It's good karma that I’m A Celeb is rolling out the red carpet for Boy George and paying him about $1million. Because the Culture Club singer’s first big pay cheque went on buying an Axminster for his mum, Dinah.
The 61-year-old star, worth at least £40m, wanted to replace the carpet he accidentally ruined with paint when he was 17 during a row with his brother.
A source said: “He threw a sealed tin of paint at his brother but it hit the floor and cracked open.
“He also ruined towels and a Hoover trying to mop it up.”
But Aussie jungle-bound George, who had hits with Karma Chameleon and Do You Really Want to Hurt Me, is not the only star to blow their first pay on something unusual…
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Johnny Depp
Once Hollywood’s highest-paid actor, Depp is said to have blown $2million a month on his lavish lifestyle.
He netted a staggering £200m for the first four films in the Pirates of The Caribbean franchise.
But Johnny, 59 and worth an estimated £400m, spent his first big paycheque on a horse farm near Lexington, Kentucky, for mum Betty Sue.
Nicole Kidman
Now worth £223million, Oscar winner Nicole, 55, spent part of her first big paycheque on a washer/dryer machine for her parents, Antony and Janelle.
After that the model-turnedactress, currently banking $1m per episode for TV series such as HBO’s The Undoing, treated herself.
She splashed out on some high fashion boots, declaring that: “They were the coolest boots I had ever seen.”
Brad Pitt
Brad splurged his first wad on fancy touches for his home. He got an artisan chair and a lamp for his apartment – then blew some notes on a posh stereo system.
Brad, 58, is now said to be worth £270million and has a property portfolio that includes the £146m Chateau Miraval in France, which he owns with ex Angelina Jolie.
And he is a fan of Frank Lloyd Wright – who he discovered after taking a class on architecture to get out of studying French.
J-Lo
Jennifer Lopez bought a fancy car with her first big cheque – and cried at the dealership when she signed the paperwork.
“Every time I made money, it was big to me. I grew up in the Bronx and I had holes in my shoes,” said J-Lo, 53 and now worth £357million.
After years living as a dancer and driving an old Honda hatchback a friend gave her, she got her first big break when she won a competition to be a dancer on the sitcom In Living Color.
Rupert Grint
The Harry Potter star’s first hefty pay day meant he could realise his childhood dream of buying himself an ice cream van.
Rupert, 34, bagged a Bedford van that had been an ice cream float and eventually got it kitted out so he could dish out free ices and lollipops to local children.
The star, now father to two-yearold daughter Wednesday, is worth around £44.6million today.
Tom Jones
Legend Sir Tom, 82, was just 10 when he took home his first pay. He was singing at a cousin’s wedding party when a guest took off his flat cap for a whip-round, saying: “Hey, this boy shouldn’t be singing for nothing. Come on!”
But Tom didn’t hang on to his windfall – as his mum said he had to take his cousins to the cinema and pay for them all.
He is now worth an estimated £267.8million.
Cate Blanchett
Quirky Cate was signed as the face of Armani’s Si perfume in 2013 – years after she splurged her first pay cheque on a man’s suit by the designer, which she still wears.
The Aussie actress’s big break came in 1998 hit Elizabeth and other roles include Galadriel in the epic Lord Of The Rings trilogy. The 53-year-old is now worth an estimated £89million.
