Gary Busey has an obscene amount of credits to his name. People might think he's a bit of an oddball, but his first role was in 1970's Didn't You Hear? and since then, he's appeared in 182 different projects. Some of his most prominent roles have been in The Buddy Holly Story, Point Break, Lethal Weapon, and Under Siege. However, Busey might have had many parts, but that doesn't mean he has a high net worth. In fact, he has a shockingly low net worth that many can't even believe, given his impressively long career. So bottom line: Busey isn't buying up any fancy Hollywood Hills mansions.
Gary Busey's Net Worth
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Gary Busey is worth an astonishing $500,000. The biggest reason for that crazy low number is Busey's crazy lifestyle over the years.
Yahoo! News reports that he filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2012 and "owes everyone from Wells Fargo to the UCLA Medical Center, leaving him with a net worth that’s estimated to be anywhere from -$500,000 to -$1 million." The bankruptcy filing concluded that he had less than $50,000 in tangible assets.
Surely his work on the films mentioned as well as The Firm, Lost Highway, Black Sheep, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, TV series like Gunsmoke, Walker, Texas Ranger, Law & Order, and Entourage could have kept him afloat even through some of the most challenging times. Even Busey's appearances on reality TV shows like Celebrity Apprentice (he has appeared twice, in Season 4 and Season 6), Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, Dancing With the Stars (2015), and Celebrity Big Brother (2014) should have collectively helped his financial standing. But apparently, nothings helped Busey's wallet.
Most of Busey's wealth also probably went to his drug use. Busey appeared on Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew to get a hold of his addiction.
Busey Had An Accident That Wasn't Cheap
Busey has also had a couple of health scares over the years that couldn't have been cheap. In 1988, Busey had a severe motorcycle accident. He wasn't wearing a helmet when he maneuvered around a bus on the road and when he stepped on his brakes, he went flying and landed on his head. His brain injuries ultimately affected his career.
"I went off the bike without a helmet, hit my head into a [curb], split my skull, passed away after brain surgery and went to the other side – the spiritual realm where I got information. And I came back, and these messages, these definitions, came to me first-class. I’ll think of a word and write the word down without thinking," Busey told the Guardian in 2020.
"I was surrounded by angels. Balls of light floating all around me. And I felt trust, love, protection and happiness like you cannot feel on earth. It’s the feeling the angels live in," he continued. "Three angels came up to me...I was a quarter of an inch wide and 1ft long. That is your soul, and your soul is housed in the column of your spine. And three balls of light came up to me and talked to me. The one on the left talked to me in an androgynous voice and said the direction I was going in was good, but because of my responsibility to mankind I had to look for helping spirits around.
"Then a light said: 'You may come to us now or return to your body and continue your destiny.'" Busey concluded. But it doesn't seem as if Busey's had much of a destiny since then other than bringing awareness to his experiences. After his accident, it seemed like Busey was getting a lot of significant roles, but they weren't big ones. They were minor roles. His brain injury plus his drug use made him often seem like he had some severe problems.
Busey's son Jake told The Hollywood Reporter in 1988, "The post-accident version of him turned his personality up to 11. I feel like I lost my dad on Dec. 4, 1988." THR said that after the accident, Busey developed an "inability to censor himself," which didn't exactly help his career either.
"The fact that there's an entire generation of people who don't know the man he was before the accident... it's just hard," Jake told THR. An Off-Broadway producer told THR that Busey "has been struggling to remember his lines" for an upcoming show. Apparently, Busey's life has hit so low that if it weren't for her long-time partner Steffanie, "he'd be in an old folks' home," Jake said.
Ultimately, it's sad that Busey couldn't get his life turned around, but most of his actions result from his brain injury and drug use. He was great in many of his roles, though, and he does continue to star in projects. He has a couple of upcoming parts in Reggie: A Millenial Depression Comedy and Rabere. But we don't know where Busey will go from there.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTErZ%2Bippeoe6S7zGibqJ2jYrSivthmma6rla56tLzEp5tmrJ%2Bkeq7BwqFkqJ5dnba0edKhqaKmm567qHnNnqtmr5%2Bnwal7