UK Celebrity News, Fashion Tips, Gossip and Pictures

Financial woes are not restricted to the “average Joes.”  Many celebrity Brits have also dealt with their share of money troubles. It appears that keeping up with appearances becomes significantly more expensive when doing so on the rich and famous level. If you are wondering how to pay your own bills, check out these famous Brits who have floundered through similar challenges on a much broader scale.

Kerry Katona

This former Atomic Kitten star has already seen more than her allotment of financial problems. Katona has dealt with many ups and downs in her personal life, including two failed marriages and the births of four children. Her professional life has also taken a hit; after quitting the Atomic Kittens, Katona moved through a host of reality shows, trying to find another niche in the entertainment industry. Without many true successes to guide her career, Katona found herself bankrupt in 2008, and she lost her £1.5 million home at the end of last year.

Shane Ritchie

Shane Ritchie may be best known for his role as Alfie Moon on the soap opera EastEnders. This British celebrity has been involved in entertainment on stage and in front of a camera. Unfortunately, Ritchie’s booming acting and singing career is overshadowed by a host of money troubles that included the sale of his dream home when he couldn’t keep up the £8,000 monthly payments. He managed to avoid bankruptcy through friends who covered debts for him when money got tight.

Mike Read

Disc jockey Mike Read is another well known Brit who has fallen into more debt than he can handle. Read declared bankruptcy not once but twice, with the last settlement occurring just last year. The second bankruptcy forced Read to sell his beloved collection of music memorabilia to keep bill collectors happy, although initial sales only covered a portion of his debts. Sales continue in hopes of eventually paying Read’s debts in full.

Joe Swash

Another soap opera star who found himself in dire straits is Joe Swash. This former EastEnders star was also the winner of the British hit, “I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!” Unfortunately, Swash was not a good manager of his generous television salary, and at the end of last year, he was declared bankrupt by London’s High Court for failure to pay a £20,000 tax bill and debt cosilidation loans

Matt Goss

Better known as one of the Goss brothers in the British pop sensation Bros, Goss learned early in life that fame does not come cheap. Bros achieved fame and fortune while the Goss brothers were still teenagers, and despite the money made, the brothers came close to declaring bankruptcy by the time the Bros era was coming to an end. Today, Matt Goss lives in the United States, headlining at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. He has learned financial management from the school of hard knocks, and he is much more careful with how he handles his assets today.

Even the rich and famous can run into financial difficulty if they do not exercise money savvy as their income grows. The same rules that apply to the rest of us also keep celebrities in the black and out of trouble.

Westlife’s Kian Egan married his former Hollyoaks actress fiancee Jodie Albert in a paradise wedding in Barbados at the weekend.

The celebrity couple flew over to the romantic resort a few weeks before the wedding to spend time with their close family and friends before the wedding nuptials.

The pair exchanged vows in a romantic ceremony on Turtle Beach surrounded by close family and friends, while being seranaded by a gospel choir playing ‘Love is in the Air’.

The couple were both dressed in white as were most of the guests who attended the ceremony at the Grand House Hotel.

However, the dream wedding was struck with sadness with Kian’s cancer-stricken father unable to attend the wedding after doctors advised him not to fly.

Despite his fathers absence, Kian was surrounded by his other family members, including his mother Patricia, brothers, Tom, Gavin and Colm, and sisters Marielle, Vivienne and Fenella.

Hollyoaks actresses Carly Stenson, who plays Steph Dean, and Ali Bastian who played Becca Dean on the Channel 4 soap joined their former co-star in celebrating her marriage to boyband singer, Kian.

After the ceremony, Kian, 29 and Jodie, 25 headed to the reception at an exclusive mansion used frequently by Simon Cowell when he holidays on the island.

Kian is set to perform with Westlife in Christchurch, New Zealand, was spotted enjoying surfing and taking romantic strolls on the beach with his bride to be.

Kian proposed to Jodie in December 2008, after the couple spent over four and a half years together.

Speaking out after the engagement, Kian said, “I am so over the moon that Jodie said yes and I look forward to spending the rest of my life with her.”

Kian’s former bandmate, Brian McFadden is also due to wed Australian singer Delta Goodrem, after announcing their engagement and his divorce from his former wife, Kerry Katona.

Following a DNA test, the ex-Atomic Kitten has just received confirmation that she has four new half-brothers and one new half-sister.

Katona, hailing from Warrington, tracked down her biological father earlier this year, but unfortunately he died before she was able to meet him face-to-face. Now, however, she has discovered she has five new brothers and sisters and is completely ecstatic.  

Talking to MTV, who are following her life for her new show Kerry Katona: What’s The Problem (starting on MTV One on 17 May), Kerry said, “I’ve known since I was seven about my dad and Lindsay, but I kept it all hush-hush for the sake of a family being split up and me being blamed.

“Today has been the longest day of my life, I’ve had these people I’ve known for three weeks come round to the house and it’s gone really well. I am happy, but it’s all so f***ing weird. I love them so much already. I know I can trust them more than anyone else.”

 Talking of  her real dad Ron Armstrong, Kerry revealed that she always hoped he would meet her and admitted she initially felt jealous of her new siblings, saying:

 ”I’m jealous of them because they got my real dad. I’d give all this up for what they’ve had.”

The news couldn’t come at a better time for Kerry who has been suffering from relationship troubles with her husband Mark Croft.

She has also recently been facing a lot of criticism due to  her rapidly fluxtuating weight, after reportedly splurging £15,000 on cosmetic surgery, including liposuction, only to pile weight back on again.

However the prospect of a new family and a fresh start appears to have put Kerry in brighter and better spirits despite her husband’s earlier attempts to deter her from forming a relationship with her siblings,  by claiming that they were money grabbers.

Kerry Katona is apparently set to renew her contract with Iceland, thanks to her new makeover and recent weight loss, despite her appearing on numerous TV shows appearing under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

The 28-year-old former Atomic Kitten will remain the face of the frozen food chain, after impressing bosses by sorting out her life, taking advice off professionals and getting back into shape.

Kerry was apparently set to lose her £250,000 deal but is now about to be given another year’s contract. An Iceland spokeswoman confirmed: “We are in negotiations.”

Insiders claim Kerry’s determination to lose weight and eat healthily helped her secure the deal. Following surgery the married mother-of-four has been working out and has now dropped four dress sizes to a size 8. Kerry’s life seems much more stable than it was and there’s no doubt this has helped win them over.

An Iceland source said its bosses “are delighted with the way that she is looking and acting now”. And Iceland marketing chiefs were apparently delighted with the strong response they received from the christmas adverts which Kerry starred in. 

Kerry has been desperate to keep the deal after declaring herself bankrupt in August last year over an £82,000 tax bill. Lets hope she does manage to keep the contract with Iceland and gets herself back on track – what a good way to start a new year for Kerry.

The stars are shining bright this holiday season, and the celebrities are out and about spreading the christmas cheer! Lindsay Lohan is blowing kisses sporting a red santa christmas hat, David Beckham hits the ice with his son Romeo, Kerry Katona and McFly are lighting up the skies turning on christmas lights and Paris Hilton is hitting Berlin’s Christmas Market and celebrating the season with tobogganing antics!

Have a look at our festive gallery for the pictures below!  

Lindsay Lohan blows a kiss to fans from the MySpace Holiday Party at Tenjune in New York November 2008. Lindsay was partying alongside her DJ girlfriend Samantha Ronson until the early hours! 

David and Romeo Beckham celebrate the Christmas season at Hyde Park in London with some traditional christmas ice skating

Kerry Katona turned on the Christmas lights at the Plas Bellin homeless centre in North Wales on November 20th, 2008.

McFly lit up the streets of London in November 2008 as they flipped the switch on Regent Street’s holiday decorations and lights! 

Hotel heiress Paris Hilton visited Berlin’s Christmas Market, spending a fortune no doubt and celebrated the season tobogganing!