ONTD Original: Failed Celebrity Business Ventures

For every celebrity business success like Honest Company, Newman's Own, or Cabo Wabo Tequila, there are 10 flops. Take a look at 5 celebrities and their failed business ventures behind the cut!


Celebrity: Ron Jeremy
Failed Business Venture: Sex club
I use "celebrity" lightly here, but it's worth nothing that Ron Jeremy owned a sex club in Portland, OR. The club, Club Sesso (that's italian for 'sex'), was forced to close in 2015 due to an illegal swinger's party. Permitting issues, as well as scuffles with the local fire marshall and liquor boards also helped expedite the club's untimely closing.


Celebrity: Natalie Portman
Failed Business Venture: Vegan shoe line
In the mid 2000s noted vegan and actress Natalie Portman started her own line of cruelty free shoes. Unfortunately, the shoes were fairly basic and ran 200$ a pair (and up!) and the parent company Te Casan shuttered in 2008.


Celebrity: Kim Bassinger
Failed Business Venture: The city of Braselton, GA
Most celebrities are happy to slap their name and branding on a clothing line or restaurant, but Kim Bassinger took investment to the next level by purchasing a Georgia town (about 50 miles north-east of Atlanta) and attempting to turn it into a tourist attraction replete with festivals and film studios. She purchased the town for $20 million in 1989 and sold it five years late for a reduced $1 million dollars. Yikes!


Celebrity: Donald Trump
Failed Business Venture: Tr*mp airlines, Tr*mp casinos, Tr*mp magazine, Tr*mp mortgage, Tr*mp steaks, Tr*mp university, etc
The aging and portly former reality star has a long list of business failures which may just outweigh his successes. His latest business venture, collecting bribes as the electorally appointed leader of the United States, appears to be doing well for now. If history is any indication, however, he may find himself in trouble like many of his previous failed business expansions.


Celebrity: The Kardashian sisters
Failed Business Venture: The Kardashian Kard
Credit and finances can be so drab! In the early 2010s, the Kardashians decided to bring a bit of glamour to the world of prepaid Kredit Kards with the Kardashian Kard. The kard was kriticized for its outlandishly high fees and was even called "pernicious and predatory" by one state attorney general. The card was only purchased by 250 kustomers and the product was terminated after just one month.

sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

certainly not all the failed celeb business ventures out there, just some of my favorite non-restaurant ones :)

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