This post is part of our feature on Money Losers of 2008. See all 20.
Nothing gets the juices flowing like tales of celebrities in trouble. It lets people know that people we celebrate have problems just like we do. And when the economy goes sour, they occasionally have trouble paying their mortgages.
Take Wyclef Jean. The rapper/producer took out a $2.1 million mortgage to renovate a Miami Beach mansion. Then, according to media reports, he stopped making payments. Work on the property seems to have stopped midstream, as if the workman walked off the job. The house went up for sale on December 13. I could not tell if the sale occurred.
Other musicians having trouble keeping up with their mortgage payments include Fantasia Barrino, winner of Season 3 of American Idol, and Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul.
TMZ.com reports that Barrino bought the six-bedroom, 6,000-square foot mansion for $1.3 million in 2007. The county will auction the home off on January 12. Even if she loses the house, fans should not fret because she has got another one nearby, TMZ said.
Franklin, one of the legends of pop music, ran into trouble with the tax man in her hometown of Detroit, according to Reuters. Earlier this year, she owed a total of $19,192 in back taxes and fees on the property through 2007. It was not clear if this debt had been settled.
Tesla Roadster sets a record -- travels 313 miles on a single charge
Cramer on BloggingStocks: China's industrial focus helps lots of U.S. names 
Why do we have a weak dollar?
