Child Stars Who Lost All Their Money

April 2024 ยท 2 minute read

Best known as Joey Russo on "Blossom," Joey Lawrence earned acclaim and a lifetime of people saying "whoa!" at him. He managed recurring roles on several programs, often playing a Joey, Joe, or J.J., per IMDB (why mess with perfection).

Starring as an adult in "Melissa and Joey," a show about a man trying to find a job after bankruptcy, he had a salary of $534,000, per Celebrity Net Worth. Two years after the sitcom was canceled, so was most of his money. He and his wife, Chandie Yawn-Nelson, overspent so egregiously that they owed over $18,000 at the end of every month. According to The Blast, the couple filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2017. Lawrence listed $43,907.32 in assets and a staggering $355,517.27 in liabilities. After the dust settled, Us Weekly, after obtaining court records, reported that they were left with only a little over $52,000 to pay all their creditors.

In 2018, Lawrence's production company was auctioned off, netting a high bid of $56,000, according to Yahoo. The buyer has all rights to Lawrence's songs, residuals, and royalties of all work before Lawrence's bankruptcy. Lawrence, however, was upbeat when filming "Melissa and Joey," saying in an interview with Steve Eramo on TMR, "It's been a long haul, and the fact that I'm still able to [act] 31 years later feels pretty great to me."

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