AN *NSYNC star has confessed he was so skint that after failing to pay his bills the lights went out in his house on Christmas Eve.
Joey Fatone, who was one of the American group’s original members, recently opened up on how his boyband millions quickly depleted.
The singer shot to fame in 1995 alongside his fellow bandmates, Justin Timberlake, Chris Kirkpatrick, JC Chasez, and Jason Galasso.
During the new docuseries Boy Band Confidential, Joey admitted he was forced to ask people for money after he was given bad advice by his accountant.
At NSYNC’s peak Joey splashed out on a huge 10,000-square-foot house on four acres of land, but not before running it past his financial advisor.
He recalled in the docuseries: “Money was coming in. I asked my accountant, ‘Hey, are we good?’ ‘Yeah, we’re great.’ ‘I’m OK to buy this house, right?’ He goes, ‘Your kids’ kids’ kids will be fine.’
“Now, he was saying that as if money was probably still coming in.”
But, ten years later was when Joey really felt the pain of being cashless.
Joey said: “I go to a new accountant, I say, ‘Hey man, can you look at my finances and what’s going on?’ And he goes, ‘You need to get out of that house or you’re gonna go bankrupt.’ I went, ‘I’m sorry, what?’”
After NSYNC went on a indefinite hiatus, Joey was nearly out of cash and was very close to filing for bankruptcy.
His money woes all came to a head on Christmas Eve when he had family around to celebrate the holidays.
Joey continued: “There was one point during Christmas they shut off the lights to my house because I didn’t pay the bill. I almost was gonna go bankrupt.
“And I have a family. This is when I am married, I have two kids. These are certain things that happen in normal people‘s lives as well, but then you have to figure out, for me, how do I do this without the public even watching of what’s going on?”
Joey lost the power in his home before they had even got to opening their presents.
He said: “It was horrible. I had family over at my house. Good thing I had the water, but the power just went pew.”
“I was asking people for money,” he recalled.
The 49-year-old told how he was forced to “put his tail between his legs” and figure out what to do.
The producer ended up flogging his house and moving his then-wife Kelly, to whom he was married from 2004 to 2019, and their daughters, Briahna and Kloey, in with his parents for a year.
Joey made a life for himself in Las Vegas for a year, working to build back up his slowing career.
The Dancing with the Stars alum explained the situation was a “big eye-opener” and he slammed his former accountant saying, “And the one that I had was not the brightest person to help me out. They were always the ones going, ‘Don’t worry, you’re gonna be fine. You’re making so much money.’”
NSYNC won 15 music awards during their heyday and are best known for their hits Bye Bye Bye, Girlfriend and This I Promise You.