Celebrities Facing Foreclosures: What Do Ed McMahon, Jose Canseco, Evander Holyfield & Courtney Love Have in Common?

There's an old saying that celebrities are just like you and me ... except more so. And because of the current U.S. home mortgage crisis and the resultant growing number of home foreclosures, the rich and famous are also taking their foreclosure hits.

Ed McMahon

Probably the highest profile celebrity foreclosure involves Tonight Show star Ed McMahon's threatened foreclosure on his Beverly Hills mansion. The Johnny Carson sidekick had fallen behind on his mortgage payment to the tune of $644,000. His $6 million home had been on the market for two years without one buyer offer. Within weeks of foreclosure on McMahon's home, billionaire real estate investor Donald Trump offered to buy the house and become Ed's landlord. McMahon, however, took an offer from another buyer instead of Trump's offer. Unfortunately, that offer fell through and Trump stepped in again with the same offer.

Michael Jackson

Singer Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch foreclosure was another high profile one. In May 2008, the 2500-acre Santa Barbara County estate went into foreclosure due to Jackson's mounting debts. At the time, he hadn't lived at Neverland for two years. Fortunately, Neverland was rescued by gambling industry investment company Colony Capital, who bought Jackson's $24 million debt.

Jose Canseco

Also in 2008, controversial former professional baseball star Jose Canseco had his home foreclosed. He said that "it didn't make sense to continue making payments" on his $2.5 million Encino home.

Evander Holyfield

In 2008, the Georgia home of another famous sports figure, former heavyweight boxing champ Evander Holyfield, went into foreclosure.

Extreme Makeover

Another high profile foreclosure was for a celebrity house rather than a celebrity figure. In 2005, the ABC TV series "Extreme Makeover" demolished the Harper family's decaying house and built a two-story mini-mansion in its place. In 2008, the Harpers defaulted on a $450,000 business loan that used the house as collateral. Their home subsequently went into foreclosure.

Courtney Love

After the suicide death of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, his widow Courtney Love bought an Olympia, Washington home for Cobain's family members. In 2003, because of her own legal woes, Love stopped making payments on the house. In 2006, the house went into foreclosure and Kurt Cobain's family members moved out.

Aretha Franklin

On the more sympathetic side, soul music legend Aretha Franklin's $700,000 Detroit home faced foreclosure because of $164.14 in unpaid county property taxes dating back to 2005. Aretha claimed that the unpaid taxes were due to a clerical error by her attorney. She paid the back taxes immediately upon discovering the foreclosure action.