The famous Donna Martin of Beverly Hills 90210 recently made headlines for her stint in the hospital hospital. Being born to celebrity parents, the 50-year-old actress and New York Times bestselling author Tori Spelling first met with fame when she was only 16. But despite her 34-year-long history in Hollywood, Tori’s financial status is less than encouraging.
Born to the revered television and film producer Aaron Spelling, who is one of the most prolific television producer in U.S. television history, Tori Spelling has always been in the spotlight over the course of her life. However, in recent years, the Beverly Hills star has drawn media attention to her financial struggles, including a $1.3 million tax debt owed to the IRS and an $87k American Express credit card debt (via Radar).
Following her split from Dean McDermott, her husband of 17 years in June 2023, the sTORI Telling author made headlines for living with her five kids in an RV (via Parade). But, given the humungous amount of money left behind by her father and her frequent television ventures, fans are in awe of her financial condition. So, Is Tori Spelling really broke?
Tori Spelling’s net worth in 2023
Tori Spelling currently stars in her reality show @Home with Tori and recently appeared in the reality singing competition show The Masked Singer. The actress also co-hosts the throwback podcast 90210MG with Jennie Garth and is a successful author, having published six books under her name.
However, her net worth in 2023 still stands at an alarmingly low $250,000 (via Celebrity Net Worth), in comparison to the figure of $1.5 million reported last year. In her book Spelling It Like It Is, the actress opened up about the reason behind her falling finances:
“It’s no mystery why I have money problems. I grew up rich beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. I never knew anything else. Even when I try to embrace a simpler lifestyle, I can’t seem to let go of my expensive tastes. Even when my tastes aren’t fancy, they’re still costly. I moved houses to simplify my life, but lost almost a million dollars along the way.”
Even though Spelling apparently paid off $88,000 in debt a few years ago, it was revealed in January that she owes the IRS $1.3 million in unpaid taxes, which is more than five times her estimated net worth. In a 2019 podcast of her short-lived reality show Tori Tried and True, she revealed how being born rich somehow robbed her of important financial lessons, leading to her current situation (via Parade):
“I had a business manager since I was 18 years old, so I never handled any of my money. Everything, everything, went to them, so, unfortunately, I never quite learned about money.”
But despite Tori’s poor money handling, one question still lingers in everyone’s mind. Where did Tori’s father’s millions go?
Why did Tori Spelling not inherit money from her father?
Tori’s father Aaron Spelling was one of Hollywood’s richest and most powerful television producers. Her mother, Candy Spelling, was a model in the past, and is now a producer and writer. In her book sTORI Telling, Tori says that at one point she owed hundreds of thousands of dollars on her credit card and that she was on the verge of filing for bankruptcy, all because of her “bad shopping habits” (via Good Morning America).
Tori also revealed in the book how she was too proud to go to her father for help, but she did talk to him about his will before he died. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Aaron Spelling was worth $600 million when he died in 2006 at 83 years of age. However, Aaron only left around $800,000 for Tori and Randy (Tori’s brother) in his will. In the book, Tori writes about the conversation she had about him leaving only 0.2 percent of his massive estate to his children:
“It was a hard conversation to have with him. I didn’t want him to think that I was asking him for the money, or even talking about something so morbid as when he would pass. But I thought it was a conversation I needed to have … for myself and for my brother. We had lunch and he said, ‘You’re gonna be OK. I made sure. You’re getting just under a million.'”
The bulk of the estimated half-billion-dollar estate went to Aaron’s wife Candy Spelling, with some also written off to non-family members, including $50,000 going to an interior decorator and $25,000 to a manicurist (via Reelz). Apparently, Aaron believed that $800,000 was enough for Tori to be “set for life.”
But despite all the setbacks and struggles, Tori is constantly trying to give her kids the best life and climb her way back to a rich lifestyle.
