The name Christy Carlson Romano might not ring a bell for you, but I’m certain the name Kim Possible does. Well, Christy is the voice behind the iconic cartoon spy, who went on to star in several other flicks but never quite managed to crack the big time after her first popular voice role.
Now, in a YouTube video titled ‘How I Lost All My Money,’ the child star took her fans on what she’s described as “a journey to my path of financial fluency and how I made and lost millions of dollars”.
In the video, Romano, who is now 37, says: “I really regret not investing my money wisely. I didn’t get a house. I didn’t take any money and store it away other than the Coogan money.” [Editor’s note: Coogan money is the trust account which is established to hold a percentage of child actor’s wages].
“That money I used towards going to college at 18,” she said, although she admits that she only spent two years studying.
“I was never told how much money I was making,” she said, adding that at that point she “didn’t care” about how much money she had earned. “Money didn’t have a purpose for me.”
She recalled that by the time she had turned 21, the age where you legally become an adult in the States, she suddenly became aware of how much money she had and she started making huge, unnecessary purchases, like that time she bought a Mercedes G-Wagon SUV and a vintage 1972 Corvette. Not only that, but she says she spent heaps of money restoring the vintage car, but never actually drove it.
“I was using buying things and [using] money as a weapon,” she said, adding that she ultimately cut herself off from her family as she believed that they were controlling her $$$.
“I felt like if I could just buy certain things, I would feel better or if I just lived a certain lifestyle, I would be closer to that joy of feeling accepted and a lot less alone because I felt really dumb for not knowing about my money and I never really made peace with that,” she told viewers. “Even to this day, there’s nothing I can really do about the fact that money came and went.”
Christy Carlson Romano ultimately scored a singing contract and a book deal, both of which earned her roughly $1.4 million, but sadly history repeated itself and she spent all the money in the same year that she made it on a range of purchases, which included services from a hugely expensive psychic.
“You think you have this extravagant life and then real life hits you in the face,” she said.
She ultimately ended up taking a bunch of lame gigs just for the sake of paying off her debts and not because she wanted the roles, or anything. One role in particular required her to film a nude scene, which she says she regrets deeply.
“I had never thought in a million years that I would ever do something like this,” she said.
Nowadays, Romano is married and has two daughters. She says she’s much wiser with her finances now, hence why she crafted this video to serve as a cautionary tale.
“Build small and make sure that you’re doing things that are smart, that can make you money, not break you and enjoy the things that are not expensive,” she advised.
“Go out. Enjoy the day,” she concluded. “It’s free.”
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