When we think of strong, loving Hollywood couples, Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick come to mind.
They have been married for over 30 years, celebrating their 35th anniversary this year with a sweet throwback photo on social media.
Despite their long careers in the entertainment industry, there was a time when they lost millions…
In 2009, their lives turned upside down when they got caught in Bernie Madoff’s infamous Ponzi scheme, which was the largest in history. This scam cost them up to $30 million, as estimated by StyleCaster. Bacon mentioned on the SmartLess podcast that they lost “most of our money.”
They were just two of many celebrities and high-profile figures who were scammed by Madoff’s “too good to be true” financial schemes.
“There are obvious life lessons here. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is,” Bacon told hosts Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, and Sean Hayes. “When something like that happens, you look at each other and say, ‘Well, that sucks. Let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work.’”
Despite the setback, 65-year-old Bacon and 58-year-old Sedgwick used the adversity as an opportunity to reflect and focus on the positives. “We’ve made it this far, our kids are healthy, we’re healthy. Let’s look at what we have that’s good,” Bacon said on the October 2022 podcast.
Bacon and Sedgwick decided to step away from the spotlight and Hollywood, finding peace and happiness on a cozy farm in Connecticut.
Over time, they shared glimpses of their daily lives on social media. Sedgwick posted so many videos of her and their goats on TikTok that people now recognize her more for that than her acting roles!
“People say, ‘We love you singing with the goats.’ Kevin and I are like, ‘Great, but have you seen our movies or TV shows?’ But it makes people happy,” the actress and producer told People in March this year.
Interestingly, Bacon and Sedgwick aren’t the only celebs drawn to farm life. In fact, famed actress Jennifer Garner decided to buy back the farm her mother grew up on and transform it into an organic produce project for baby food.
What do you think of celebs gravitating towards farm life? Do you think it would be a nice break from the fast-paced Hollywood experience? Let us know in the comments!
MY HUSBAND LEFT ME AND OUR KIDS FOR HIS MISTRESS – I WAS FURIOUS AND TOOK MY REVENGE.
The bitterness tasted like ash in my mouth. How could he? How could he just walk away, leaving us like discarded toys? Mark, my husband of fifteen years, the man I’d built a life with, had traded us in for a shiny, new model. A twenty-year-old, no less. A coworker. I’d suspected something was off, the late nights, the secretive phone calls, but I’d pushed it aside, trusting him. Foolish me.
The day I caught them, at that cheap motel on the outskirts of town, was seared into my memory. The look on his face, a mixture of guilt and something disturbingly close to relief, still haunted my dreams. He didn’t even try to deny it, just mumbled some pathetic excuse about “finding himself.”
The divorce was a whirlwind of lawyers and paperwork, a cold, clinical process that stripped away the remnants of our life together. He’d agreed to everything, too quickly, too easily. I was left with a pittance, barely enough to cover a few months’ rent.
Then came the real insult. He’d put our marital home, the house where we’d raised our kids, the house filled with memories, up for sale. And he’d listed it for an absurdly inflated price, far exceeding the online valuation used during the financial order. The judge had signed off on it, seemingly oblivious to the glaring discrepancy.
I was left scrambling, barely able to make ends meet, while he was raking in a fortune. Seeing that listing online, the photos of our home, now staged and impersonal, was like a knife to the heart. It was a constant reminder of everything I’d lost.
But the final straw was when his new fiancée, the mistress, announced on social media that they were buying a “dream home” because they were expecting a baby. A baby! He was building a new life, a new family, while my kids were struggling, while I was drowning in debt. The injustice of it all was suffocating.
I was consumed by rage, a burning desire for revenge. I wanted him to feel the same pain, the same despair, that he’d inflicted on me. I wanted him to understand the consequences of his actions.
It wasn’t until I visited my former mother-in-law, a woman who had always been kind to me, that a plan began to form. She was as devastated by Mark’s actions as I was. We sat in her cozy kitchen, sipping tea, and she told me stories of Mark’s childhood, of his father’s own infidelity, a pattern repeating itself.
Then, she mentioned a small, overlooked detail. A safety deposit box, inherited from Mark’s father, containing… well, she wasn’t entirely sure. She’d always assumed it was just old documents.
The next day, I went to the bank. I’d remembered Mark mentioning the box once, years ago, but he’d dismissed it as unimportant. I presented myself as his legal representative, using a power of attorney document I’d obtained during the divorce proceedings, a document Mark had signed without reading thoroughly.
Inside the box, nestled amongst faded photographs and yellowed letters, was a stock certificate. A substantial amount of shares in a company that had recently skyrocketed in value. Mark, in his haste to leave, had completely forgotten about it.
I sold the shares.
The money, a significant sum, allowed me to pay off my debts, secure a comfortable apartment for myself and the kids, and even put a down payment on a small business.
I didn’t tell Mark. I didn’t gloat. I simply moved on, building a new life for myself and my children. The satisfaction wasn’t in the money, but in the knowledge that I had taken back control, that I had turned his betrayal into my liberation. And maybe, just maybe, he’d learn that some things, like family, are worth more than any fleeting infatuation.
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