The Purchases Our Favorite Celebrities Splurged On After They Banked Their First Big Paychecks

It’s no surprise that Jack Sparrow knows how to spend his treasure wisely! When the big bucks finally came through for Johnny Depp, he played the dutiful son and bought his mom a horse farm in Kentucky. Since then, Depp has sold and repurchased the land, although he finally seems to have offloaded it for good in 2020.

While shooting the first Harry Potter film, Rupert Grint promised himself he’d buy himself... an ice cream truck? Yep, really! He made good on those plans, too, and even brought it to set for the series’ final day of filming. Sadly, though, you’re unlikely to find the star driving around your neighborhood in the truck. Nowadays, he’s more likely to rock up in a vintage Ferrari.

Though we know her today as an award-winning actress, Brie Larson started her career as a hopeful pop singer. She’s got legitimate musical chops, too, which is why she spent her first real paycheck on an electric guitar. Larson later pivoted to acting, of course, and admitted that she’d been put off becoming a recording artist. “I wanted to write all my own songs, and [the record company] were afraid of that. I wanted to wear sneakers and play my guitar; they wanted heels and wind-blown hair,” she explained in a 2010 Myspace post.

Just like the rest of us, Kerry Washington can’t live without her electronic devices! In 2017 she told Page Six, “When I did... Save the Last Dance, I saved my per diem every day. And at the end of the movie, I bought a laptop, and I was really proud of that. That is how you know I am from The Bronx — because I hid my money under a mattress!”

A true champion like Serena Williams knows not to waste all your energy — or money — in the opening round. So, when she collected her first tennis winnings, she put them straight in the bank. Her only error was trying to deposit her seven-figure check in the drive-thru window! “They were like, ‘I think you need to come in for this.’ So I ended up going inside,” she explained in 2017.

After Selena Gomez accepted her role in Wizards of Waverley Place, she and her mom had to relocate from Texas to Los Angeles. That’s why her first wages went entirely toward covering their rent. Aww! But it was all worth it in the end. Gomez is now a respected actress with a Primetime Emmy nom to her name — not to mention tens of millions in the bank.

Turns out that Tiffany Haddish has got a big appetite. Her first showbiz check only amounted to $120, but she was still over the moon. Feeling as giddy as a little kid, she spent the entire thing on candy! “I bought a big box of Snickers and lollipops, Jolly Rancher sticks, and Blow Pops. Oh, and Corn Nuts,” she told Time.

After Nirvana had their breakout with Nevermind, Dave Grohl had his mind on drumsticks — of both the musical and meat variety. He bought a house in North Carolina, where he spent a few years eating a lot of barbecue. “I became totally obsessed [with the Big Green Egg smoker]. It was therapeutic because it’s not an automatically functioning piece of cooking equipment. You have to balance the vents to make sure that you get and hold temperature for a low and slow cook,” the Foo Fighters star told Variety in 2018.

When Destiny’s Child hit it big, Kelly Rowland wasn’t too worried about “Bills, Bills, Bills.” Instead, she went to the grocery store and splurged on the fancy food her family couldn’t afford when she was younger. And she hosted a bunch of friends that night for an extravagant feast. “I’ll never forget it because it was fun and it was something I was able to fund myself,” Rowland said to InStyle in 2018.

Ariel Winter managed to legally emancipate herself from her parents as a teenager. That meant she had full access to all her earnings at a young age. And the Modern Family star made good use of her first payday, filling up her closet with all kinds of shoes. Given she was reportedly earning $125,000 an episode by the sitcom’s end, we bet she got some expensive ones, too!

Before Matt LeBlanc received his first Friends check, he had only $11 in the bank. He even did his own dental work rather than shell out for a professional to file a tooth properly. And in a move that would make Joey Tribbiani proud, he simply decided to sit down to a nice hot meal with his Friends money.

Not all Friends stars made such simple purchases. As Kristin Davis explained on The Late Late Show with James Corden, “One day Courteney [Cox] was like, ‘Hey guys, do you want to come car shopping with me?’ We were like, ‘Wow, car shopping.’ And she said, ‘I did this pilot. I’m feeling really good about it. I think I’m going to buy a Porsche!’ We were like ‘Wow! Is she for real?’ And it was Friends. And it did go very well.” We can only assume she blasted “Dancing in the Dark” on the stereo as she drove home...

Rami Malek always looks quite alert — probably because he absolutely loves coffee. Once his first payment from Mr. Robot arrived, the Bohemian Rhapsody star treated himself to an espresso machine. Hopefully, he’s gotten some sleep since then! And a couple of lucky fans may have gotten the chance to drink coffee from that machine after an auction to meet the star in 2020.

Taking a page out of his pal Jerry Seinfeld’s book, Chris Rock splurged on a sports car with his money. But he didn’t realize he had to put some cash aside for the taxman. “My first year on SNL, I made $90,000. And I bought a red Corvette for $45,000. I’m thinking, ‘I’ve got 45 grand left!’ Taxes didn’t even come into my equation. At the end of the first year of making 90 grand, I was 25, 30 in the hole,” the comedian told Details in 2012.

During his 2011 rookie season, Colin Kaepernick realized he didn’t want to blow his entire paycheck on himself. Instead, he gave away the lion’s share to Camp Taylor — a charity that helps children with heart disease. And the former 49ers QB has kept up the fundraising by organizing annual golf tournaments in aid of Camp Taylor, too.

Quite a few struggling actors have to sleep on air mattresses. Maybe that’s why Brad Pitt used his first movie paycheck to upgrade his apartment furnishings. He got “a period Craftsman chair and a Frank Lloyd Wright-wannabe lamp,” as he explained to Architectural Digest in 2012. Pitt added, “With my second paycheck, I bought a stereo.” Hopefully he’s got his whole house sorted out by now!

J.Lo upgraded her ride once she knew the money was coming in. “I was driving a Honda hatchback that Keenen Ivory Wayans had given me when I was a Fly Girl [on In Living Color], and I had been driving it to every audition and everything. And when I got a regular series, I bought a car. I bought a Mercedes.”

Who says movie stars aren’t practical? Nicole Kidman didn’t get blinded by the lights when she hit the big time. Instead, she sensibly put her wages toward a new washing machine for her mom and dad. But she did indulge in a little splurging. “Later on, I bought some boots for myself that were like the coolest boots I had ever seen in my life,” she said to Time in 2018.

After signing his first contract in 1992, Shaquille O’Neal blew through $1 million in just a couple of hours. All it took was buying cars for his entire family, paying off his parents’ debt, and stocking up on lots of jewelry. But that money is practically chump change to him now. Today, Shaq is worth an estimated $400 million!

Before she owned a car, America Ferrara had to make her way to auditions by catching a string of buses or just walking. Once her first paycheck finally came in, however, she sprung for a used Mitsubishi, finally allowing her to get around LA. “I think it cost me $12,000,” the star revealed to Yahoo! in 2019.

When folks have been in the game for a while, though, they still like to splash the cash — sometimes on weird things. Apparently, Lady Gaga once believed she was haunted by a ghost called named Ryan. So, she reportedly splashed out on a $47,000 electromagnetic field detector to help detect the pesky specter on the road!

Flavor Flav didn’t actually steal or buy his life-size statue of O.J. Simpson. Instead, it was gifted to him by radio host Mancow Muller, who actually got a fairly good deal on it. And the piece is worth a lot of money these days. Apparently, at one point, Flav was trying to sell it for at least six figures...

Have you ever dropped your smartphone and dreaded shelling out $100 to get the screen replaced? You probably won’t be able to relate to Victoria Beckham, whose gold-plated iPhone 4 set her back a whopping $33,000. Imagine dropping that! And she’s probably since upgraded her phone to a newer model. We wouldn’t say no to a platinum-plated iPhone 13 Pro.

Despite the Christian meaning behind her stage name, Madonna has long believed in and practiced Kabbalah. And if some news reports are to be believed, she insists on drinking only Kabbalah-blessed water, which sells for $5 per bottle. The Vogue singer must be pretty thirsty, too, because she allegedly orders $10,000 worth of the holy water every month!

Nicolas Cage’s real name is Nicolas Coppola. As a kid, though, he wanted to be a superhero and named himself after his idol, Luke Cage. And as an adult, he has spent hundreds of thousands on comics, including the ultra-rare Action Comics No. 1 — which he later sold for $2.1 million! But those aren’t his only extravagant purchases...

Nic Cage must have made some serious bank in his time. Aside from growing his comic book collection, he still had money left to spend on two king cobras, an octopus, a Gulfstream jet, a private island, and a $276,000 dinosaur skull. That last purchase turned out to have been stolen, however, so Cage was forced to hand the skull back to the authorities.

Bono does like a hat. And you could say he has a favorite: a sand-colored woven cowboy hat. In fact, he is so fond of this particular headgear that he paid $1,700 — just so it could have its own seat on an airplane. Apparently, it was flown to Italy on the singer’s dime. Talk about a lucky hat!

Most kids just get a few toys for Christmas, but Tyrese Gibson’s daughter received the gift of a lifetime. Yup, the actor and singer went above and beyond, purchasing a whole island as a Christmas present for little Shayla. He appropriately called it “Love Island.” It sounds like we’ve just got to start being nicer to Santa...

When Katie Holmes was pregnant with Tom Cruise’s daughter Suri, the Top Gun star bought her an unusual push present. That gift? An ultrasound machine, so that the pair could look at their unborn child from the comfort of their own home. Aww! We hope he gave her a few foot rubs into the bargain, too.

Expensive sneakers are a pretty common phenomenon, but ones that cost nearly $38,000? That’s a lot! Still, that’s how much British star Tinie Tempah spent on Nike Air MAGs inspired by the movie Back to the Future. They’re supposed to lace themselves, but we’re not sure the price tag is worth the luxury of not having to bend down.

Most rich people just buy diamonds in stores, but that wasn’t enough for Akon. He purchased a whole diamond mine but wouldn’t tell anyone how or why. Maybe he’s just trying to meet more ladies. Diamonds are a girl’s best friend, after all! And if that wasn’t nearly enough, the star has plans to create his own city in Senegal. Watch this space...

We know Beyoncé is always stunting when it comes to her outfits, and that means regular leggings that regular folk wear simply won’t do. Those Balenciaga gold leggings Queen Bey was wearing at the 2007 BET Awards? She apparently spent $100,000 on them! Still, they’re definitely not her most extravagant purchase — not by a long shot.

Beyoncé may treat herself — as she should — but her daughter Blue Ivy isn’t left wanting for much, either. For her first birthday, she received a Barbie doll that cost her parents $80,000. What’s so special about this doll? Barbie is covered in diamonds and white gold jewelry. Life in plastic really does sound fantastic!

Amanda Seyfried owns a stuffed mini horse. And a stuffed zebra. And a lion. And dozens of other creatures. “On top of that, there’s an owl called Beatrix, a chick called Linda, and a deer called Sha’Dynasty,” the actress told Conan O’Brien in 2012. Hopefully, she’ll stick to animals and won’t go full Norman Bates on us...

Céline Dion’s former home could almost double for a hotel or a waterpark! She used her land to install an enormous pool in her backyard, complete with gazebos, slides, a fire pit, and a lazy river. And when she was done splashing around, she could also go inside and turn on her $2 million humidification system. Sounds fabulous!

Daniel Radcliffe doesn’t feel the need to show off his wealth, but it seems he prefers luxury when it comes to bedtime. He spent $17,000 — admittedly just a fraction of his Harry Potter money — on a mattress. For that price, it must be pretty magical — and we bet it’s a lot comfier than sleeping under the stairs.

For those of us who aren’t Harry Potter but are just big fans of the series, a movie prop will probably do as a keepsake. And former One Direction star Liam Payne has a bigger prop than most, as he purchased the Weasley family’s Ford Anglia for an alleged six-figure sum. For that kind of money, it better be able to fly — just not into the Whomping Willow.

It may take a village to raise a child, but it could take $20 million to buy that village. That’s how much Kim Basinger and a team of investors paid for the town of Braselton, Georgia. The star’s plans to make Braselton a tourist attraction failed, however, and she and her partners eventually sold their stake for only $1 million. Real estate is a tough business.

Mike Tyson may not look like a guy who loves a bubble bath, but don’t be fooled! That’s the only explanation for why he spent a whopping $2.2 million on a solid gold bathtub. Actually, it was a gift for his former wife, but we bet the former champ took a spin in the tub, too. Hey, if you’ve got it, why not?