I don’t know much about actor Michael Madsen, 53, but I’m reporting this because of the insane amount of child and spousal support this guy owes. You may remember Madsen from Kill Bill (2004), Reservoir Dogs (1992) and Thelma & Louise (1991). (Actress Virginia Madsen is his sister.) When Madsen divorced his second wife in 1996 his career was hot, and he had two boys to support. Now it’s 2011 and he’s getting by with roles in B movies, The Sin City sequels, and voiceover work. A warrant was just issued for his arrest after he failed to appear in court on charges that he owes a whopping $570,000 in support to his ex, Jeannine Bisignano, whom he divorced in 1996. Madsen and Bisignano have two boys together, Christian, now 20, and Max, 16. The boys must be getting by on whatever their mom makes because it sounds like Madsen hasn’t been paying his child support for a while. You know he’s not going to pay for college, either.
Cops are on the hunt for “Kill Bill” star Michael Madsen … who allegedly owes around $570,000 in child and spousal support debts … TMZ has learned.
According to court documents, Madsen failed to show up for a hearing in his child/spousal support case last week … so the judge found him in contempt and issued a warrant for his arrest.
If the cops catch up with Madsen it’s gonna cost him … his bail has already been set at $26,000.
[From TMZ]
I was prepared to have a twinge of sympathy for Madsen after reading over his Wikipedia entry – his career really looks like its taken a tumble. Then I checked his IMDB page and he works all the time. Even if he’s doing smaller crappy roles he should pay his child and spousal support. He has three more kids with his wife, DeAnna, whom he just happened to marry right after he divorced Jeannine. Maybe he feels like he doesn’t have to pay support to his ex now that he has another family. For all of you who have to deal with deadbeat exes who refuse to support their kids, I’m so sorry. I’m sure that there are much worse cases than this one when it comes to struggling single moms whose exes refuse to pay child support.
Madsen is shown below with his third wife Deanna in 2009 and 2010. Credit: WENN. He’s shown at the premiere of The Bleeding on 11/2/09. Credit: PRPhotos
Ahhh, the attack of the upper lip!!!! Seriously if you don’t have an upper lip-live with it!!!! It NEVER looks natural!
His current wife’s upper lip is out of control
Another warrant needs to be issued for the red outfit, and the awful dye-job in the last pic alone, nevermind being a deadbeat dad. Seriously, what the heck was he using? ‘Just for men’? If so, maybe he really is an economy victim……..NOT. No excuse to abandon kids and refuse to pay your share. Your sperm, you share, jackass.
No sympathy. He is a deadbeat. Pay for your children, loser!!!
Seems a bit weird that the courts/judge would wait until Michael owes almost half a million to issue a warrant, or even followup with the outstanding amount. Either he pay a crapload of $$$$ each month and stopped paying for a few months, or never paid to begin with. Stupid courts.
If there’s any money left after his play time, he’ll pay part of his child support. Dead-beat douchery.
Deadbeat. He looks like a slimy skeezeball to me.
Ugh. Deadbeat loser dad. Useless. Having given that opinion, oh my gosh! His new wife looks kind of like Matthew Perry. The nose. The weird mouth. The giant forehead. Him, though? Ugh. There’s nothing appealing there AT ALL.
YIKES!! That is one ROUGH looking couple.
omg. michael madsen is dating jaime lee preselys mom. i had no idea.
how do you even owe 500K in child support?
All his money went to pay for those lips.
My friends husband actually quit work so he wouldn’t have to pay child support.
the only way to get that far behind is if your a DEADBEAT!
He used to be a sexy dude! What happened to his face?
He looks like Charlie Sheen…coincidence? I think not.
He looks like he either a.) has to belch or b.) is pinching back a turtlehead.
How much is he supposed to pay in child support per month? There’s a reasonable amount that is required to bring up a child and then there’s “oh the guy’s loaded let’s go insane” kind of money.
I worked for the state for several years as a child support recovery agent, (loved my job). I would wait to issue a warrant on late Friday afternoon before the judge went home for the weekend and then run the warrant to the police department and tell them what bar these losers would be frequenting and they would go pick them up for me Friday nights and they couldn’t bond out so they would have to sit there until Monday morning. I laughed all weekend knowing those assholes were sitting in jail. Honestly, the amounts I have seen this isn’t surprising. Google your state’s website for dead beat parents, or if you want to get technical delinquent child support (most states have them) you will be shocked!
There were rumors that he owed a big chunk to Q Tarantino, and as a result they ha a falling out a few years ago (after Kill Bill), and as a result he gets b-movie roles only (since QT was the only one wanting to give him solid work)- and most of what he makes goes to pay back enormous gambling debts. Not an excuse to not pay child support (my dad was a dead beat- so I have no sympathy for him whatsoever, I just find the fall from grace…. interesting.)
Maybe Mike Huckabee could issue a statement condemning the poor example Madsen sets for America’s men. But no, he’s a dude, so we probably won’t have any judgey ritual stonings from Mike.
Well it seems if he was ordered to pay child support off his 1996 earnings, and his salary took a definate plunge over the years, then he should’ve gone back to court to have it adjusted accordingly. But to ignore it and not pay? Loser. The thing is, sooner or later his ex will get her money. The government will garnish any federal money paid out to him – tax refunds, social security, etc.
One more reason why men should think twice about who they choose to breed with. If you don’t want your money going to a woman you hate than don’t have kids with her.
That photo in the red jacket tells you everything you need to know about whether he’s a twat or not.
Clearly, he is a twat. Even low level, small acting jobs pay a heller lot, he’s not hurting for money, just a deadbeat twat who likes to have kids but don’t like to pay for them.
Argh, redjacketed twat!
I get no child support, it is really really hard…
So… he is a douchebag dumbass.
Take him to jail
Ally…THANK YOU. You took the words right outta my mouth!
I’ll be awaiting a statement from him.
I’d like to say this is uncommon, but it’s not. My ex has almost been arrested several times for not paying child support, and he’s not even a creep who refuses to pay or quits his job. He’s just an idiot who doesn’t bother to inform the state when he gets a new job, etc. And the states are so backlogged with deadbeat dads they don’t notice for several months (usually when the mother informs them) which is probably why Madsen’s amount is so high.
If Madsen is unable to pay because of a decrease in salary he should’ve requested a reduction. The courts are usually willing to work with both parties. But if he’s just not paying, it should be coming out of his tax returns (if he even files tax returns). Often, men are just idiots who seem to think that child support just goes into the mom’s pockets for our coffee and shoes so they don’t need to pay. Schmucks.
Marie that is awesome!!
This is kind of sad because I really like Madsen as an actor. It always sucks to find out ugly stuff about a celeb you like.
I’d be curious to know more details – is he paying what he can and just not meeting the court requirements, or has he just stopped paying altogether? If he’s stopped altogether, then shame on him. I amazed how much he’s still working, and even though it’s probably small stuff, it’s something.
“Maybe he feels like he doesn’t have to pay support to his ex now that he has another family.” That’s exactly what I went through with my ex. I could pay cash for a brand new house if I got all the CS money he still owes me. Except that he lost his job several years ago and his new wife has been supporting him/them ever since. Plus she gets a huge CS payment each month from HER ex. I should have known how he was when he never mentioned he had a first wife & kids for months when we first started dating, until they happened to show up at the house one day. I was young and stupid then…
He and my deadbeat ex can form a bowling team.
Seems like the courts would order his paychecks to go directly to his debts. Why do these studios hire people who owe this type of money? And WHY is he not in jail?
Deadbeat loser.
My dad’s a CO in a county jail and occasionally gets to deal with this ilk. My dad’s actually very paternal on the job, he has a very laid back and forgiving demeanor, but Deadbeats always rile him up. It’s funny – drunks, drug addicts and petty thefts don’t bother him at all – but the Deadbeats and the Woman Beaters get a special kind of attention from Officer *****.
“Hey CO – I thought we get ice cream tonight?”
“Fuck your ice cream.”
You know you’re a fuck up when my dad – a practicing Buddhist – doesn’t like you. No ice cream for Madsen.
@ malachais – Family Courts in CA generally don’t do anything to enforce established child support payments until the single parent gets fed up with not getting child support and pursues the absentee parent. Even when support is established through Revenue & Recovery, you still have to request an increase. R & R does, however, yank drivers’ and business licenses of deadbeats. With a quickness.
Well I think that’s how it’s getting. States are refusing to issue or renew drivers licenses for deadbeat parents. I know some states refuse to renew professional licenses also. And without a license, it’s not like you’ll get professional liability insurance if your a dentist or CPA, etc. And I’ve also read where some guy didn’t pay his child support and let it go for decades figuring he was scott free. Well he went to claim social security a few years ago and the Feds told him they were going to make him pay child support out of his monthly retirement checks.
So some of you might yet see the money.
In some states, it’s enormously difficult to collect on late/missing child support payments. The agencies are so backlogged and require waiting a certain period of time, and the courts are generally an even more foreboding prospect because the collecting parent must pay all court and attorney fees upfront, since it’s against attorney ethics to collect their own fee out of recouped child support payments. So it’s easy to see why a woman would have to wait until the delinquent sums are enormous…
As for Madsen himself, I feel no sympathy whatsoever. His financial difficulties have been ongoing for a number of years before the economic downturn even began, and he lost a fancy beach home to foreclosure recently too. I figure he’s one of those who always lived above their own means, and he probably thinks his ex doesn’t deserve the money more than his new family does. Besides, the jackass is appearing in 26 films this year — the least he could do is pay his child support.
It sounds like he never paid to begin with and that’s how the back support got so high.
Re : Tango
I think you’re right – he could have gone back to court to ask to have his payments reduced if his income dropped. Courts will listen to payors who just don’t have the money because of a layoff or whatever. Then the payments would have been reduced. But it sounds like he just doesn’t like to pay. Terrible lesson to send to two sons who are almost adults and will be fathers themselves soon enough!
Ally, considering the pounding Huckabee got from the libs for his last comment, I wonder why he won’t say anything. After all, Madsen looked stunning at the awards show recently. Has to be because he’s misogynistic. Has to be.
His wife looks like she was hit in the face with a bag full of nickels
Holy hairline stains Batman!
Frankly, I don’t care that much about him but the nutso stains on his forehead are unbelievable. I can’t tell if they’re from a lacefront that got hit with self-tanner or from an exceptionally bad dye job. If they were self-tanner stains I’d expect to see the rest of him Lohan Orange™ but he’s refreshingly pale. If it’s from hair dye, then there’s no excuse. It is SO easy to avoid skin stains! Hell, even if you’re dying at home, a few Q-Tip swabs around the hairline will prevent THAT!
I’d do him.
John Lillpop takes it in the mouth.
It’s amazing how many men (and sometimes women) think they’re “punishing” their ex by not paying child support or who think that child support is a punishment. No, jackhole, you hurt your CHILDREN. And child support is your RESPONSIBILITY.
What a dick.
@Marie – “I worked for the state for several years as a child support recovery agent, (loved my job).”
Now that sounds like a kick-ass, super satisfying (& probably endlessly frustrating) job. Good for you putting those assholes in their place. It’s nice to know the law can be manipulated for the sake of good, too.
@MissyAggravation – Your dad is awesome too! =) Sounds like a great guy.
This guy should be called a ‘deadbeat sperm donor’. It takes a hell of lot more to qualify as a ‘dad‘. I was incredibly lucky to have a step-dad (my father passed in an accident when I was 2, my step dad was his best friend since they were kids.) who married my mom & raised me from 4 onward as though I was his own. He supported me totally (financially & otherwise), even though I was a step-child, & technically, he had no obligation to do so.
Sometimes I don’t realize how lucky I really am. This sort of story makes me realize. To those of you out there dealing with DEADBEATS – My heart really goes out to you. You guys are amazing for managing to keep things going, no matter how hard it is, & how unfairly you’ve been treated. Your children are so lucky to have you. I can’t even imagine going through that & holding it together.
I like my new man. Please bring gay marriage on.
John Lillpop enjoys it in the mouth.