{"id":535787,"date":"2026-04-17T10:27:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T10:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/535787\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T10:27:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T10:27:11","slug":"i-lost-a-fortune-on-the-1-6m-house-i-bought-from-chuck-norris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/535787\/","title":{"rendered":"I lost a fortune on the $1.6m house I bought from Chuck Norris"},"content":{"rendered":"

Born Tiffany Renee Darwish and known simply as Tiffany, the American pop star had two US No 1s and made it to the top of the UK charts with I Think We\u2019re Alone Now in 1988, when she was 16. Since then Tiffany has posed for Playboy as well as featuring in reality TV shows including Celebrity Wife Swap, Hulk Hogan\u2019s Celebrity Championship Wrestling and the Australian version of I\u2019m a Celebrity\u2026 Get Me Out of Here!<\/p>\n

Now 54, she has been married twice, has one adult son and is a serial entrepreneur living in Nashville, Tennessee with her fianc\u00e9. <\/p>\n

How much is in your wallet?<\/p>\n

There is $1,500 because I\u2019m on the road and paranoid about emergencies. It\u2019s harder now we\u2019re a cashless society but I like having back-up.<\/p>\n

Are you a saver or a spender?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a saver now but I remember my accountant quizzing me after a $14,000 shopping spree. I was 17 and I\u2019d just done a TV appearance. I said to my bodyguard, Frank, \u201cLet\u2019s go to Beverly Hills!\u201d <\/p>\n

I bought everything. I\u2019d done a tour of shopping malls to promote my music and that turned me into a shopaholic. I bought jeans, tops, jewellery, handbags \u2014 if it blinged, it was mine. I bought presents for my mum and my sisters and handed it all to Frank. I loved it. I was feeling really good to be Tiffany that day.<\/p>\n

Then I had a sit down with my accountant. He said: \u201cIf you keep doing this, you\u2019ll have a problem.\u201d I kind of understood but I ignored that first warning and there were more shopping trips like that before it sunk in.<\/p>\n

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Do you own a property?<\/p>\n

Yes. I bought my first house in 1989 for $1.6 million \u2014 a beautiful rustic home with four bedrooms, huge windows, open beams, white carpets and black slate floors. There were eucalyptus trees, a koi pond and Japanese grass that had to be cut by hand. The French doors opened on to a lake. <\/p>\n

It was in a gorgeous setting in California, with its own studio and guesthouse. I bought it from Chuck Norris when I was 18 and it cost $12,000 a month to maintain it. I sold it three years later for $500,000 or $600,000.<\/p>\n

I loved living there but as soon as I bought the house I stopped touring, so money wasn\u2019t coming in and it became a challenge to meet my mortgage payments. I became pregnant at 20 so I did a quick sale back to the bank.<\/p>\n

\"ChuckTiffany bought Chuck Norris\u2019s house in 1989, complete with a koi pond and its own studioAlamy<\/p>\n

Since then I\u2019ve only bought modest homes because I don\u2019t want the stress or the upkeep. I don\u2019t want to be in a position where I could lose my home if I take a break from work. The house I have now is in rural Nashville \u2014 three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a recording studio in the basement. I bought it 17 years ago for $192,000. It came with over eight acres but I sold two and a half acres to a neighbour. I didn\u2019t want to but I needed the money for my divorce. Now I\u2019m planting an orchard on the land I have left.<\/p>\n

Are you better off than your parents?<\/p>\n

Definitely. I grew up in east LA, where my mum was a housewife and my real father floated in and out of jobs. He sold cars and was entrepreneurial with electronics. He was also an inventor but he never patented things and nothing really happened with them.<\/p>\n

He floated between California, Detroit and New York, and even moved to Saudi Arabia for a while, but he was always in my life. My parents divorced when I was two, and my mum and I moved into my grandparents\u2019 house, where we shared a room.<\/p>\n

\"BigTiffany spent childhood holidays camping at Big Bear Lake in CaliforniaAlamy<\/p>\n

My mum and stepdad married when I was nine. He had his own construction company and before that he was in the army. We lived with him in a two-bedroom house and I had my own room until my sister came along. My stepdad was huge on camping so our holidays were in the Big Bear mountains in California. This was real camping in a tent and I learnt how to fish. That\u2019s probably why I love nature.<\/p>\n

How much did you earn last year?<\/p>\n

Around $180,000. That\u2019s from everything, including merch, but I didn\u2019t tour much last year.<\/p>\n

Have you ever been hard-up?<\/p>\n

Definitely. I\u2019ve had to rent places and scrape for the rent. When I first moved to Nashville, at 24, I was a new mum and wasn\u2019t sure if I\u2019d go back into the music industry. So I got a job at Pier 1, a home decor company that sold candles, working in the back with the stock. I\u2019d start at 6am and I was on minimum wage earning $200 or $300 a week. My then husband was a freelance make-up artist, and this was our one income at the time, so bills were tight.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s been your most lucrative work?<\/p>\n

Touring. I toured extensively, worldwide, making $100,000 to $110,000 a night. The tours were back to back and I did this for three years, from the age of 16 to 19. I didn\u2019t get the full amount because there\u2019s a ton of expenses, and as a kid I didn\u2019t get involved in this stuff. Looking back now, I\u2019d say I got $30,000 to $35,000 a night.<\/p>\n

Do you invest in shares?<\/p>\n

I had investments in pharmaceuticals but I\u2019m into holistic health and alternative ways so I don\u2019t like this addictive society that\u2019s always \u201ctake a pill\u201d. I felt bad so I pulled out a lot of my money. It was probably a dumb decision but it was a moral one.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve reinvested that into technology, but even then, I don\u2019t want AI to take over the world.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s been your best business decision?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m thankful I recorded I Think We\u2019re Alone Now. The music industry is not profitable, and there\u2019s very little profit in TV and film, but I\u2019ve been able to turn that stardom into many different things. I have an online cooking club, Let\u2019s Food with Tiffany, and I brought out a cookbook called Breakfast with Tiffany. I have a new cookbook coming out called Pop Life: The Ultimate 80\u2019s Kitchen Encore and I\u2019ve just launched the lifestyle platform Let\u2019s Zen My Friend.<\/p>\n

\"CoverAfter Tiffany\u2019s hit single featured in the TV series Stranger Things she had a surge in followers on social mediaAlamy<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always loved Stranger Things so it was amazing when I Think We\u2019re Alone Now was featured on it. I don\u2019t own the publishing rights of the song so I\u2019ll just get a royalty eventually, for maybe $4,000. But because of the show I got an increase in followers on social media. I\u2019ve seen increased interest in my businesses and brands wanting to partner with me so there\u2019s more money to come through that.<\/p>\n

What was your worst business decision?<\/p>\n

To stop touring in the early part of my career. I should\u2019ve kept going.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s been your best investment?<\/p>\n

I invested $40,000 of my own money opening Tiffany\u2019s Boutique. Someone suggested that I open a boutique because I\u2019d shopped all over the world while I was touring. I\u2019d collected vintage pieces and I had a closet to die for.<\/p>\n

My friends who were stylists would say, \u201cWhat are you doing with these pieces, because they don\u2019t fit you and you don\u2019t wear them!\u201d They borrowed clothes for photoshoots and I started renting them out. I\u2019d kept the idea of a boutique, then my stepfather got cancer. He said, \u201cHoney, life is so short. I thought I\u2019d do lots of things that I put on the back burner and it never happened. You have to do what you want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

When he died, I opened Tiffany\u2019s Boutique in 2012, and a second in 2013. I sold vintage, last season from some designers, and funky finds from wherever I\u2019d travelled. We\u2019d tailor the clothes for customers and put garments like Spanx underneath. So many girls would say, \u201cI didn\u2019t know I could wear this.\u201d It was profitable but I closed both boutiques at the end of 2015 because I went on the road. You can\u2019t do both because having a store is so hands-on.<\/p>\n

What was your worst investment?<\/p>\n

When I was 16, I spent $800,000 on attorney\u2019s bills trying to get emancipation from my mum. I come from a family of alcoholics and they were wonderful people but it was an unstable environment. When I got a record deal and and I was touring, it was put upon me that \u201cthis is your job now. It\u2019s not just fun and games. You have a contract and obligations to fulfil\u201d. And I wanted to \u2014 this was a dream come true for me \u2014 but then I\u2019d call home and I\u2019d hear my aunt was missing or my uncle had stabbed my grandfather. It was crazy stuff.<\/p>\n

I got to a point where I was like, \u201cI can\u2019t live in this environment and do \u2018Tiffany\u2019 at the same time. As much as I love you guys, I worry all the time and I want some stability. I want to stay with my grandmother because I feel safe there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The people working with me could see how much it was messing me up because I\u2019d miss studio sessions after being up all night with drama and worrying about people going to jail. So I got an attorney, and I didn\u2019t want to hurt or expose my family, but they used whatever they could to fight the emancipation case and it got a little bit tit-for-tat.<\/p>\n

The headlines said: \u201cThe parents want money!\u201d And: \u201cTiffany thinks she\u2019s too big for her britches \u2014 now she\u2019s suing her parents!\u201d It was never about money but everything was out there in public, which felt terrible. That was the first time I understood that I was a celebrity. Everybody\u2019s in your business. You can\u2019t hide things.<\/p>\n

The end result was that my auntie became my conservator and I got to live with my grandmother but I had a legal bill of $800,000 and I also had to pay my mother\u2019s legal bill of $300,000 to $400,000. My money was put into a trust and I had to pay my mother $5,000 a month until I was 21. It was expensive and my mother felt betrayed. That\u2019s why now I\u2019m all about: \u201cBefore we get ugly, let\u2019s come to the table to try and resolve things. Let\u2019s sit down with a coffee or a glass of wine and talk it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your money weakness?<\/p>\n

I love cars. My first car was my Saab, a black convertible with cream interiors. When I was 19 I paid $80,000 for a Porsche 911 Carrera. I think you\u2019d get a Nissan for that now \u2026 When I was pregnant at 20, I thought: \u201cI need a sensible car.\u201d I sold the Porsche and bought a Bronco. Then I decided I still wanted fun so I bought another Porsche, just like the first one.<\/p>\n

\"SingerTiffany at her 18th birthday celebrations in October 1989Getty images<\/p>\n

Then I started buying classic cars. I bought a classic Mercedes and a Thunderbird I couldn\u2019t drive. It was way too big for the highway, like driving a boat, so I sold it after a couple of months.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s been your most extravagant purchase?<\/p>\n

My first real luggage set was beautiful soft brown leather with gold clasps, a stunning set of six or seven pieces. I bought it for $8,000 in Italy while I was touring there when I was 17. I loved it but when I came back to America, it arrived on the baggage claim completely busted. I realised that soft Italian leather was for posh people who fly on private jets, not for people whose luggage gets thrown on the tarmac.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the most important lesson you\u2019ve learnt about money?<\/p>\n

You have to spend money to make money. You have to look at it long term and believe in yourself \u2014 and sometimes you have to roll the dice.<\/p>\n

Tiffany\u2019s cookbook Pop Life: The Ultimate 80\u2019s Kitchen Encore Cookbook is available to pre-order<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Born Tiffany Renee Darwish and known simply as Tiffany, the American pop star had two US No 1s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":535788,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,128,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-535787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=535787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/535788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}