Family and fame don't always go together. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’ll be looking at the most notable celebrities whose family members either tried to exploit them financially or put their lives in danger—actions that have often led to estrangement from these relatives.
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00:00My father was very good at breaking people's spirits and holding them down."
00:05Welcome to Miss Mojo, and today we'll be looking at the most notable celebrities
00:09whose family members either try to exploit them financially or put their lives in danger,
00:14actions that have often led to estrangement from these relatives.
00:17It was really painful for me to watch my mom go on news outlets and
00:21go on Dr. Phil and kind of spread things."
00:26Mariah Carey
00:34Legendary singer Mariah Carey became an overnight sensation in 1990, but her journey to fame might
00:39have been derailed by her sister's harmful actions. In her 2020 memoir, The Meaning of
00:43Mariah Carey, she revealed that her estranged older sister Allison exposed her to drugs as
00:47a child and once caused third-degree burns by pouring boiling tea on her.
00:58Carey has also shared that after she achieved fame, her mother and siblings became financially
01:02dependent on her, often lashing out when they felt she wasn't generous enough. This made her
01:07feel like an ATM with a wig on. Despite their strained relationship, Carey penned a heartfelt
01:12tribute when Allison and their mother Patricia both passed away on the same day in August 2024.
01:23Meghan Markle
01:24"...we'll just come and get you a date early. Let's get you out of Mexico."
01:28And he said,
01:29"...no, no, I have things I need to do."
01:34And it felt really cagey."
01:35Growing up, Meghan Markle was very close to her father Thomas. Even though her parents
01:39separated when she was just 2, she spent a lot of time with him and often referred to
01:42herself as a daddy's girl. However, things soured after her engagement to Prince Harry.
01:47"...I was absolutely stunned that Tom would, uh, become part of this circus."
01:55Thomas began selling staged photographs to the paparazzi and gave multiple interviews
01:59about his relationship with Meghan. Even after pleading in a letter for him to stop speaking
02:03with the media, Thomas ignored her request and even made the letter public. At one point,
02:07he was considered a potential witness against Meghan in a lawsuit with a British tabloid.
02:12These actions have only deepened the rift between them, as they haven't been in contact since 2018.
02:17"...are you now starting to worry, maybe this will go on forever?"
02:21"...well, forever for me isn't gonna be that long. So, um, yes, I guess it can go on forever."
02:28Jewel
02:28Grammy-nominated singer Jewel was just 21 when her debut album Pieces of You
02:32was released in 1995. It became a massive hit, catapulting the small-town Alaska native
02:38to international fame. Early in her career, Jewel's mother, Lenendra Carroll,
02:42served as her manager, but it took years for the singer to discover that her momager
02:47was stealing from her.
02:48"...yeah, I don't think things were quite what I thought they were. It took me a long time
02:50to come and see the truth, and it was a pretty heartbreaking realization."
02:53Jewel claims that Carroll embezzled over $100 million. By the time she realized this,
02:58she was in her 30s, and over $3 million in debt, which severely affected her mental health.
03:04"...I think the biggest betrayal for me was really on a personal level.
03:08Yeah, in hindsight, it probably wasn't my best choice as a manager,
03:11but again, that relationship was really intense, and having her come back in my life
03:15meant a lot to me, and I needed it, and I think that need for love is really what blinded me."
03:19This realization led her to cut ties with her mother, and they have remained estranged ever
03:23since. Fortunately, Jewel was able to recover and now advocates for mental health wellness
03:28through her company In A World.
03:30"...we don't want this to be a platform where people come to escape their problems.
03:34This is where people come to actually learn how to cope with their life in a better way."
03:38Corey Feldman
03:39Actor Corey Feldman began his Hollywood career at the age of 3. By his teenage years,
03:44he was already a familiar face, having starred in hits like The Goonies and Stand By Me.
03:49At 15, Feldman took his parents to court, asking to be legally emancipated.
03:54"...I'm sorry if I'm spoiling everybody's good time."
03:59"...It's okay, man. It's okay. I'm not sure it should be a good time."
04:04Despite earning over $1 million from his films, his parents had mismanaged his income,
04:09leaving him with only $40,000. To secure his father's consent, Feldman had to give him that
04:15entire $40,000, which he claimed as compensation for neglecting his own business to manage his
04:21son's career.
04:22"...There's a smell. Vampires, my friend. They're liars."
04:28Though legally emancipated, Feldman was left penniless. According to him,
04:32this event sparked what he calls the Emancipation Proclamation in Hollywood,
04:37which inspired other child stars to follow suit.
04:40"...If one child is saved for the future, then I've done my part."
04:43Lindsay Lohan
04:44"...Dad is an irreplaceable person in a girl's life.
04:48Think about it. There's a whole day devoted to celebrating fathers.
04:52Just imagine someone's life without a father."
04:54Lindsay Lohan's father, Michael, first ran into legal trouble back in 1990,
04:58years before her rise to fame with The Parent Trap. At the time, Michael was a Wall Street
05:03trader and was investigated for insider trading, which led to him serving jail
05:07time for criminal contempt of court. Since then, Michael has had multiple brushes with the law,
05:12including charges of assault and domestic violence.
05:15"...I recommended you to reach out to Dina. I recommended you to get your family together.
05:18I guess at Betty Ford they told you the same thing."
05:20"...Inspirations has. Betty Ford has. You have."
05:24"...Okay, what have you been willing to do?"
05:26Lohan herself has had her fair share of legal issues, and surprisingly,
05:29some of her personal struggles were leaked to the media by none other than her own father.
05:34He even reportedly sold a voicemail she sent him during a difficult time
05:38and once posted her phone number online. With a father like that,
05:42who needs enemies?
05:43"...I've asked, you know, in sitting with my parents recently, just that,
05:47keep our life private, please."
05:50Britney Spears
05:51In the late 2000s, pop star Britney Spears suffered a very public breakdown,
05:55leading to a court-ordered conservatorship primarily overseen by her father, Jamie Spears.
06:00This arrangement granted Jamie near-total control over his daughter's life.
06:04"...They have the power to access her medical records and communicate with her doctors.
06:08They can take control of her house and even cancel her credit cards."
06:12"...They can make recording, touring, and TV deals for her,
06:15and are deeply involved in her finances."
06:17According to the singer, during this period, Jamie forced her to go to rehab,
06:21constantly body-shamed her, and even controlled what she ate.
06:24Additionally, she was pressured into performing when she was sick.
06:27"...So five, four, two, right? She can work two?"
06:32"...Two is Ellen. Two is her birthday. Is she gonna be okay working on her birthday?"
06:36"...Sure. What do you want her to play?"
06:38"...No, no, I mean, can she rehearse on her birthday?"
06:40"...She's good."
06:41The situation got so bad that, during a court hearing regarding the conservatorship,
06:46Spears expressed her desire to press charges against her father for conservatorship abuse.
06:51In 2021, after 13 years under the control of her father,
06:54the arrangement was finally terminated and Spears regained her freedom.
06:58"...I wanna scream and shout and let it all out. And scream and shout and let it out."
07:06Jackie Coogan
07:07Considered one of Hollywood's first child stars, Jackie Coogan shot to fame
07:10after starring opposite Charlie Chaplin in 1921's The Kid. Before long,
07:15he became the top box office draw in the U.S. and inspired several merchandise lines.
07:20"...Well, I never. There's no getting around it, you can work when you go my due, Tom."
07:26"...Yes, Annie."
07:27All of this earned Coogan up to $4 million at the time, equivalent to nearly $90 million today.
07:32But he never saw most of his fortune. Instead,
07:35his mother and stepfather squandered nearly all of it on frivolous luxuries.
07:39"...Do you like rats? Uh-uh, I hate them. So do I."
07:46In 1938, he sued them, but managed to recover only $126,000 after legal expenses.
07:52This incident led California to pass the Child Actors' Bill, or Coogan's Act, ensuring that
07:59a portion of a child actor's earnings is placed in a trust to prevent similar situations.
08:04"...This helps protect them, okay, from abusive vultures and agents and parents
08:10and things who might want to take and spend all their money."
08:12Arielle Winter
08:13On the hit ABC show Modern Family, Arielle Winter famously played Alex Dunphy,
08:18the middle child in a close-knit family. But in real life, her experience was markedly different.
08:24The actress had a troubled relationship with her mother,
08:26whom she accused of maltreating her both physically and emotionally.
08:30"...This is what she wanted me to do, and she pushed very hard for that,
08:34and kind of put that in the forefront of her mind instead of really what I wanted and what I needed,
08:39and that was definitely hard."
08:41Her mom also reportedly isolated her from the rest of her family and deprived her of a normal
08:45childhood. In 2012, Winter moved in with her older sister, who then sought legal guardianship of her.
08:51"...She's been the best part of my life. She really is my best friend. She is the most
08:55important thing to me. She's been there for me through absolutely everything,
08:57and I just love her so much. I count on her more than anything."
09:01"...Does she have a relationship with your mother?"
09:03"...Neither of us do."
09:03This sparked a two-year legal battle that ultimately ended with custody being taken
09:08from Winter's mother and granted to her sister. By the age of 17, Winter became
09:12legally emancipated and gained control of her own affairs.
09:16"...You become your own entity. Nobody controls you anymore. You handle your own business affairs,
09:22your own living arrangements, your own money. Everything is sort of in your own hands."
09:26Jeanette McCurdy
09:27As a child, Jeanette McCurdy was pushed into acting by her mother, who had always
09:30dreamed of becoming a performer. At that young age, McCurdy not only shouldered the financial
09:34responsibilities of the family, she also endured a traumatic experience at her mother's hands.
09:39"...She was incapable of honoring literally any boundary that I set. I mean,
09:44things like, can you please not comment on my body? It's really detrimental to me,
09:48and I want to believe you have the best intentions, but these comments are really harmful,
09:52and please can you stop? She'd say sure, and then five minutes later another comment would come out."
09:56The former actress revealed that her mother micromanaged every aspect of her life,
10:00from controlling her diet and physical appearance to performing invasive examinations on her.
10:05This mistreatment occurred even as McCurdy found success on TV,
10:09starring in Nickelodeon's iCarly and Sam & Cat.
10:12"...It represented my mom living vicariously through me. It represented
10:16something that my mom wanted that I didn't want."
10:18In 2013, her mother, who was diagnosed with breast cancer during McCurdy's childhood,
10:22succumbed to the disease. McCurdy later shared her experience in 2022's best-selling memoir,
10:28I'm Glad My Mom Died.
10:29"...I felt like I had done a lot of that work, and through that work been able to
10:35excavate and I think acknowledge, I hope acknowledge what is worth sharing with other
10:39people and what's just for me, and what is entertaining and what isn't. I think that's
10:44really important."
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11:00Macaulay Culkin Throughout history,
11:02many child actors have risen to fame, but few have reached the heights of Macaulay Culkin.
11:06"...Ten thousand it is. No, no, no. Not ten thousand. Ten dollars. Oh, ten dollars. Okay."
11:17Culkin became a household name after starring in the Home Alone franchise,
11:21earning $4.5 million for the sequel alone. His father, Kit, who was a stage actor,
11:26had encouraged him to pursue acting, but Culkin's immense success soon created problems.
11:31"...I was making, forget about how much money I was making, but I was sleeping on the couch,
11:36and I think it was just a way of him wanting to break my spirit."
11:41Kit apparently grew jealous of his son and maltreated him physically and emotionally.
11:45When Culkin was a teenager, his parents separated, and he realized that his multi-million
11:49dollar trust fund was at risk. To protect his assets, he sued his parents, successfully
11:54removing their names and appointing an executor. After Kit's name was taken off, Culkin never saw
12:00or heard from him again. "...Did he ever hug you? Did he ever say I love you?
12:04Um, well, yeah, but I don't think it was, he never really did it unless it was for show."
12:11Do you think it's a good idea for celebrities to let their family members manage their finances?
12:15Let us know in the comments below.
12:16"...I really wanted her in my life, I wanted her love, and it ended up costing me a lot later."