Ed McMahon on Larry King...gimme a break!

He is doing it for popularity. Many people will feel sorry for him to have house next to B Spears... I would rather buy 1/2 million house for cash and forget about house for 4.8 million... I don't get this. Why people need huge houses? Wouldn't that be easier to buy house for cash, instead of having mortgage payments? He was able to afford to pay in full for smaller house. Poor rich man...

Why din't Ed save some of his money or invest wisely? I know he said he cannot work since he broke his neck but he should be retired and living the good life now at 80. What happened to his royalities from the selling the Johnny Carson show? What about all the other money he made when he was working all those years. He has older children why can't they help. I head he cannot sell his house because of the reports outside of britties home next store. I do not feel sorry for him

bonbon664, I must agree with you because a lot of people are losing their homes all of the time and no one is coming to their aid. My family almost lost our house years ago, but we did everything in our power to keep our house. Ed gets no sympathy from me because he can sell that big hugh mansion that he has and buy a smaller one. Also, he should have plenty of money from all the of work he used to do. It is not the publics fault that he did not manage his money well. The people in Hollywood are no different than anyone else, and they should realize that.

Hello Bonbon, I have to agree with you here. While I feel very badly that Ed McMahon broke his neck two years ago, the reality is that over the course of his professional career he supposedly earned approximately $300 million. Apparently, this info was also released as an adjunct to the "Larry King" appearance. I cannot confirm the veracity of the figure -- only Ed and 'Uncle Sam' know for sure. Though, even if he only earned half of that, it remains fiscally unsound to be indebted to a title lienholder in one's 'sunset years' -- especially when one's income was such that they could have bought and paid for that house many times over!!! It is one thing for someone to have the confirmed income (annuity, contractual residuals, etc...) or the savings to pay the debt. It is quite another to ignore the very real possibility that one will no longer be physically 'able' to continue working to pay off that debt. This has simply got to enter into the decision making process of any reasonable-minded person. For Mr. McMahon to still owe over 600,000.00 on a 4.8 million dollar home, indicates to me that he must not have been financially planning for his and his wife's future. Hopefully, others will consider Mr. McMahon's enormous mistake carefully, when they contemplate cashing in their home equity to pay for a vacation, car, or other such frivolity that that they cannot really afford. While it is a sickeningly painful lesson to learn, it IS one that we should all try to master as young as possible!

I have to agree with you on this one, bonbon. How on earth can a celebrity such as Ed McMahon who has made huge amounts of money(the likes of which I'll never see), come to be in this predicament? He worked on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson forever! He had his own show Star Search for several years. He has been a spokesperson for Publishers Clearing House forever. He has also been a spokesperson for other products. It just doesn't add up to me. I am sick and tired of these people who have mismanaged their money to such a degree that they can no longer even afford to remain in their homes when all is said and done. I have no sympathy for Ed McMahon either.

Bless his heart. Believe it or not, it's probably a lot harder for someone who has lived as he has to lose it all than for someone who has always lived paycheck to paycheck. There was a top lawyer where I lived in Texas who lost everything and ended up homeless and begging. She didn't know how to sell things to help pay bills, or how to go to a pawn shop. She had always just gone to banks and gotten loans when she needed money, and suddenly that was not an option. She didn't know how to ask for help. That was quite a lesson for me.

It takes putting the celebrities out there to make most of the world sit up and take notice that there is a problem. It makes people more aware. I am sure that Ed could have made other choices, and it is too bad that there is not some celebrity sponsored charitable foundation that will help John Doe out while he is in serious financial straits, rather than help the celebrities. Many people think fondly of Ed McMahon, and they tune in to Larry King to learn all the dirt, so to speak. I guess we all need to be aware of what kind of trouble those people next door to us might be in. And we need to take precautions so that we do not end up in that very same boat.

i could not have said it better than you did. my sentiments exactly. if these "celebrities" did not live so far outside their means perhaps they would have something saved away for a rainy day. if i made the kind of money they did you can be sure i would be set for life and would live nicely but not elaborately like they do. seeing pictures of some of the so called homes they live in makes me sick. they are more like compounds than homes.