

This week’s National Enquirer has a story about the pitfalls of living large. Eddie Murphy’s ex wife Nicole is deep in debt after blowing the $15 million settlement she received from Eddie when they divorced in 2006. This sounds like those lottery winners that waste all their money and end up destitute. Here’s the Enquirer’s story, which includes details about Nicole’s bad investments and tax debts.

Eddie Murphy’s ex wife Nicole has blown her massive $15 million divorce settlement in just four years – and now she’s millions of dollars in debt. What’s more, the IRS has slapped her with five tax liens totally $846,630, and she has put her opulent mansion up for sale. When Nicole divorced Eddie in 2006 after 13 years of marriage, she chose to take a one-time payout from the comedian of $15 million, instead of monthly alimony. But in a shockingly short span of time, she’s managed to lose all of it. “Nicole made some bad investments with the fortune she got from Eddie, and now she is in serious financial straits,” said a friend of the 42-year-old stunner. Court records show that the IRS slapped Nicole with two liens for back taxes in November totaling $214,688. That huge bill was on top of outstanding judgments against her for nearly $600,000 by a legal firm and another $60,000 demand for payment by a landscaping company. She also owes $5 million on her Los Angeles-area home. “Nicole is overwhelmed by the mountain of debt she has piled up,” added the source. Nicole, who has five children with Eddie, invested in an Internet jewelry business, but the venture quickly failed and Nicole lost most of her money.”

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, January 3, 2011]

It seems like Eddie Murphy is the Enquirer’s gleeful source, as the article goes on about what a generous person he is and how he “lavishes the kids with gifts and gives them anything they want or need.” Nicole also gets child support payments which are surely enough for most of us to live very comfortably on. (Eddie pays $51,000 a month for just one child with Melanie B., Angel Iris, 3.) It’s not surprising to hear that a woman naive enough to marry Eddie Murphy would end up wasting her money and making bad investments. From the looks of her, Nicole’s plastic surgeon is getting

a good chunk of that money. This story reminds me of Heather Mills and how she frittered away her $50 million divorce settlement in less than two years.

In related debt news, Pamela Anderson owed an additional $180,000 to the state of California on top of the nearly $500,000 tax lien they filed against her last year. Her people told TMZ that it was a misunderstanding and that the taxes have been paid. Entitled rich people and their ridiculous problems.