Aug 29 2008
The Dark Side to Celebrity: Hoarding
Some call stockpiling money being frugal when you are fortunate enough to make a lot of it.
Me, I tend to perceive it in readings as being selfish and just plain cheap.
When it comes to celebrities who are paid millions for having their faces plastered on film in one form or another and not freely sharing their wealth with the world, what would you call it?
Those celebs who follow the philosophy of abundance understand that by living simple lives materially and allowing wealth to pass freely through them into the world for the benefit of others, more abundance will surely follow. They are believers who have complete faith that the flow of abundance will never end.
Other celebs who hold on tight to their wealth are actually hoarding money, robbing the world of beautiful blessings. The richest of the rich who think that they are “abundant” when they throw a few million here or there - like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie frequently do - but still cling to the majority of their wealth, are actually exhibiting scarcity beliefs with the hoarding of such wealth, rather than having faith in true abundance.
These millionaires believe they are abundant in their giving, but in reality they aren’t in the least. They’re hoarding because they don’t trust the flow of abundance to always continue, and therefore feel they have to stockpile a big bunch of money “for a rainy day” when the universe stops flowing. This isn’t abundance at all.
Abundance is about us having faith that by allowing wealth to pass through us, the universe will continue to bring more wealth to us.
What celebrities are too busy fearing scarcity and hoarding their wealth? For starters, the following:
Jay Leno who is quoted as saying, “”When I was a kid … I had one job which the money went in the bank and the other job that I lived off of,” he said in 2004. “I still do that to this day. I have yet to touch a dime of my Tonight Show salary. I live off the money I make as a comedian … Maybe it comes from having parents who grew up during the Depression.”
Here’s a guy with a huge fleet of cars and motorcycles to fuss over. A TV icon who was shamed into offering to cover the salaries of laid off staff members during the writers’ strike this past year after Conan O’Brien came forward first with the idea, making Leno the focus of a lot of bad press as a result.
Hardly a “from the heart” gesture on Leno’s part, if you know what I mean.
Dreyfuss is an Academy Award winner, an actor with a lucrative career that practically runs a mile long. Yet here he is, demanding that his own dad repay him money he loaned him, what, 24 years ago?
Money he couldn’t possibly need after all the acting he’s done in movies since the late ’60’s. And to charge that his father and uncle have acted with “fraud” and “malice?”
Amazing what money will do to some people.
Eva Longoria is a popular actress on “Desperate Housewives.” According to WalletPop, her wedding in 2007 reportedly cost $1.5 million, but this star still scored a lot of freebies to give to her 200 guests: Van Cleef & Arpel 18K yellow gold charm bracelets, and L’Oreal, Cole Haan, and Bebe products were a few.
She says the frugal gene runs in her family, explaining that her dad would take her and her three siblings camping with no food. “He would tell us that we could live off the land. I can skin a deer, a pig, a snake … “
And? Having a dad who takes you camping and makes you hunt your own food makes it okay to put on a disgustingly expensive wedding, yet you give your wedding guests a bunch of designer free stuff so you don’t have to buy them anything?
Gee, how desperate as a hoader is she?
And then there’s Paul McCartney.
Worth more than a billion dollars, at a birthday party he threw for his now ex-wife, Heather Mills, the guests who attended the party had to pay for all of their own drinks.
Like a $300 bar tab would strap him?
Dare I say it? H-O-A-R-D-E-R!
Academy Award winner Halle Berry hasn’t forgotten her beginnings.
By the same token, she isn’t doing anything today to show that she is a compassionate, abundantly-focused giver as a result of her success.
Because her mother worked hard to raise her and her older sister after their father walked out when she was four, Berry professes to be a diehard saver.
“I am pretty frugal,” this twice-divorced new mother is quoted to have said. “I save a lot because I’m always worried about when this trip is going to stop. So I’m saving for that day so I can have a life that is secure and comfortable.”
And this voracious saving on her part helps the rest of mankind, how?
Dave Grohl, ex-Nirvana drummer who brought together and formed Foo Fighters is a serious hoarder.
“You can’t take your lifestyle for granted,” 39-year-old Grohl said in a 2003 interview. “I’ve got tons of money, but I’m afraid to spend it. Knowing I don’t even have a high school diploma to fall back on, I’m going to be really careful with what I’ve got.”
So while he has a large house with a recording studio in Los Angeles, Grohl is not likely to end up bankrupt like some of his musical brethren. He also isn’t likely to ever experience the blessing of abundance through giving to help his fellow man.
Orther Hollywood hoarders include Tyra Banks, Mick Jagger, Tobey Maguire, Teri Hatcher, Jerry Seinfeld - to name just a few.
The rest of us can feel satisfaction from the fact that we give openly and freely to others in our daily lives, even though we may not have much.
Remember: abundance isn’t about how much we have to give, but how freely we give it. The universe/God will respond in kind, giving back to us exactly the same.
3 Responses to “The Dark Side to Celebrity: Hoarding”
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I hear what you’re saying, but no one is obligated to part with their money if they want to. That’s what capitalism and personal choice in America are all about. Now, if a celebrity makes a lot of noise about certain issues, he or she should certainly put their money where their mouth is. However, anyone who works hard, makes money and keeps their mouth shut and views to themselves certainly can do whatever they want with their money.
Keep in mind that making the big bucks doesn’t always last forever for a majority of celebrities. If they stockpile their cash for the day when their fame dies and they can’t get hired, that’s just being smart.
Personally, I think most of these people are paid too much for what they do. But if the demand is there and they can make millions, why shouldn’t they? If you were in their shoes, you’d do it too.
If these Celebs would use all the money they make for our entertainment for some good then I would have no heartburn with them getting paid millions of dollars for entertaining us. Most of them sit on all of it and use it to make more money. How many millions of dollars can they spend a year, I am sure it is more then they are spending. So Brad and Angie spend a million dollars on rebuilding New Orleans, I am sure between them they could afford to spend 20 million on New Orleans. I say quit hoarding all of this money and use it for some good. But the funny part of it is that no matter how much they spent in the last year down there, it is all for nothing with Gustav heading that way.
Maybe if they spent the 20 million that they could of had better equipment to handle the flood waters.