From Riches to Rags: 8 Celebrities Who Became Homeless

Grace Under Fire actress Brett Butler went through a lengthy battle with drug addiction and rehab stay. Things worsened when she got canceled in 1998, forcing her to move out of Los Angeles and admit herself to a homeless shelter after going broke.

"I almost died like Michael Jackson. … I was dying of addiction," she said in her interview with Entertainment Tonight (via The Hollywood Reporter). "I did everything but crack and needles pretty much. I had a variety of things given to me by doctor, and other things. I'm not doing it to be coy, but I'm not going to go through what I did. I did it 'til the wheels came off."

In 2011, Butler announced she would attempt to make a career comeback by performing at the Downtown Comedy Club and developing a reality TV show.

One of her latest projects was a cameo in the 2023 flick Fantasy Island.

Danny Bonaduce notably starred in the Partridge Family, but his popularity also led him to become homeless as he left their house and started using drugs.

He spoke about his experience during his interview on Oprah: Where Are They Now? and how it felt to be homeless and famous at the same time.

"I'd wake up, kind of wipe my eyes, and I'd go right through the little arch and I'd be in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater, where everybody's footprints are," Bonaduce recalled. "I was still famous and people had no idea I lived behind the dumpster... I'd be taking pictures with people and signing autographs."

He admitted feeling embarrassed whenever he snuck back to his car after interacting with his fans.

At 14, Erin Moran successfully launched her career through the hit series Happy Days. But in the years leading to her death, the former child star reportedly spent her life broke and homeless after getting kicked out of the trailer she shared with her Steve Fleischmann, per The Mercury News.

Moran was found dead at her New Salisbury home in 2017, and the cause was reportedly likely due to cancer complications.

Superman star Margot Kidder was enjoying her popularity after starring in the Christopher Reeve-directed films, but her mental health issues soon pulled her down and caused her to be homeless.

"[P]lagued by paranoia, [Kidder] slept in cardboard boxes and backyards around Los Angeles in 1996. With her front teeth missing and her hair hacked off, a disheveled Kidder announced to the Glendale, Calif., woman whose yard she occupied, 'I may not look like it, but I'm Margot Kidder,'" Daily Finance reported her schizophrenia and manic depression battle.

In 1996, she also disappeared for four days only to be found in the backyard of a homeowner. Kidder was sent to Olive View Medical Center, where she was placed in psychiatric care.

From American Pie to But I'm a Cheerleader, Natasha Lyonne had a head start in the industry as an actress. She soon hit rock bottom due to her legal run-ins, including a 2001 DUI and 2004 trespassing and harassment issues.

Lyonne, who stayed at the Gramercy Park apartment in the 2000s, was kicked out because of her hard-partying ways. She ended up living on the streets afterward.

After going through a lot, Lyonne began building her empire again. She joined the cast members of Orange is the New Black and appeared in Law and Order: SVU and the off-Broadway play Tigers Be Still.

For years, Randy Quaid dealt with legal headaches while trying to find a home.

In 2010, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported their arrests due to burglary charges after they occupied their old house without permission. The Independence Day actor and his wife were on the property, leading the police to charge Randy with felony residential burglary and entering a noncommercial building without consent and Evi with resisting arrest.

Sly and the Family Stone frontrunner Sly Stone became homeless after his success in the industry, according to a RadarOnline.com report in 2011. The music legend reportedly lost all his fortune due to mismanagement of money and substance abuse.

He started residing in a van in Los Angeles after staying in Napa Valley.

"I like my small camper. I just do not want to return to a fixed home … I must keep moving," he said.

Eight Is Enough alum Willie Aames endured his downfall from being a hit actor to being homeless following his financial ruin.

"At the very peak [of Eight Is Enough] I was making a little over a million dollars a year," he disclosed. "Then suddenly there was no job, no bank account, no wife, no child. I never dreamt it could happen that fast. I found myself virtually homeless."

Aames added, "I stayed with friends when I could, slept in parking garages or slept in the park. It was shameful. I remember laying underneath the bushes thinking, 'Is this how it turns out? Is this how my life really turns out?'"

A few years later, Aames started making life changes by learning how to become a financial advisor.