*NSYNC star Joey Fatone has lifted the lid on his brutal financial struggles in the wake of the boy band’s sudden hiatus—revealing that his money woes became so severe, he was forced to sell his Florida home and move back in to his parents’ house, along with his wife and children.
Fatone, 49, spoke frankly about his sudden fall from financial grace in a new Investigation Discovery documentary “Boy Band Confidential: A Hollywood Demons Event,” explaining how the shock decision to put *NSYNC on an indefinite break left him in a desperate situation.
The singer confessed that the news of the band’s 2002 hiatus came as a total surprise to him, explaining that there was “never a conversation” between himself and his fellow members—Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Lance Bass, and Chris Kirkpatrick.
“There was never a conversation, per se. There was never a goodbye. There was never anything,” he says in the documentary.
Prior to the band’s split, Fatone had been incredibly comfortable financially, even investing some of his hard-earned cash in a huge 10,000-square-foot home in Orlando, FL, which offered all manner of luxurious amenities, including a movie theater, a gym, and a mini golf course.
At the time, the singer says he was regularly checking in with his accountant to ensure that his finances were in good standing—noting that he asked for permission before purchasing the home in 2001 for $2.7 million, because he was afraid of spending too much money.
“Money was coming in. I asked my accountant, ‘Hey, are we good?’ ‘Yeah, we’re great.’ ‘I’m OK to buy this house, right?’ He goes, ‘Your kids’ kids’ kids will be fine,'” Fatone recalls in a clip obtained by Entertainment Weekly.
However, Fatone notes that, in hindsight, his accountant was likely unaware that his regular stream of income was about to be shut off, almost overnight.
By 2011, his financial situation was in a much more severe state, leading to his new accountant urging him to sell his expansive mansion as quickly as possible to avoid impending bankruptcy.
“10 years later … when I go to a new accountant, I say, ‘Hey man, can you look at my finances and what’s going on?’ And he goes, ‘You need to get out of that house or you’re gonna go bankrupt.’ I went, ‘I’m sorry, what?'” Fatone reveals.
The extent of his financial woes was made painfully clear to him on Christmas, when his electricity was suddenly shut off because he was unable to pay the bill—just as his family was preparing to open gifts and sit down to their holiday meal.
At the time, Fatone was married to Kelly Baldwin, with whom he shares two children—and the two had invited several members of his extended family for a celebration.
“There was one point during Christmas they shut off the lights to my house because I didn’t pay the bill,” he shares in the documentary. “I almost was gonna go bankrupt. And I have a family. This is when I am married, I have two kids.”
While he conceded that these kinds of financial hardships happen every day, Fatone added that he was facing further complications because of his fame—and his desire to keep his situation out of the public eye.
“These are certain things that happen in normal people’s lives as well, but then you have to figure out, for me, how do I do this without the public even watching of what’s going on?” he explains.
Fatone said he quickly swallowed his pride and turned to the people in his life who “had the most money” to ask them for financial assistance—but found the door shut in his face on more than one occasion, leaving him with little choice but to move his family in with his parents in Las Vegas.
Meanwhile, property records show that his Florida home was put on the market in 2009 for $5.9 million, before that price was raised to $6.5 million in June 2010. However, having failed to find a buyer by the following February, Fatone was forced to auction off the dwelling for the much lower price of $3.3 million.
Though humbling, he admits that this experience encouraged him to embrace a new role in life—one that didn’t rely on his past fame or *NSYNC successes, but instead focused on a career that he forged himself, even if that meant accepting jobs that he previously wouldn’t have considered.
“I lived in Vegas for almost a year, busted my ass to slowly build back up kind of a career in a sense,” he explains. “I went from performing in stadiums to, a year later, two years later, doing Broadway and then, all of a sudden, when things go down, I’m doing ‘The Price Is Right’ at Bally’s, a live show in front of maybe 100 people.”
Speaking to People magazine, Fatone said this rock-bottom period in his life also taught him another important lesson—that it was ultimately his choice how he handled the disappointment.
“Talking about possibly going bankrupt myself and going down that path, when you had millions of dollars … to almost have nothing, it’s like, what do you do?” he said.
“Do you go off the deep end, like some people have, and go to addiction to try to get your body numb and not think about it? Or do you get the positive attitude and go, ‘You know what? I can do it.'”
Fatone also experienced a newfound love of music and performing, explaining that it helped him to stay positive, even in the toughest times.
“I love performing and I loved hosting. Honestly, me and [fellow executive producer Joe Mulvihill] have always talked about this,” he said. “I’ve always just had a positive attitude, no matter what happens. You just have to think and realize there’s always light at the other side, in some way, shape, or form.”
He explained that although his sense of “normalcy” was taken away from him following the end of the boy band, he knew he couldn’t let it take over his life.
“You may not get there right away. It may not happen overnight, but you will get there. Like I said in the doc, living with my parents with a wife and two kids and not knowing when I’m actually going to get out and into my own place and have some normalcy … it was kind of taken away, with not knowing financial things and what I was doing,” he added.
Although Fatone’s life didn’t go as planned, he was thankful that some of his other boy band members weren’t experiencing the same fate.
“It’s amazing to see the clarity. That’s another cool thing, to watch somebody where they’re cloudy back in the day and then see their face and see them come to clarity, which is absolutely amazing,” he revealed.
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