Money
Making money
You can't take it with you - celebrity excess
If ever there was a perfect example of having more money than sense, today's celebrities take the biscuit and turn it into bling, writes Sian McLachlan
Excess is the name of the game in a world where it's not what car you drive, but how many you've got lining the driveway. Actually, make that planes.
You're not anyone these days without your own private jet to fly you across the globe and leave your giant, billion-dollar carbon footprint.
King of bling P Diddy (formerly referred to as Puff Daddy), was leaving a photoshoot in St Tropez by private jet, when he was reportedly stopped for carrying too much luggage. No problem for the music mogul. He simply hired a second private jet to transport all his Louis Vuitton suitcases.
Disco dancing legend John Travolta has gone one better, however, reportedly owning three Gulfstream jets, a Lear jet and a 1960s-era Boeing 707, which he can actually pilot himself. That's one way to beat the traffic.
But of course, for celebrities, home is where the money is. And money is where the Beckhams are. The golden couple famously own a home in Hertfordshire dubbed ‘Beckingham Palace’, where they employ SAS security guards to protect their squillionaire assets.
Aaron Spelling also had home-based leisure pursuits on tap to rival most decent-sized provincial towns. The late TV mogul would never have needed to drive to his nearest sports centre for a spot of energetic fun after installing an ice rink, a bowling alley and two Olympic size swimming pools in his 56,000 square foot mansion, all at a reported cost of £25m.
Kim Basinger, however, was not satisfied with just a house...she had to go and buy herself a whole town. That's right, the LA Confidential star and her investment group reportedly bought Braselton in Georgia for $20m in 1989.
And how could we forget Virgin boss Richard Branson, who owns his very own island. Necker Island is situated in a particularly idyllic part of the azure Caribbean and boasts 74 acres of luscious palm trees and white sand. But it's not just Branson who enjoys the hideaway: many of his glitzy pals, including George Michael, Michael Douglas, Steven Spielberg and even Prince Charles, have made the most of the exclusive resort.
It's a hard life being famous.
