After Ian Somerhalder retired from acting circa 2019-2020, he and Nikki Reed pivoted to farm life. They’re currently raising their two kids, Bodhi, eight, and a son, nearly three, on a farm somewhere outside of Los Angeles. Over the years, Nikki and Ian have both had various business endeavors, including executive producing an environmental documentary called Common Ground. Ian has a bourbon brand with his Vampire Diaries costar, Paul Wesley, while Nikki runs a supplement company and is the CEO and co-founder of a sustainable jewelry line.
A few years ago, Ian revealed in a birthday post for Nikki that she’d helped him get out of at least $10 million in debt that was the result of a bad business deal he’d done before they started dating. He never said what the business was and neither of them talked about it again publicly until now. In an exclusive interview with E! News, Ian gave more details about what happened, how they got out of it, and once again praised his wife for all of her help. While he didn’t name the failed business, he did reveal that it was a clean energy company.
“I retired from acting seven years ago,” Ian exclusively told E! News’ Will Marfuggi at the Beverage Forum in Manhattan Beach, Calif., on April 28. “I left an insanely lucrative career in television after financial upheaval from building a business that I didn’t build properly. And due to fraud, it put my wife and I into an eight-figure hole.”
Specifically, he shared that “it all came crashing down” after he made eight figures of personal guarantees to a bank for an unnamed clean energy company.
Years later, he credits the Twilight actress with helping them reach financial stability.
“Eight figures is a hard hole to climb out of,” he explained. “But Nikki and I did it. You know, she really negotiated us out of this deal but we sold houses, paintings, cars, watches, everything.”
Looking back, The Vampire Diaries star—who is now a co-founder of multiple successful business initiatives, including Brother’s Bond Bourbon with former costar Paul Wesley—noted he “should have been retiring off of one of the biggest TV shows in the world” instead of “starting companies that were not gonna pay me possibly ever.”
Nikki is a total rock star and Ian is lucky to have had her support. I cannot imagine being at least $10 million in debt! That is a crazy amount of money. Living in Los Angeles is so expensive. It makes sense that they left after all of this went down in favor of a cheaper lifestyle. They moved out of LA during the pandemic, too, when most productions shut down, so no one was getting work regardless. They’re lucky that they had so many assets to sell off and the opportunity to pursue other business opportunities. So many “regular” people with outstanding debt don’t have those options.
I also appreciate that Ian has consistently given Nikki credit and his gratitude for helping him get out of debt. So many women work tirelessly to support their husbands without being acknowledged. Also, good on Ian for following Nikki’s plans and not turning to a more toxic way to try to get out of it himself, like gambling or some type of right-wing grift.
Photos credit: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon, Jeffrey Mayer/Avalon, Getty Images and via YouTube
Well, he was an idiot to begin with. He received loans in the eight figures backed by personal guarantees. PERSONAL GUARANTEES. You do not start such a business if you don’t have investors. You do not take out such huge business loans if you have to give a personal guarantee that would destroy you financially if the business fails.
Getting such massive loans backed by personal guarantees was crazy and means he should not have started that business in the first place. Business 101. That was a hard lesson to learn, but, thankfully, he had a strong partner who helped dig him out, and he gives her the credit she deserves.
@jayna Exactly. This tracks, he strikes me as a pretty pretentious dude that thinks he’s WAY smarter than he actually is. He’s very lucky to have married a partner like her.
I think what happened to him is weird and not sure how he let it happen, but I wonder if he was trying to be like Ashton Kutcher ( who I can’t stand but apparently seems to be good at business).
Maybe he knew he was aging out of teenish acting roles and took risks that landed him in trouble. I’m trying to figure out a motivation. I could be wrong.
He’s always struck me as pretty but kind of dim. However, I do believe he has a good heart–he was putting his money where his mouth is, and I can’t fault him for his intentions, however ill-conceived. And like Rosie said, at least he didn’t start some MAGA grift or gambling endorsement shit. I wish him and Niki nothing but the best.
Reminds me of an interview clip I recently saw with Jodie Sweetin. She was talking about how “normal” she was because she drove a used Hyundai, rented her home, and maxed out all her credit cards.
I know Full House was a looong time ago (and I know there was a crystal meth addiction somewhere in there too) but she was recently on FIVE seasons of a successful Netflix series! How are you still in dept like that?? Get a better agent, girl!
Is this the same dude who threw away his wife’s birth control pills without her permission, because he was ready to start a family? And now it turns out she helped him get out of millions in debt that he got into before they started dating? Red flags abound.
Chileeeeee smh every time he mentions his wife in a “feel good” story it just makes me feel bad that she has to deal with his mess.
💯
Yes, thanks for the reminder. I remembered he skeeves me out for some reason and I couldn’t remember why. He’s always come across as slightly controlling. I didn’t realize until recently he was 10 years older than Nina Dobrev when they dated. I realized they were costars and had no choice of being around each other due to the TV show but the fact he coupled up with her when she was so young also is icky.