Sometimes I wonder if it would be worth it to live like a celebrity but be deep in debt. I often think of a story that Suze Orman told in one of her early books about realizing that she was deep in the hole despite driving a Mercedes and wearing designer clothes. Also the fate of Speidi! Remember them? I wouldn’t mind having nicer things, but I would rather have peace of mind, security and a good credit score. That’s what came to mind when I saw that Tori Spelling has been ordered to pay over $88k to American Express. I would ask how she ended up owing so much, but she owes literally millions for debts to multiple creditors, including the US Government and State of California. She’s been plagued by money problems for years and she continued to throw huge parties for her kids and go on luxury vacations even after the IRS seized her assets. We know because she put most of it on Instagram, she’s shameless. So here’s the latest blow to Tori’s finances, but you know she’s not going to address it.
Tori Spelling has been ordered to pay more than $88,000 to American Express, according to court documents obtained by Us Weekly.
The credit card company filed a writ of execution, a court order forcing a judgement, earlier this month to collect $88,246.55 from the 45-year-old actress, according to the docs.
Back in January 2016, American Express sued Spelling after she failed to pay her credit card debt for months. The following October, AmEx filed paperwork ordering the Beverly Hills, 90210 alum to pay $87,594.55 that she owed in an unpaid credit card bill.
The former Mystery Girls star, who is the daughter of the late multimillionaire TV producer Aaron Spelling, opened up about struggling with money in her 2013 memoir, Spelling It Like It Is.
“It’s no mystery why I have money problems,” she wrote. “I grew up rich beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. I never knew anything else. Even when I try to embrace a simpler lifestyle, I can’t seem to let go of my expensive tastes. Even when my tastes aren’t fancy, they’re still costly. I moved houses to simplify my life, but lost almost a million dollars along the way.”
Tori’s book where she gave that quote admitting to money problems came out over five years ago. She has had plenty of time to change her ways. Am I an a-hole for hoping Tori’s mom, Candy, gives all her money to charity when she passes? (She’s not even close to that, she’s 73, but I bet Tori is hoping for Candy’s fortune.) Candy knows that Tori is horrible with money and will waste it. As mean as it sounds, I hope she doesn’t give it to Tori and Dean’s kids either because then Tori will just guilt her kids to give her the money. I think Candy already has a plan in place for all that.
As I was looking for news on Tori, I found that her lifestyle website, ToriSpelling.com, has been replaced by a placeholder. Do you think she just didn’t pay the bill or was that deliberate? She’s now has another site, Beauty By Tori launched late last year, where she sells her “curated line of makeup, skincare and body care.” No shame in that hustle.
Just a day ago Tori posted photos from a dinner she had with her mom:
I checked Candy’s Instagram and in the past few months she hasn’t posted anything with Tori’s kids or Tori’s family. She did post this around Christmas time though.
photos credit: WENN
And just whose money is she supposed to pay that 88k with? No way does she have it lying around.
Mommy’s money of course! I mean it’s not like she’s a grown up. She’s only *checks notes* 45 years old….. 😒
The photos of those poor kids always look so…forced. They make literally zero effort to protect their children’s privacy.
she has literally warehouses full of stuff she could sell. she’d make $88K in no time.
Exactly! She can also file for bankruptcy and the judge will make her take a financial management class.
That’s literally half what my friend owes for her pharmacy doctorate. Celebrities are gross.
How is this allowed? I mean, if your friend defaulted on her loan repayments, she would never get the funds to blow through life like Spelling has. If you or I behaved like this financially, we’d be on the street! Why would anyone stop spending everyone else’s money when there really don’t seem to be consequences.
Her mom probably pays their rent because of the kids, and she probably pays for items and schooling for the kids, too, and Tori has enough name recognition to get credit. And she gets the benefit of the doubt around LA because of her dad, I’m sure. She doesn’t have to stop. If she and her kids were on the street, that MIGHT force her and Dean to take jobs at Target. This happened in my family, and we aren’t rich. When my mom couldn’t send money anymore, and when my BIL’s family couldn’t provide housing anymore (they died), my sister, her husband, and their 5 kids became homeless. My sister now works two jobs instead of being the stay-at-home, Evangelical Christian Wife she’d planned to be. My brother in law still doesn’t keep jobs. The kids are great kids, all in college, graduates, or on their way, but they all suffer scars.
Why dont they just fole bankruptcy and start with a fresh slate ( and maybe stop thinking you’re still rich)
Why don’t they get jobs and work to pay down their debts?
And sell off all the stuff she’s hoarded over the years. She probably pays more in storage fees than most people make.
yes, I said the same above. and if she’s not careful about it, and stops paying those fees, they’ll just take her stuff and auction it to cover the unpaid fees.
then she’s got NOTHING to sell…in fact, if she continues to ignore the tax issues, they could very easily seize her stuff.
And let other, less wealthy customers pay for it? Because that debt does not just disappear into thin air.
Filing for bankruptcy doesn’t necessarily mean getting out of debt repayment. It may very well result in their assets being liquidated or the debt being restructured for repayment.
It’s harder to write off the debt since they changed the bankruptcy laws. Plus now, debtors are required to take a financial management course. I can imagine the US Trustee’s 341 meetings if she filed bk. The creditors will be after her with knives.
If Tori and Dean had it together instead of being dead beats they could have easily paid half (since 50% is interest) and settled. This is a simple process anyone can do and anyone who has debt and allows the debt to go to court is ill advised. If you don’t show up for court the judge will automatically award the entire amount to the owner of the debt cc company.
Exactly. I did what you describe right when I got out of college. I had a few grand in CC debt and I settled for a little more than half of that, which was still a lot for me at the time. The credit card companies will usually work with you if you come to them in good faith, with a serious offer for a settlement or payment plan.
I learned from that experience though. Now my credit score is 815 and I ALWAYS pay off my cards. I’m also 40 years old though–not bragging–I SHOULD have my finances under control. And I’ve never been filthy rich like Tori, so I’m not sure what her excuse is beyond having a shopping addiction, living well beyond her means, and being incredibly irresponsible.
I have a lot of credit card debt right now due to various issues, but my credit rating is still fairly high because I put substantial payments on all of them monthly and make efforts never to miss one. (I also haven’t had to settle, fortunately. I’ve planned it out to get paid off within a year.) What they’re looking for is responsibility. Show that you’re willing work it out with the income you have. They’d rather get something out of you than waste money in courts.
The kids always look so miserable. 🙁
I know! But, they kind of show how much work Tori has had, because they are a mixture of Dean and Tori’s old face.
Ok maybe this is a stupid question, but it says “a curated line of blah blah blah makeup skincare”. What does curated mean?
Not a stupid question at all, because it’s always highly questionable when used with celebrities. To curate means you select and present the products or items for your customers…ok so far…but the literal definition implies you do so using your expert or professional knowledge and training. That’s the piece 99% of celebs who “curate” absolutely do not have!
I like to refer to my carefully curated stash of non-allergenic junk food. I actually do have the required experience to select it (I know how to read labels, that’s all it takes) and have become an expert in hunting down acceptable junk.
Hey, keeps me from being tempted in the grocery store by the allergenic sort. My major relevant allergies are to eggs and dairy and I also have to be careful of wheat. Also am vegetarian and don’t want to eat gelatin if possible because I know where it’s been. Imagine how much junk food includes those things! My curated stash is a source of pride. And unnecessary sugar.
“curate” has become a buzzword…for marketing and for celebs and wannabe-celebs…What they should say is “selected” or “chosen” instead of curate…this ridiculous use of “curate” and “curator” for everything is annoying.
signed
– an actual, honest to goodness museum curator with a PhD in my area of expertise.
“Curate” drives me crazy, I can’t imagine how you feel being an actual curator!
(That sounds like a great job).
I do language as a living (translator) and it took me quite a while to realize that by “curated” they just meant “selected”. I had only heard the term before in reference to museum curators like you. Which puzzled me further because I associated it with taking care of collections, although now I realize it also deals with choosing the items to be taken care of. But it seemed like an odd way to talk about the junk they were peddling on celebrity web sites.
Thank you, OriginalLala! I worked for years as an archaeologist and it drove me nuts. Only my friends who are actual museum curators can use that word :).
Amen, OriginalLALA!!
It is SO. F*CKING. ANNOYING,
It’s a term we used a lot in art school and within the art world, the term “curator” makes perfect sense–it’s someone who collects/selects art (usually for a gallery/museum exhibit) and interprets the art, catalogs it, etc.
It really should never be used to describe rich celebs selling shit from their lame-ass blogs.
ETA: @ OriginalLaLa-Sorry I missed the second part of your comment. That’s great that you’re a museum curator! That’s always seemed like such a fascinating job to me 🙂
The question here is who is willing to pay for curated cosmetics when she looks like that! O wouldn’t associate my brand with her.
What a mean thing to say. Regardless of whether you like her or not.
Her entire financial plan seems to be get into enormous amounts of debt, let that become public hoping to embarrass her mother into paying it off for the sake of the children. However Candy does not seem to have gotten that memo. Good for Candy! Tori has contacts through her dad and his legacy that other people would give their first born for, but she refuses to do anything with that. Working is not an option it seems.
To be fair, Tori isn’t a very good actress. Just being comfortable in front of a camera is not enough. She was the weakest cast member in her dad’s show. He was trying to do her a favor, but actually he got her locked into a profession in which she was never going to stand out on her own merits. Instead, he should have encouraged her to get education and training in areas where she actually could develop marketable kills. She is still chasing the wrong dreams.
You’re right. She’s not a good actress. I’m surprised her dad didn’t see that and encourage to work in other areas of the “business” where she might have actually become successful (directing, mixing, *anything* besides acting). Tori got too comfortable being in front of a camera and she can’t seem to break the habit.
While I agree with that, he opened doors for her (and got her paid very well for a long time), and it should have been on her to decide where to go from there when acting fizzled out. She did do a bunch of reality shows, and could have moved into developing shows and producing like he did, or any number of other jobs in the industry. She doesn’t seem interested in actually doing any work though.
Aaron actually started his career as an actor (1950s TV shows, such as I Love Lucy). He moved on to scriptwriting and producing. She could have followed his lead and worked beyond acting.
Another fun fact — he was married to actress Carolyn Jones (Morticia) for 11 years, before Candy.
He also gave her brother, Randy, a shot at stardom too but Randy looks like he’s smarter because he got out and is in a total different profession now.
Her parents share blame for how she turned out though. They lived an absurdly lavish lifestyle (the Spelling mansion was grotesque excess) while she was growing up, so of course she got used to leaning on consumerism to fill the voids in life. Responsibility has to be taught throughout life, not just thrown on someone when they hit adulthood.
If Tori was 20 I might agree with you. But she’s 45. She’s been a legal adult for 27 years and has had plenty of time to straighten her life out. Randy was raised the same way and has a stable life now. Tori’s problems are 100% on her at this point.
But Tori’s brother – Randy (is it?) – seems to have his life together. And he grew up in the same “insanely rich” environment
Of course she’s mostly to blame, but her upbringing would be an influence on her behaviour too. Either way, she and her husband need to take full responsibility now. There’s probably few chances left to her at this point.
This may be why her father didn’t leave her an inheritance. She struggles so much with her finances and doesn’t seem to want to work. I feel those kids.
I don’t know of course but I thought it had something to do with her leaving her first husband for the Deaner.
I think he left her just under $1 million. If she had been sensible she could have invested and lived comfortably, but she doesn’t want comfortable, she wants lavish.
He left her $800K and I think if she invested that wisely she could be a millionaire now.
Well, she damn sure isn’t spending it on her kid’s clothes
Her kids clothes seem fine? Mostly look like Target stuff, but since she not a millionaire that makes sense to me.
They are dressed better than normal in this picture. They’ve gotten slammed for how her kids are dressed so she’s dressing them up more than they usually do. A lot of times the kids look scruffy and not well taken care of in comparison to other kids from wealthy families
Surprised American Express allowed Tori to avoid paying bills for months. How come they didn’t put a hold on her card?
You are a day late paying and they are calling to remind you. American Express does not play around
That’s what I was wondering, too. Why didn’t they shut down her account before it got so out of control?
I learned this about American Express. DId you know they use to be a charge account company before giving lines of credit. Basically, what you spend is expected to be paid off every month. I am pretty sure they still have a section of that for celebs, exes and whatnot ( I cannot imagine them putting a limit on their infamous black card considering you have to spend 250k just to keep the card active) and not us peons.
Patiently awaiting the announcement of another pregnancy….
Or some other improbable “accident” like her “fall” into a grill at Benihana. Her cutlery will attack her at a high end restaurant…
Remember last year she ran to the media about her youngest kid supposedly being “stabbed” by exposed nails at the Four Seasons Hotel? That went quiet fast. I’m worried they paid her off, but as I recall there was talk that there were surveillance cameras where it happened. So hopefully they checked the footage and told her to f**k off.
It’s strange to me, that the one thing that hasn’t occurred to Tori, is to learn what she needs to know to be responsible for her finances, and show herself worthy of the fortune that Candy has. There’s a TON of money to be made on QVC etc where if you can present an ok product they will go like hotcakes and you can make the $$ to pay off the debts and become solvent. It seems to me, if she can put on her big girl pants, she can do something about this but she still seems to be banking on the big payday from her mom. It’s sad really.
She has a lot of connections and name recognition that most don’t, she surely could hustle up some work. And he could too. What do they do all day? And they could STOP SPENDING.
I too think she’s hoping for a big inheritance someday. I hope Candy has some money for the kids’ education ONLY, and maybe a little to get them started once they are done college or whatever, but nothing for Tori, and the rest to charity.
@ lucy. YES. THIS !!!
After their marriage, Tori was on a tear, she had 2 bestsellers at that point and all of her side hustles were making her a pretty penny. The was netting about 5 mil a year at one point.
5 MILLION !!!
To just blow through that money, just, wow. As someone who is blessed to have a little something once their bills are paid off, I just can’t with this woman. I just can’t.
@ Tiffany- 5 million!!??!! Wow….she can do it but she doesn’t want to put in the work.
Candy has been careful to pay for things that benefit the kids. Hopefully she has things set up so their mom can’t get at their trust fund money. If she could specify that any such money could only go for education and health care/insurance, for example, that would give the kids an enormous step up without risking them handing the money over to spendthrift mom. They are going to feel intense pressure to support their parents with Candy’s money.
Hoping that Candy has a long life.
Candy said somewhere that the pays for their education and housing. I’m also guessing that she has trust funds set up for the kids to pay for college and then some money when they turn different ages (18, 21, 25, 30 and 35), like Michael Jackson left for his kids, so his family wouldn’t poach the money.
I don’t understand how Tori can shrug off her overspending with “Oh, I grew up super rich and I have expensive taste, tee hee” when it appears her brother, who grew up in the exact same extravagant lifestyle seems to be living within his means in Portland.
If Randy can come to terms with living the life he personally can afford and not a lifestyle Candy can afford, so can she. It’s tragic that she is setting her kids up for financial failure. I can’t even imagine the stress it puts on the kids because they probably know what kind of a hole mommy and daddy are in.
Yeah, it’s no excuse. I have a couple of friends who grew up very wealthy and live a very modest lifestyle, not wanting to take their parents’ money and live life on their terms.
I once picked up a photo essay detailing the lives of wealthy adult children who live at home because they can’t afford on their own the lavish lives their parents raised them in. One young woman was like I can’t go backpacking through Europe with my friends. I’m used to 5 star hotels. I guess kudos to parents who aren’t giving handouts to their adult children, but it’s such a weird thing to grow up in luxury and not be able to function without it.
I clearly have too much time on my hands, but I went to Tori’s Instagram page and counted the number of vacations they went on last year. They went on 9 vacations just in 2018 alone. NINE. That’s more than most people go on in a decade. That’s more than some people go on in their entire life. It’s sickening to see her live such an extravagant lifestyle when they are so deep in debt.
Agree and I don’t even want to hear any crap from her about how her kids deserve to have things. We took our kids on one vacation a year, if we were lucky, and they are all just fine. Very happy, well adjusted young adults and they don’t feel short changed. She needs Marie Kondo in her life!
@Mellie I agree. Most of my kids clothes come from value village or hand me downs from friends. They own tonnes of books, mostly from used book stores. But they have endless love and lots of attention. Tori may have been raised with a silver spoon in her mouth, but she should be old enough to understand that material things do not equal love.
Considering I have had a full time job pretty much since 2000 and have gone on exactly 3 vacations (only 1 to somewhere tropical and 2 within driving distance of my city) since then speaks to what I can afford and what I’m comfortable with spending. It takes time to save up for extras like fancy vacations.
She’d be so much better off downsizing to a small house, and trying to live comfortably with some treats like vacations once a year or so. But she’s so blind to the fact that Candy’s lifestyle is NOT her lifestyle that downsizing would never happen.
As a fellow spender (albeit beer budget), I understand where she’s coming from!
Candy’s “joke” seems rather telling …. not sure it was a joke really.
She is a ridiculous woman, and her husband is awful as well. Grow up, Tori and Dean!
Ugh, same old Tori story. I get that she grew up with wealth few will ever realize and that she and Candy seem to have this completely dysfunctional co-dependent relationship, but she needs to grow up! I have more than a sneaking suspicion that she is at least emotionally abusive with her children, probably telling them to be nice to Candy so she’ll give Tori money and that they will need to take care of Tori when/if they get an inheritance from Candy. She and Dean don’t seem to put any stock in education and hard work, just depending on sponcon and “curated” collections along with handouts from Candy.
In various reality shows and books, she has shown self-awareness by publicly acknowledging her hoarding problem and storage fees. So she knows there’s a problem; she just doesn’t want to give up her “fabulous” life and deal with the problem. And Candy will just continue her “controlling with money” tactics. No wonder Randy Spelling fled to Portland to have a normal and seemingly happy life as a life coach.
I say give her the money. Her dad earned it. She may be a wastrel but it is her money. She can pay back who she owes with the dough.
How do you figure it’s her money? Her dad is the one who left her $800k when he died and said basically “that’s it. Tough shit. Figure life out and you’ll be fine.”
Exactly. His will dictated his wishes. He earned the money, and he could have opted to not give her one penny. Candy could bypass her in her will, which would be understandable.
No one is guaranteed an inheritance, aside from a nominal amount required is some jurisdictions. It is not unusual for one spouse to leave all or most of the estate to the other, especially when there are adult children who are presumably employed. Aaron left each of his children $800K from his estate with the probable idea that they would receive a significant portion, if not all, of Candy’s estate when she dies. However, considering how much money Candy has given to Tori, both directly and by paying the grandchildren’s expenses, I wouldn’t be surprised if Candy gave a significant portion to charity and bypassed her children.
The reality is, Tori got herself into this mess by refusing to grow up and accept that she has to work for a living. Dean seems to be very little help in the financial department and probably thought he was marrying an heiress. Tori has made millions on her own before and blown through it completely. She could sell or donate most of what she has in storage and put that money towards her debt and living expenses. Candy pays for pretty much everything for the kids so Tori and Dean have some breathing room to get their finances secure.
And to be fair – 800k is quite a lot of money, isn’t it
She needs to find a child psychiatrist and get some help for her kids. They always look so completely miserable. Depressed, sad, unhappy – the descriptors are endless and none of them are good. The (oldest?) girl in the picture never smiles. What few pictures I’ve seen of her where she attempts it, the smile never reaches her eyes. I see so many, many problems for all of them, but especially that poor girl. I wish I could bring her to my house and teach her how to play with the dogs and cats, and take care of horses, and hike, and just laugh and be a kid.
They’re a pack of jumbo marshmallows aren’t they.
LMAO!!! I have never read a more perfect description, you are gifted, Mabs!
I’m confused. Couldn’t Candy erase all of this debt with a flick of her pen?
Or is it about not enabling Tori’s destructive behavior?
She could but why should she? I think she’s given Tori and the kids lots of money over the years. Candy is not responsible for their debts.
@Kristen: I think Candy is trying to protect her grandchildren while avoiding enabling Tori. So Candy pays for everything that affects the kids; housing, food, the nannies and their schooling. But she has stated that she’s not paying for extras.
I think she has the right idea. If she paid off the rest of Tori’s debts, Tori would most likely just rack up even bigger amounts of debt and expect Candy to pay for it.
I really can’t stand Tori or Dean.
He is a worthless lump, IMO. And Tori needs to grow up.
Their kids look unhappy in every pic I’ve ever seen. I imagine they live in chaos and drama, all day, every day.
If Tori was left $800k and at one point earned $5Mil….wth?
No sympathy from me on her spending/money issues. I say the folks she owes money to should be paid. The rest of us have to earn our living, live within our means. And btw, I have had one vacation in my life..3 days at the holiday inn in ND for my sisters wedding.
This kind of bs makes me really angry. Pay your bills Tori.
Maybe Candy feels a little bit guilty because she was so big into consumption herself. She might feel partly responsible. The best thing Candy could probably do is pay for an accountant to dole out the money and control Tori’s accounts for a while. It would be an expense up front but would probably save her and the estate millions in the long run. Might help Dean and the kids learn the same lesson.
I probably sound mean but damnit these two are just lazy people who waiting for money to rain on them
I have no sympathy for them
pretty sure they can pay all that or at least most of that if they scale down and auction/resell their possession
to scream at them to grow up feel like I’m at least 2 decades too late but..grow the hell up people
be better, at least for your children
Tori’s had a lot of botox, filler and plastic surgery and I’m sure that’s not cheap. Positive she was working. She just got revealed on the Masked Singer. Believe it or not she wasn’t terrible. She was the unicorn.