8 celebrities whose parents cut them off financially: From Prince Harry to Kim Kardashian

8 celebrities who were cut off financially by their rich parents

The usual perception regarding celebrity children is that they are born rich and their wealthy parents take care of their needs until adulthood. However, there have been several celebrity children who got cut off financially once they reached adolescence. Here are eight A-listers who got financially cut off from their ultrarich parents at one point in life. 

1. Kourtney Kardashian

Despite being the daughter of Robert Kardashian and Kris Jenner, Kourtney Kardashian was cut off from parental funds when she graduated college. During an interview with Inside Edition in 2007, Kourtney said, "I was cut off when I graduated college," before explaining, "My dad was like, 'You need to get a job. You have a month, I’ll help you find one. But then you have to make money and support yourself'."

2. Kim Kardashian

In the same interview with Inside Edition in 2007, Kim Kardashian also shared that her parents stopped providing her money when she grew up. Kim said, "I just think that it’s actually probably harder we did grow up with this privileged life, but knowing that at a certain age we’re gonna be cut off and we can’t ask our parents for anything." The business mogul added, "Already having that lifestyle growing up, we wanna maintain that. So it’s probably even harder for us, because a lot of people are doing nothing. And we were taught at a very young age that we’re gonna have to work, and we’re gonna have to fend for ourselves — and whatever lifestyle we want, we have to make that on our own. We’ve all worked since we were about 16 years old."

3. Gwyneth Paltrow

Gwyneth Paltrow was cut off by her American television director father Bruce Paltrow and became a self-made woman. She told Glamour once, "People think, 'She's just a rich kid.' Until I was 18, I was. Then I was broke. I've never taken a dime off my parents. I'm completely self-made."

4. Dakota Johnson

Dakota Johnson, a daughter to Hollywood royalty, had to "struggle" to meet her needs once she was cut off from her father Don Johnson's "payroll". During an interview with Today, Dakota shared her experience and said her father stopped giving her allowance once she decided to pursue a thespian career. She recalled, "It was difficult, but I figured it out. He said to everybody — by 'everybody,' I mean all of my siblings...he calls it the ‘payroll.’ It’s an allowance. He said if you go to college, you still get an allowance. And I was like, ‘Well, I’m going to be an actress,’ so he was like, ‘Alright, well, you’re on your own.’ I was cut off." She also shared that she "definitely had moments where [she] couldn’t afford groceries and things like that."

5. Michael Douglas

Even though Michael Douglas is the son of Kirk Douglas, he didn't receive anything upon his Hollywood star father's death in 2020. Kirk left his estimated $61 million fortune to charity as he grew up in poverty and wanted to help the needy, per Huff Post. 

6. Jamie Lee Curtis

Upon the death of Tony Curtis, his five children including Jamie Lee Curtis didn't receive a dime from his fortune. While one of Jamie's sisters Kelly Curtis alleged that the decision to cut them from the will was "a result of duress, menace, fraud or undue influence by Jill Curtis [his sixth wife, who was nearly five decades younger than him] and/or others", another sister Allegra Curtis said to Inside Edition, "We were all blindsided, and it was very painful. It's written there, but I don't believe that was his last wishes... I believe he was influenced, and we all know who he was influenced by. I don't need to say her name."

7. Tori Spelling

Though Tori Spelling was not entirely cut off from her father's reported $500 million fortune, upon her father Aaron Spelling's death in 2006, the Lifetime alum received just $800,000. 

8. Prince Harry

Prince Harry alleged in 2021 to Oprah Winfrey that when they stepped down as working royals in January 2020, "My family literally cut me off financially, and I had to afford security for us. I’ve got what my mum [Princess Diana] left me, and without that, we would not have been able to do this."