Lady Gaga didn’t even know she was in debt at the time
Lady Gaga might have lots of money right now, but she was bankrupted after her ‘Monster Ball’ tour, with $3 million (£2.5m) debts.
It might just seem like a blip in her history, considering she’s managed to bounce back and bigger than ever, but that’s not a small amount of money to lose.
Now, she may be enjoying one of the most successful times in her career, having a number of Grammys under her belt, a Best Original Song Oscar, a nomination for Best Actress for A Star is Born, and a starring role in upcoming movie Joker: Folie à Deux for fans to look forward to.
But a few years ago, it was a different story.
The 38-year-old – whose real name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta – first made a name for herself in 2008 with her album The Fame and the bops have continued nearly 20 years later.
Not only did she manage to get 13 Grammys in total, seven tours and a Super Bowl half-time show, but she’s been hailed as an icon by her loyal fan-base who recognise her amazing talents.
Recently, the singer and Bruno Mars released a collaboration on a cool country beat, which fans think is some of her best work yet.
With plans in the future to continue her music alongside her acting work as she preps for Joker 2, life seems to be going well.
Certainly in the financial aspect, that’s for sure.
The 2010 tour left her $3,000,000 in debt. (Marc Broussely/Redfernso)
But at one stage, she nearly went bust entirely.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Gaga explained how her second tour actually cost her a load of cash.
She said: “I actually went bankrupt after the first extension of The Monster Ball [between 2009 and 2011] and it was funny because I didn’t know!”
She added: “I remember I called everybody and said, ‘Why is everyone saying I have no money? This is ridiculous, I have five No. 1 singles.’
“And they said, ‘Well, you’re $3 million in debt.’”
Yikes.
Don’t worry, she’s sorted her money troubles out now. (Jason Merritt/Getty Images)
According to that FT article, she managed to work her way out of the debt because of the ‘sheer quality and popularity’ of her musical output.
It must be one of the benefits of being a huge pop superstar going bankrupt because of a world tour.
If you’re good enough, you can probably just go on another world tour – or release a new record – to make a bit of dough.
According to Forbes, as of 2020 she was worth $150 million (£120m), but her music career has never been about the money.
She explained: “The beauty for me about being an artist is that the dream will never die, because I’m not obsessed with material things and don’t care about the money and don’t care about the attention of the public, but only the love of my fans, so for me it’s about how much more devoted, how much better an artist can I become.
“It’s honestly true that money means nothing to me.”
As of 2020 she was worth $150 million. (Samir Hussein/Getty Images for Live Nation)
There are still purchases that she has had to make that have meant something to her though, including giving her fans the best show they can possibly hope for.
She said: “The only big things I’ve purchased are my dad’s heart valve and a Rolls-Royce for my parents, for their anniversary.
“Other than that, I put everything in the show.”
We won’t ask her to rank those purchases in terms of importance, then.
She recently experienced issues at the Olympics as her mic didn’t pic up her epic vocals, but at this stage – people are just lucky to have seen her in person.
Featured Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images/Kevin Mazur/WireImage
