Photographer Annie Leibovitz, overexposed, is forced to sell her life's work
Filed under: Borrowing, Wealth, Relationships, Bankruptcy, Mortgage Confidential
Famed celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz is broke. The woman who shot John Lennon on the same day that Mark David Chapman did, the one who has done portraits of everyone from Queen Elizabeth to a pregnant Demi Moore, has had to sign away the copyrights, negatives, and contracts for all her work to a high-class pawn shop. That includes everything she's going to shoot in the future. In return, she gets $15.5 million to pay her debts, given at an interest rate of between 6-to 16%. Many press reports are tracing the photog's money woes to 2004, when her partner Susan Sontag died and left her more properties and debt than she could handle. Certainly, the added financial pressure put her over the edge, and you have to wonder how things might have been different had Sontag and Leibovitz been granted the property rights and benefits that heterosexual couples get.
But I can tell you that Leibovitz's problems date to way before that -- much of this stems from a home renovation gone sour. I live a few blocks away from Greenwich Village, where she bought a townhouse at the turn of the century. Her gut renovation of the building, which dates to before the Civil War, was so extreme (and, some say, careless) that it ended up damaging the townhouse next door, resulting in a $15 million lawsuit. To fix the problem, or so she thought, she bought that wrecked neighboring building.
For years, Annie Leibovitz's place was Greenwich Village's equivalent of Boo Radley's house. The now-conjoined townhouses (which were used to secure the loan) stood empty and shuttered, shored by bracing and looking for all the world like they would never be habitable. We'd walk by, on our way to The Spotted Pig or Delicia Brazil, and think for a moment that a flutter of the construction tarps meant there was a sign of life inside, only to hear nothing but hollowness.
People in the neighborhood scrutinized every brick coming out of the buildings and wondered how even Leibovitz, who has met and directed every important politician and household name of our age, could afford to maintain such a palatial money pit. Turns out she couldn't.
It's a sad tale, but fortunately, she's not out of the game yet. Apparently, the terms of the pawning of her rights say that if she pays back on time, the rights could potentially revert to her. And she's well on her way to that: A traveling exhibition of her most stunning portraits has been packing A-list museums around the world for the past few years, which ought to bring in plenty of bucks, and then there's that Dream Portraits contract with Disney and that contract with Vanity Fair that's reportedly worth $2 million a year. Just last week, she was spotted on a Malibu beach shooting Nicole Kidman and then-future Oscar winner Penelope Cruz as they geared up promotion for this fall's Nine. So the news isn't all negative.
The news is especially good for Art Capital, the firm that Leibovitz used to pawn her rights. In 2008, it loaned $80 million. This year, as portfolios plunge in value, it expects to dole out $120 million -- that's a 50% jump. And if the artists default, the company keeps the works, mostly of strong cultural importance, for resale when times are better.
Great artists often live in penury. But Leibovitz, certainly the greatest celebrity portraitist since Yousuf Karsh, has an advantage over a Van Gogh or a Seurat: People love her in her lifetime. She still has a chance to make it back into the black.
If Annie Leibovitz couldn't handle the stress of a home renovation, who can? Her cautionary tale will make you think twice about re-doing that kitchen, won't it?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 8)
2-25-2009 @ 5:00PM
james mcgrew said...
i spent some time in the VI with annie after the shooting of john lennon, this event moved her deeply and i have faith she will find this a small hill in relation to that time.
jim
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2-26-2009 @ 7:30PM
John Garvey said...
I'm hardly sympathetic. Millionaire rich girl doesn't save and now she's in financial trouble? She is overrated and overpaid. Name one great photograph of hers and tell me why it's special? She photographed the rich and famous and only made them more so. Arbus, Man Ray, the paintings of Chuck Close--these people were and are pop-artists with enough talent to become famous from their art--not because of whom they worked with.
2-27-2009 @ 12:28PM
Lyndsey said...
I'm not sure I understand what being gay has to do with any of this, but it sounds like poor financial planning on her part. I think she's a talented artist that has made millions, but I can't drum up sympathy for someone who has it all & does not protect it.
2-28-2009 @ 10:44PM
SpencerG said...
What does being gay have to do with Leibovitz's financial troubles? If she was a married heterosexual she would have been on the hook for Sontag's debts when Sontag died no matter what either of them wanted to do since both of their names would have been on all of the debt.
You can decline an inheritance... you cannot decline to pay bills that you and your deceased spouse signed on the dotted line for!
2-25-2009 @ 5:09PM
bob said...
and once again the people who need help get nothing while the robber barons of the twentyfirst century walk away with billions. annie may not have created history but she captured it so future generation could experience it in her work. she created something...something that won't just rust away by the next model year.
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2-26-2009 @ 5:54PM
Erin said...
I agree... this is such an unfortunate story. She has done beautiful work over the course of her career and I hope she's rewarded.
Erin
http://www.thenakedhippie.com
Organic T-shirts
2-26-2009 @ 7:32PM
Jack said...
People who need HELP? Geeee-zus she was a feekin millionaire! Yeah...booo-hooo poor Annie...should should have saved some of the caviar she was dining on all these years!
Youre in serious need of mental help.Talk about a loss of comprehensive reality..get a grip!
2-28-2009 @ 10:31PM
KathieM said...
Um Erin. She was rewarded! She blew it! Save your pity for the people who work daily just to make ends meet and are broke. You're wasting on people who had it all and screwed it up.
3-01-2009 @ 10:36AM
shell said...
Bob if you think sh should be helped then why don't you help her out?
2-26-2009 @ 8:32AM
Julie said...
"You have to wonder how things might have been different had Sontag and Leibovitz been granted the property rights and benefits that heterosexual couples get."
You have to wonder how things might have been different if they'd actually admitted to being a couple. Please don't compare their closet case to the many out gay couples who fight for their rights every day.
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2-26-2009 @ 3:35PM
deni said...
We live in the greatest country in the world, we shouldn't have to wonder. However we live in a country that loves watching gays on tv just so long as equal rights are not brought up
2-26-2009 @ 4:07PM
Stacy said...
"You have to wonder how things might have been different had Sontag and Leibovitz been granted the property rights and benefits that heterosexual couples get."
We are in a recession. Property values are down and people who can't manage their money are in trouble. Are we really gonna try and blame this on the fact they were an undeclared gay couple. If Annie inherited her friend's property and debts, that's pretty much what would have happened if they were married. We have gone from a country that understood rainy days come and you have to work hard and get through them to one that thinks the government should keep any hard times from ever happening.
2-26-2009 @ 9:03AM
haj said...
oh the perils of the idyll rich...i am crying many crocodile tears here...
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2-26-2009 @ 2:31PM
philip cohen said...
Typical of the elitest artsy left wing. They can't seem to find a way to preserve the millions they make so they think that they should get pity from the rest of us that break our asses every day to make a few dollars
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2-26-2009 @ 4:02PM
shari said...
I agree. This isn't about an unfortunate individual who worked hard at a real job all of his/her life only to be robbed of his life's earnings. Nor is this about homosexuality. This is about someone who made bad choices and did the wrong thing. Live and learn.
2-26-2009 @ 2:33PM
cynthia said...
You're expecting pity for her? She's no different than anyone else who wanted more than they could afford. She & Susan were both very successful. Susan had no health insurance? I rather doubt it. This woman has more talent in her little finger than a roomful of people. There's no reason why she should be in this position. I have no pity for her. Life has handed her lemons & she needs to make lemonade. Some of you think the government should help her? "Government" means me & you. If YOU want to help her, send her a check - sheesh!
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3-01-2009 @ 11:29AM
PoopDog said...
What math do they use to figure the firm loaned out 80 mil last year and 120 mil this year,and they say that is a 50% jump??? 160 million this year would be a 50% jump,maybe the same math that they use to figure if they were to have hetero rights it would have put her in a better position,I still can't figure the logic in that statement,seems to me she would have been in the same position or maybe worse.
3-01-2009 @ 11:37AM
PoopDog said...
LIFE HANDED HER LEMONS??? SEEM TO ME LIFE HANDED HER AN EASY WAY TO MAKE MILLIONS AND SHE TURNED THAT INTO A MOUNTAIN OF DEBT,NOBODY'S FAULT BUT HER OWN AND IF SHE HAS TO SELL HER LIFE'S CRAP,SO BE IT! SHE IS NOT BROKE AND WILL CONTINUE TO MAKE MONEY FOR DOING NOTHING,CLICK ,CLICK ,CLICK AND PUT HER NAME ON IT ...BOOM BACK UP THE BRINKS TRUCK....WAAAA,WAAAA,WAAAAAA ....POOR HER!
2-26-2009 @ 2:37PM
Merry Mary said...
NOW I get why she did that questionable Vanity Fair picture of Miley Cyrus! For THE MONEY! Annie get back to being an ARTIST. Get some integrity back.
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2-26-2009 @ 7:25PM
Rose Young-Stewart said...
Of course she did Miley Cyrus for the money she does everyone for the money. It's her job. You do your job for the money, don't you? Do you think she works for free? Do you? What a goofy ass thing to post where billions of people all over the world see it.