Ian Somerhalder details how he escaped eight figures of debt

Ian Somerhalder revealed that he and his wife Nikki Reed They dug their teeth into debt and found a way to bounce back—but only with some serious effort.

“I Quit the entertainment industry seven years ago,” the Vampire Diaries the 47-year-old alum told and! information at the Beverage Forum on Tuesday, April 28, in Manhattan Beach, California. “I left the lucrative television industry due to financial turmoil caused by my mismanagement. My wife and I were in eight-figure straits as a result of the fraud.”

Somerhalder admitted debt was “a tough hole to get out of” and went on to reveal Reid’s help was crucial for him back on track.

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“But Nikki and I did it,” he added. “You know, she did negotiate us out of the deal, but we sold the house, the paintings, the cars, the watches, everything.”

before establishing a relationship with the other person twilight Actress Somerhalder, 37, founded a clean energy company while starring on Damon the Vampire Diariesrevealed in May 2021 that it was a business venture in which he had invested “significantly” while “providing huge personal guarantees to banks.” (the Vampire Diaries A total of eight seasons aired from 2009 to 2017. )

Somerhalder, who is now the father of 8-year-old daughter Bodhi and Reed, a 2-year-old son, said things went wrong “because of greed and fraud within the company, as well as fraudulent activity by our largest customers.”

He pointed to the temporary collapse of the oil and gas industry at the time as the final straw for his finances. The former small screen star said in his new interview that “everything fell apart” after he made promises to lenders he couldn’t keep.

In hindsight, Somerhalder said he “should have retired from one of the biggest television shows in the world” rather than “started a company that probably would never pay me.”

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Somerhalder has previously praised Reed for his unwavering support.

“This woman decided she didn’t want to see her husband destroy his body/mind/spirit, so she struck out on her own, got into the trenches, assembled a team, and came to the table to find a way out,” he gushed in a post on Instagram. “she dedicated her life Getting me out of trouble, almost killing her along the way. “

The couple recently celebrated their 11th wedding anniversary. They tied the knot on April 26, 2015.