The foreclosure mess is far messier due to alcoholism. The cases of Ed McMahon, U.S. Rep. Laura Richardson and Evander Holyfield.
Foreclosures and alcoholism: Johnny Carson sidekick Ed McMahon, U.S. Rep. Laura Richardson and boxer Evander Holyfield
In the August 2007 www.ThorburnAddictionReport.com top story, “The Mortgage Mess, the Real Estate Bubble and Alcoholism,” I suggested that the bubble and its aftermath were at least partly a result of alcoholics doing what they do best: inflating the ego. Any one of a set of common spin-offs of egomania”grandiosity, excessive optimism, a sense of invincibility and excessive risk-taking”can cause the afflicted to take chances that sober individuals would rarely consider. Another set”infectious enthusiasm, all-too-believable lies, charisma, charm and a “rules-don’t-apply-to-me attitude—can be used to cajole others into accepting risks they would never otherwise take. Such risks, as shown in “Drunks, Drugs & Debits: How to Recognize Addicts and Avoid Financial Abuse”, include those of a financial nature.
Working backwards, financial turmoil might be an excellent clue to alcoholism in either the person or others nearby, particularly when the subject by any reasonable standards should be immune to such troubles. Three noteworthy individuals of this ilk who have recently sunk into a financial cauldron include Johnny Carson’s former sidekick Ed McMahon, U.S. representative Laura Richardson and former boxing heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield. McMahon reportedly once owned $200 million in real estate, Richardson earns $169,000 yearly and Holyfield’s monthly income was over $600,000 as recently as 2003. As shown throughout my work, when individuals of such income and wealth suffer financially, the odds that addiction is nearby are nearly 100%.
Those who understand the concepts behind the Thorburn Substance Addiction Indicator (TSARI at http://www.10547.info/thorburn/tsari.html) know that we can ascribe up to an 80% or so probability of alcoholism based on observable misbehaviors, since (with compelling statistics, anecdotes and personal observations in “Drunks, Drugs & Debits”) at most 20% of the time some other factor, such as bipolar disorder, explains the conduct. Therefore, we need either actual confirmation of addictive use or self-diagnosis (which is possible only in recovery) to approach a 100% likelihood of addiction. Using this methodology, Ed McMahon is the only one of the three cited for whom we can positively diagnose alcoholism. However, we can ascribe odds close to 100% that, if Richardson and Holyfield are not addicts, somebody”or several”in a position to have contributed to the financial turmoil that permeates their lives are.
Ed McMahon, 85, put his home on the market some 2 ½ years ago for roughly $6.5 million. Because he followed the market down (reduced his price after the market had already fallen), the house hasn’t sold and he is facing imminent foreclosure on his $4.8 million mortgage, on which he is more than $650,000 in arrears. According to his business manager, Johnny Podell, McMahon, who in 1969 wrote Ed McMahon’s Barside Companion and once boasted he drank eight martinis before breakfast, got sober a decade ago. By then he probably had lost much of his fortune, but his apparently free-spending 54-year-old wife of 16 years, Pamela McMahon, may have contributed to the malaise by charging more than a few expenses on their American Express card, for which court documents show a $747,000 judgment. While he fell (circumstances unknown) and broke his neck 18 months ago and has since been unable to work, the disinterested observer might be flabbergasted to be told that $4.8 million of the some $200 million he reportedly earned over his lifetime wasn’t used to pay off his home mortgage. Such an observer”having been told that Ed was sober”would probably be amazed to learn that the mortgage still wasn’t paid off after receiving $7.2 million in a settlement the couple won in 2003 after claiming that mold sickened them and killed their dog, Muffin. And an outsider would likely be stunned to learn he recently bounced a check for $135,000 with only $729 in his account. Unfortunately, while the financial reverberations of unchecked alcoholism can continue for decades, continuing travails of this magnitude indicate active addiction close by.
Lawmaker Laura Richardson rocketed from city councilwoman to California Assembly member to U.S. Congresswoman before reports surfaced that she lost her Sacramento home to foreclosure and had defaulted six times in the past couple of years on homes in San Pedro and Long Beach, one of which her mother lives in. In her apparently insatiable need to wield power over others she bankrolled her campaigns with $177,500 of her (or the bank’s) money which, considering she garnered 75% of the most recent vote in one of California’s politburo-like gerrymandered districts, was way overkill. She angered neighbors of her Sacramento home before she lost it by letting it deteriorate; at one point a neighbor, a retired police sergeant, offered to mow her nearly foot high grass. More telling, after agreeing to an interview with the L.A. Times, she changed course and instead gave prepared statements. Once again proving that truth is far stranger than fiction, she wrote an explanation that should become a classic in obfuscation (and I couldn’t possibly make this up): “Earlier this year, I was notified that the mortgages on properties that I own were in default. At that time, I began continuous discussions with the lenders to reinstate and modify these loans and to reinstate my ownership of the properties. Since those discussions were initiated, I was not notified of any preemptive sales of any of the properties.”Incredibly, she claims the house was sold in a foreclosure auction without her knowledge. The new owner, James York, who happens to own a mortgage company, responded, “She doesn’t know what happened, but she’s an educated woman who hasn’t made her payments for 12 months and she doesn’t know why she lost her house?”York, who sounds like he would know the foreclosure business, added that’s an excuse he frequently hears.
Evander Holyfield wants to continue fighting even though at 45 he’s long past his prime. This may have less to do with $250,000 in past-due income taxes than with imminent foreclosure on his $10 million 54,000 square foot 109 room home located on the Evander Holyfield Highway in Fayette County, Georgia. On the other hand, his desire to stay in the ring may have something to do with the fact that a federal lawsuit was recently filed against him seeking repayment of $550,000 in loans allegedly made for landscaping, or that he is being sued by Toi Irvin, the mother of one of his nine children, because he stopped making his $3,000 per month support payment. Irvin’s attorney explained, “My concern is there may be a lot of other mothers not getting paid, and I would like my client to be at the front of the line.”Irvin was originally awarded $2,000 a month in support, but after hearing evidence that Holyfield’s monthly income was $604,000 while Irvin was bringing home less than $32,000 per year, a jury increased the payment to $3,000. We might hypothesize that Holyfield’s financial misbehaviors could be explained by having suffered at the hands of alcoholic parents, who may have made him easy prey for alcoholic financial professionals, but there is no direct evidence of either.
We know from experience that when we shake our heads and wonder, “What in the heck happened? How could this person have been so stupid, reckless and irresponsible?”we should instead ask, “Who is the addict in this person’s life?”No matter how much esteem we may hold for the person, it could be him or someone close, because where financial or other turmoil exists, an addict is usually not far away.