Like Mel I'm broke - it's the shame that hurts the most
Boris Becker was declared bankrupt last month
You might think, given that I was declared bankrupt on May 10, that I have sympathy for two very high-profile compadres in the news.
Boris Becker, despite netting £100 million during his tennis career, was declared bust last month. The reports of his downfall were all too predictable: he has a liking for fine malts, Cuban cigars and women. He rents a ‘mansion’ for £30,000 a month in Wimbledon; a mere ‘house’ would never do.
And on Friday, it was suggested in a court hearing that Mel B has squandered her $50 million Spice Girl fortune on an extravagant lifestyle.
She is also having to fight claims for maintenance from her estranged husband (who claims his income is zero! Isn’t he the catch!) and has a large unpaid tax bill.
Th ere’s a long list of famous bankrupts, from Martine McCutcheon to David Cassidy and Michael Jackson. Each one talented and hard-working.
But each downfall feeds into the myth (not helped, of course, by the fact these stories are always accompanied by photos of the star’s yacht) that these people are broke because of wild extravagance.
The papers yesterday were stuffed with photos of Mel B’s outdoor TV, pool and hot tub, with a caption that noted she has ‘6,000 sq ft of space indoors’; unless you’re an estate agent, can you really picture that? It’s an easy correlation to make: generally working-class people, privy to a world they have not had generations of inbreeding to get used to, are suddenly able to spend, spend, spend.
It’s this image of the bankrupt that makes the very word so shameful.
Take me, last week. I was unable to access m y basic Barclays account online.
On Friday, it was suggested in a court hearing that Mel B has squandered her $50 million Spice Girl fortune on an extravagant lifestyle
I was puzzled. I then opened one of dozens of letters sent to me since my court date, saying: ‘Ms Jones. You need to ACT NOW! Your bank account will be frozen.’
Ah. Not one of the expensive professionals I’ve been obliged to hire had warned me. I went into my branch. A woman came out: ‘Because you are…’ and she extravagantly and silently mouthed the B word, Dick Emery-fashion, as it’s too shocking to say out loud, before ushering me into a side room.
There is never any mention, in these ‘star loses Hollywood mansion’ stories, of the other side of the coin.
The fact that success means you are too busy to read your tax return, let alone sign it. The fact that people know you are famous, and so charge you ten times the going rate. The fact you are never home, so you have to hire people.
You have to build walls and gates as you get shot at (I was shot at; I had to move house in 2012, losing hundreds of thousands). The fact that you might get married to someone who only loved you for your millions. God, even your own family tries to rip you off once you become rich.
In the riveting Whitney Houston documentary, released last week, there is a scene that resonated: her father, on his death bed, demanding $100 million of his daughter’s money because ‘she owes me’.
I had dinner with George Michael early in his career, and he told me sadly: ‘You know what, Liz, you are the first person to pick up the tab for dinner since I got to number one.’
People misunderstand the mechanics of bankruptcy, too. They think it’ s the easy option.
Liz Jones says bankruptcy isn’t something you undertake lightly â€" as any informed person should know
I read a column by a female journalist saying: ‘Well done, Suzanne Shaw from Hear’Say, she’s fighting bankruptcy and choosing to pay her creditors!’
Bankruptcy isn’t something you undertake lightly â€" as any informed person should know.
Floored by incompetent advice and the people paid to look after my interests (my agent even took his 15 per cent from my redundancy payment!), I opted for an Individual Voluntary Arrangement.
For two long years I struggled to pay every penny of my unpaid tax, but the terms were so vindictive I had no option but to give up. (HMRC had photos of my house in front of them as they told me I had to sell it, never mind the huge loss. They even took away my car.)
Thirty-five years of hard work amounted to nothing.
Unlike Boris Becker, who missed his date with the Official Receiver, I sat with him last week and told him I suffer from malnutrition. He doesn’t care why you are broke â€" these people only see the sums.
Despite losing my house and now renting, I was told last week I have to find ‘cheaper accommodation’.
The forensic poring over every expense is exhausting. But it’s the shame that’s the biggest cost. The thought: ‘How could I have been so stupid, to let it slip away?’
I’m sure Mel B is wishing that she’d never got what she really, really wanted. And Boris? That he’d been born without that unreturnable backhand.
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