At the peak of his career, we estimate that Kevin Spacey's net worth was north of $50 million. Perhaps as high as $70 million. Even with a few personal and legal controversies, that should have been a large enough fortune to last a lifetime. Right? Maybe not?
In an interview with Piers Morgan that just aired in the U.K., Spacey revealed he has no more money at all. In fact, he has barely avoided filing for bankruptcy several times and owes millions of dollars in legal and mortgage debt.
In the interview, Piers directly asked Kevin a series of blunt questions about his current finances:
Morgan: Are you facing bankruptcy?
Spacey: We've managed to sort of dodge it, at least as of today.
Morgan: How much money do you have?
Spacey: None… I still owe a lot of legal bills that I have not been.
Morgan: You're actually in debt?
Spacey: Yes.
Morgan: Do you mind me asking how much you owe?
Spacey: It's considerable… Many millions.
(Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
The Rise
In the 1990s and 2000s, Kevin Spacey was one of the most beloved and highest-paid actors in the world.
He won his first Academy Award, as a Supporting Actor, for 1995's "The Usual Suspects." He won his second Oscar, this time as Best Actor, for 1999's "American Beauty." He also starred in such classics as "Seven," "L.A. Confidential," "Glengarry Glen Ross," "A Time to Kill" and "Horrible Bosses."
Spacey earned tens of millions from his film acting roles. At his absolute career peak in the early 2000s, Kevin could easily earn $10 million to star in a major film and $5 million for a supporting role.
He then earned another fortune from Netflix. In fact, Netflix owes its entire streaming model partly to Spacey. According to legend, back when the company was primarily mailing DVDs, it wanted to get into the original content game. So executives looked at the company's own customer usage data to reverse engineer a hit original series. Their data showed that Netflix customers liked political dramas, movies that starred Kevin Spacey and films that were directed by David Fincher. So what did Netflix do? It hired Spacey and Fincher to create an American version of a British political thriller called "House of Cards."
Between his per-episode acting salary and producing fee, at his peak Kevin made $20 million per season of the show.
The Fall
Kevin Spacey's dramatic downfall began in late 2017 with a wave of sexual assault allegations.
It all came crashing down in October 2017 when Anthony Rapp accused Spacey of inappropriate behavior at a party in the mid-1980s… when Rapp was 14. Soon after, more men came forward with similar stories. This coincided with the rise of the #MeToo movement, leading to a swift and harsh response from the industry.
A highly successful, multi-decade film career was over in an instant.
Kevin was hastily scrubbed from the already-completed film "All the Money in the World." Producers had to bring Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Williams back to re-shoot scenes that had previously featured Spacey. Considering what was happening with the #MeToo & #TimesUp movements at the time, it was awkwardly later exposed that Walhberg was paid $1.5 million for his re-shooting work while Michelle was paid just $1,000.
Worst of all for Spacey's finances, he was not only fired from his $20 million per season "House of Cards" gig, he was also sued by the show's production company, Media Rights Capital (MRC). MRC sued Kevin after it was revealed that he allegedly acted inappropriately towards someone on the set of the show. In the lawsuit, MRC accused Kevin of breaching "provisions of both the Acting and Executive Producing Agreements that set standards for his workplace conduct, including by breaching MRC's Harassment Policy."
MRC's lawsuit sought compensation FROM SPACEY PERSONALLY for the financial damages it incurred for having to scrap the entire sixth season after filming two episodes. Furthermore, MRC claimed in the scramble to right the ship, it only had enough time to produce eight episodes for the sixth season, five fewer than Netflix ordered. Therefore, MRC lost millions in licensing fees by not being able to deliver a full season.
In November 2021, Spacey was ordered to pay MRC $31 million in damages, and in August 2022, that judgment was upheld. The award was broken out as $29.5 million in compensatory damages plus another $1.5 million in legal fees and other costs.
Kevin's MRC judgment eventually grew to $34 million, with interest and penalties. In a surprise twist, in February 2024, MRC agreed to forgive the debt in exchange for Spacey's testimony on the production company's behalf in a separate $150 million lawsuit it filed against the show's two insurance companies. That lawsuit has not yet gone to trial.
Suffice it to say, the last 6+ years have not been easy for Kevin Spacey. I'm not saying he did not deserve the comeuppance, I'm just making a factual statement: The last six years have not been easy for Kevin Spacey. His reputation is gone. His career is gone. His money is gone. He even appears to be somewhat homeless at the moment, or will be soon. In a different part of the recent Piers Morgan interview, Kevin says his $6 million Baltimore townhouse has been foreclosed on and will soon be auctioned off. He claims to be heading back there soon to pack up all of his belongings, and doesn't know where he'll live next.
