Annie Leibovitz, Photographer to the Stars, Faces Financial Ruin, May be Forced into Bankruptcy

It is always a shame when the ordinary working class citizen has problems making ends meet, but it is a low-down dirty shame when a wealthy person falls flat on his or her face after living the high life. One such person is Annie Leibovitz, photographer to the stars. She is reportedly close to financial ruin and some say that she is a victim of her own relentless artistic ambition. She is, without a doubt, one of the most sought after portrait photographer in the world. Some of her cutting-edge portraits include current California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on top of a mountain, actress Whoopi Goldberg submerged in a bath of milk, Miley Cyrus posing half-naked for Vanity Fair (that caused a great deal of unease to Disney Co. and others), a portrait of a nude and pregnant Demi Moore, a nude portrait of John Lennon and Yoko Ono and she even had France's Versailles palace closed to shoot Kirsten Dunst as Marie-Antoinette. In short, Leibovitz pushed the boundaries on all fronts to attain the perfect picture, while ironically her finances were a hot mess. Do I feel pity for her? Heck no!

Behind this facade of opulence and no-expense spared, Leibovitz was literally spending her way into this nightmare. She made an enormous financial gamble when she took a $24 million loan from Art Capital Group in December 2008, using her own photographs (a definite no-no) as collateral. The debt is due September 8 and she reportedly isn't in a position to make good on the payment, which means she could lose her life's work. The company's spokesman Montieth Illingworth said in a statement that she must "comply with the sales agreement she signed authorizing Art Capital to sell the fine art and real estate assets and to pay the invoices that are due." Ms. Leibovitz runs the risk of not only losing her photo archives, which has been estimated to be worth $50 million, but she could also lose her home in Manhattan's trendy Greenwich Village and a second home outside the city.

The vultures are circling the wagon. Goldman Sachs joined the fray last week and claimed to own part of Ms. Leibovitz' debt. If she is forced into bankruptcy, then the courts will have to decide how to distribute the assets. Of course, declaring bankruptcy is no longer stigmatized as it once was, but when you have massive amounts of assets, then it is very devastating. It is a sad commentary that despite the fact that Ms. Leibovitz moved in glamorous circles, she never bothered to get good counsel for her financial affairs or even kept her financial house in order. Her downfall is spectacular and it is so ironic that she was called a perfectionist at work, but was a bumbling idiot and spendthrift where her finances were concerned. Well, the moral of this story is that a fool and his money will soon be parted. You must live within your means and yes, the word budgeting must enter your consciousness.