diversity in her earnings that Teigen still has room to grow in her career and wealth. She is only 33 and there is no telling how much Chrissy Teigen’s net worth will expand in the years to come.
Photos: Walt Disney Television
There is a shortlist of celebrities that are loved by everyone. Tom Hanks is one of these individuals that just about everyone loves to see. Lovable characters like Forrest Gump and, more recently, Mr. Rogers makes it easy to adore Hanks but what have these roles done for his wealth? What is Tom Hanks’ net worth?
Hanks, who has become known for his roles in both comedic and dramatic roles, was born in Concord, California on July 9, 1956. His beginnings were rather modest. His mother worked in a hospital and his father was a cook. When his parents divorced in 1960, Hanks chose to move with his dad. By the age of 10, he’d lived in 10 different houses.
Eventually his father remarried and had three children with his second wife, all of which Hanks shared a home with during his high school years. At this time, he also began acting in school plays, such as South Pacific. After graduating, he attended Chabot College and transferred to California State University to continue studying theater. He took on an internship to help him better understand theater production.
Hanks’ career really kicked off in 1979 when he moved to New York City. He made an appearance in a low-budget slasher film called He Knows You’re Alone. As a young actor, he went on to perform in a number of other flops on the big screen and small roles on television.
That is, until 1989 when Hanks starred in the hit-film Turner & Hooch. It was his first financially successful appearance on the big screen and really helped Hanks takeoff in Hollywood. He went on to perform in other huge hits over the next three decades. Some of his most successful films being A League of Their Own (1992), Forrest Gump (1994), Apollo 13 (1995), The Green Mile (1999), Cast Away (2000), Captain Phillips (2013), and, most recently, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019).
In addition to his work as an actor, Hanks has also provided voiceover for Sheriff Woody in the Toy Story series. Not to mention, Hanks has had a role behind the camera in some films as well. He has collaborated with esteemed director Steven Spielberg on several films, including hits like Saving Private Ryan (1998) and Catch Me If You Can (2002). The director-actor duo also produced the HBO miniseries The Pacific (2010).
Hanks’ films have grossed more than $9.96 billion worldwide, making him the fifth-highest grossing actor in North America. In addition to his 89 acting credits, Hanks also holds 57 producer credits, eight director credits, and seven writing credits.
He’s also been nominated for 100 awards and has won 84, including a Golden Globe Award, Oscar, People’s Choice Award, a BAFTA, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Hanks also earned the Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded by President Barack Obama. There’s no doubt his career up until this point has been a major success, but what has it done for Hanks’ wealth?
In 2019, Tom Hanks’ net worth sits around $350 million. This lands him on the list of the 20 richest celebrities in the world. Of course, that is not yet including any money he may make from A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. So, it stands to increase in the near future, but here is how he’s accrued his fortune thus far.
Like many other actors out there, Hanks’ main source of income is his work on the big screen. He has appeared in a film or television role every single year since 1980 (except 1991). Here is a break down of his annual earnings since 1984:
In addition to his steady acting career, Hanks has also gotten his hand in production. He has written, produced, directed, and been able to make money with each of those endeavors, adding to his net worth.
Movies aren’t the only thing that has Hanks money though. He has made some pretty wise choices throughout his career. One of the best possible business decisions Hanks has made though is requiring the producers of Forrest Gump to give him money based on what the film did in the box office. This has helped him consistently earn from his role in the film over the years. Not to mention, his role as a producer on a number of hit films and TV shows.
Hanks has also been able to earn some extra cash through celebrity endorsement deals. His most lucrative endorsements have been those with Sony and Intel. It is not known how much he made from each deal though. Now, as he has become more active on social media, there has been an additional source of income opened up for him. With more than 4 million Twitter followers, he can use his following to earn additional money. The key for Hanks’ wealth, however, has been not living a lavish lifestyle.
Hanks has been married to Rita Wilson, who he describes as the love of his life, since 1988. The couple met while Hanks was still married to his first wife, Samantha Lewes. However, almost as soon as the divorce was finalized, Hanks and Wilson were hitched. On top of his blushing bride, Hanks also have four children; three boys and a girl.
The couple lives in a mansion in the Pacific Palisades in California that is valued at $26 million. Unlike many other celebrities, Hanks doesn’t own a plethora of expensive vehicles. In fact, each of his cars is fairly useful and not overly luxurious at all. He owns a Mercedes S class, a Chevy Tahoe, and a Toyota Prius.
Photos: John Bauld, Ron Cogswell, and Alan Light
Making a living as an author is no easy feat. Many authors only make around $55,000 per year. Self-published authors earn even less – with the median annual earnings coming in around $5,000. That isn’t to say there aren’t plenty of rich writers out there. The author of the latest book-to-film horror flick Doctor Sleep is one of them. So, what is Stephen King’s net worth and how much of it stems from transferring his literature to the big screen?
King was born on September 21, 1947, in Portland, Maine. At the age of two, his father left the family and he and his older brother were raised by a single mom. Throughout his childhood, King and his family went through great financial strain. They moved around quite a bit until King’s mother’s parents fell ill. At the age of 11, they moved back to Maine to care for his grandparents.
As a child, King saw one of his friends be hit and killed by a train. He has no recollection of the event but was told about it by family members. Many people have speculated that this event contributed to some of King’s darker pieces of literature. However, the author doesn’t mention it in his memoir (On Writing).
In elementary school, King already had a passion for horror. He was an avid reader of EC’s Horror Comics, including Tales From the Crypt. Eventually, he began writing and contributed regular articles to Dave’s Rag, a newspaper published by his brother. Later on, he began selling short stories to friends. As a teenager, he won a Scholastic Art and Writing Award.
In 1965, when he was just 18 years old, King got published for the first time in Comics Review. The short story was called I Was a Teenage Grave Robber and it was published over four issues of the magazine. It was published again in 1966 as In a Half-World of Terror in another magazine called Stories of Suspense.
During his college years at the University of Maine, King wrote a column called Steve King’s Garbage Truck for the campus newspaper. He also participated in writing workshops and held various jobs to pay for his education. King graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1970, the same year his daughter Rachel Naomi was born. While at the university, King also met his wife, Tabitha Spruce. They got married one year after he left the university, in 1971.
That didn’t mark the start of his professional writing career though. He sold his first professional short story in 1967 for $35,000, while he was still enrolled at the University of Maine. It was called The Glass Floor. After he graduated, King got certified to teach high school but was unable to find work. Instead, he began selling short stories, many of which have been republished in the collection Night Shift.
His first piece to be accepted by a publishing house was the novel Carrie. It was technically the fourth novel he’d written, but it was the first to be published. At first, King through the first three pages of the book away, unhappy with the project. However, his wife dug it out of the trash, encouraging him to continue and, ultimately, landing his first published novel on the shelves. With his first advance ($2,500), King bought a Ford Pinto.
Two years later, his book Salem’s Lot was published, which kickstarted a King’s career. Shortly after, Carrie was turned into a film, and he went on to publish The Shining and The Stand before the end of the decade (1970s). During this time he also published books under other names, including Richard Bachman. Under this name, he published what is referred to as The Bachman Books. This included a number of short novels such as Thinner, The Running Man, Roadwork, The Long Walk, and Rage.
And that was truly only the beginning for King. Over the past five decades, he has published at least 95 books and has established a loyal fan base. He allegedly writes 2,000 words every day and publishes one or more novels annually. This has made it possible for King to reach immense wealth.
King is amongst the world’s most wealthy authors. While he doesn’t have the wealth of J.K. Rowling ($1 billion), the author of the Harry Potter series, Stephen King’s net worth sits at number four on the world’s richest writers list. It is estimated he earns around $40 million per year.
All of King’s wealth has stemmed directly from his books and films based on those pieces of literature. He hasn’t made any lucrative investments or done any endorsements. In fact, he prefers to spend time out of the spotlight rather than in it. He writes his books, signs off on screenplays, and sits back to enjoy the fruits of his labor.
His books have sold more than 350 million copies worldwide. Authors don’t make a ton of cash from the publishing of their novels though. They typically earn between $1 and $3 per copy sold, depending on the demand.
In addition to that, he has had dozens of movies made based on his books. When a movie is made, King is able to cash in then too. He gets a cut of what the film makes and typically gets a hand in producing as well. Altogether, his films have made billions. Here are the numbers behind some of the most successful Stephen King movies at the box office.
Many authors who have had books adapted to film earn up to $50,000 per movie. Because King’s works earn an average of $56 million at the box office each, it is assumed he earns quite a bit more than that. In more recent years, as more Stephen King films hit the big screen, he has been able to earn even more.
Not every cent of Stephen King’s net worth is liquid cash. Much of it is tied up in assets and investments, as any wealthy person does. The King home in Bangor, Maine, is only estimated to be worth around $854,000. Just about a month ago, however, he announced that his former home would soon be open to the public.
Big fans of King typically would stop outside and snap photos of his “mansion” in Maine anyway. Now people will be able to visit. King and his wife filed for the property to be rezoned for commercial use. They plan to turn the home into a museum honoring King and a place where writer’s retreats may be held. The couple has filed it as a non-profit though, so the ownership of the home and anything that stems from making it a museum will not contribute to King’s earnings.
Outside of that, King isn’t a huge spender. He certainly doesn’t still drive around in his old Ford Pinto either, but he isn’t flashy with anything. In fact, he spends a lot of time and effort making sure he stays under the radar as most writers do.
But, as long as King is still writing, and his books are being made into movies, he will continue earning. Because he doesn’t spend a ton of money, outside of charitable contributions (around $4 million annually), it is likely he will remain one of the wealthiest authors alive – and possibly become even more wealthy in the years to come.
Photos: Sharon Mccoy and Ron Cogswell
