Mike Tyson Once Dropped $2 Million on a Bathtub
Mike Tyson started boxing in 1985. He didn’t come from money, but he trained like crazy and certainly made a lot over his career in the ring. Eighteen years later, he would be right back where he started. Despite the fact that he made almost $400 million over the course of his time in the ring, he would lose almost all of it. Most of his money was spent on outlandish, lavish purchases.
Mike Tyson bought a lot of normal stuff
All celebrities buy cars and houses. Tyson was no exception. He spent around $4.5 million on cars alone. He spent another $15 million on five houses.
When he divorced his wife and the mother of his children, Monica Turner, he had to let go of three of them. That’s probably for the best, since Tyson may have lost them in when he filed for bankruptcy if they had still been in his name.
Among the homes, Turner ended up with was a $4 million Bethesda mansion. The other two homes were sold, and Turner was given a portion of the profits.
Rapper 50 Cent bought one of Tyson’s homes for $4.1 million. The other, a Las Vegas ranch next to the home of Wayne Newton, was also sold. However, Tyson had a mortgage and other liens on that property at the time, so the sale only generated around $2.5 million.
Celebs love accumulating cars and houses, so Tyson’s spending on those items may not have been too outrageous. However, some of his other purchases have raised a few eyebrows.
Some of the things Mike Tyson spent money on were less common
Tyson spent $2 million on a bathtub for his wife, Turner. It’s hard to say if that’s the craziest thing he bought before losing all his money, but it’s close.
He spent around $410,000, or almost half a million dollars, on just one birthday party. Of course, he had all the clothes and jewelry anyone could ever want. According to court documents he spent an estimated $3.4 million to look sharp.
The champion boxer dropped $230,000 on cell phones and pagers. That in and of itself is excessive, but it turns out he spent that cash between 1995 and 1997. That’s only three years, and cell phones and pagers weren’t that exciting at the time. Not like the smartphones that cost $1,000 apiece today.
It’s interesting to wonder how many cell phones and pagers $230,000 bought in the 90s, but that’s far from Tyson’s most outrageous purchase. Aside from the $2 million bathtub, Tyson’s strangest shopping spree was probably the money he spent on his tigers. Tyson bought two Bengal tigers for $140,000, or $70,000 apiece.
The purchase price might seem small compared to some of his other items, but the upkeep is intense. Tyson paid their trainer $125,000 a year.
Mike Tyson’s excessive spending led him to file for bankruptcy
Unfortunately, Tyson’s money eventually ran out. He filed for bankruptcy in 2003, but he doesn’t seem that upset about it. If anything, he’s happy to have a normal life again.
A few years after losing all his money, he said “Being without money for three years, I don’t know what I’ll do if I get it again. I’m not even interested in being that person again. I don’t want to be that flashy guy with the flashy houses.”
Tyson does have one regret when it comes to his spending. He claims most of what he spent was for others. He set up trust funds for his children and paid his ex-wives what they were due. But he never set anything aside for himself.
