Singer Rihanna Reveals Accountant Left Her Broke and “Essentially Bankrupt” After Purchasing $7 Million Home In 2009

Money woes in the entertainment industry are not new, and plenty of celebrities have had their financial misfortunes put on display over the years, whether it’s for a reason of their own creation or someone else’s. Mogul Rihanna is no stranger to that either, though in the end, she won.

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Another very well-known music face recently shared how her money troubles and relationship with her finances got her in trouble as well. Singer Kelly Rowland from Destiny’s Child gave a moving story about how she conquered her own financial demons and staved off bankruptcy.

Kelly’s outspoken about wanting to encourage other women, and “Coffee” is just the latest iteration of that. About the song, Rowland wants “to remind women all over to reignite their magic!” She’s also doing that through her successful collaboration with Kate Hudson’s Fabletics brand. Rowland is on her 3^rd collection with the brand, which is famously inclusive and with sizes that run up to 4X for women. All moves that feel very similar to Rihanna’s as a businesswoman.

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Even with all of that success however, Rowland has had her share of issues that have affected her over her career, with money being at the top of the list. With such high-profile friends as Beyoncé and Jay Z, Rowland shared with Pastor Erwin McManus recently in an interview about how she “almost lost everything” being rich broke – trying to keep up with the lavish lifestyle that everyone around her had.

Rihanna’s experienced her own version of being “rich broke” back in 2009, when she had to sue her accountant for because of bad advice that was given that caused her to go “effectively bankrupt.”

At the time, Rihanna indicated in her suit that she was given the greenlight to buy a $7-7.5 million dollar home, when she wasn’t in the market for that type of purchase – and also only had $11 million dollars in the bank at the time, leaving her with a little under $2 million dollars.

The singer also revealed she was on tour at the time, and was unaware the tour was losing money. Eventually, she sold the house, took another $2 million dollar loss on the sale, leaving her with doubled expenses and also a tour that was losing money – a fact her accountant also failed to disclose.

In the end, it almost took a decade but Rihanna ended up settling with the accountant firm, Berdon LLP and also the accountant, Peter Gounis, for $10 million dollars, after she sued them for $35 million dollars in 2012.

It pays to stay on top of your finances.