Despite his quite successful career inside the boxing ring, many young fans remember Mike Tyson for his iconic sting in The Hangover movies. Tyson earned a total of $300,000 for his roles in the Hangover I and Hangover II movies. 13 years after his stint, Tyson revealed in an interview how acting rescued him from an unstable financial situation.
The former WBC Heavyweight Champion earned around $400 million from his successful boxing career. However, in 2004 he declared bankruptcy as he lost almost all of his wealth. Tyson mentioned about not owning the rights to his public image as the main reason for his downfall. Also, his extravagant lifestyle cost him millions of dollars.
Mike Tyson later revived himself financially by acting in a lot of movies. The ‘Baddest Man on the Planet’ over the years has worked in numerous movies, which have entertained the audience. He once revealed that he used to act in movies to finance his drug use and that acting rescued him financially.
How Acting turned Mike Tyson’s ‘fortune’ around
Mike Tyson sat down for an interview with Shannon Sharpe on his YouTube channel Club Shay Shay. During the interview, Sharpe asked some quick questions and one of them was how Tyson got into acting.
Tyson replied, “I don’t know I just have friends that were directors and they say, ‘Hey Mike sit in this movie, hey Mike go do this, do that’. And I was never getting paid for that stuff. So I started acting and getting paid for it. The Hangover [Favorite Movie] big time. Yeah, put me back on my feet for a minute.“
Tyson had the entire world in his palm’s reach. He had connections in different realms and industries, including Hollywood as well. Everybody wanted to have Mike Tyson in their movie or advertisement. Amidst the demand, Tyson once admitted why he chose to act.
Mike Tyson admitted to acting to finance drug use
Tyson had once lost the over $400 million fortune he had accumulated over the years. Whilst he was in a dire financial situation, acting came up as an alternative to make money and finance his drug usage.
Tyson said, “I was doing that to supply my drug habit. I thought this was going to be really good, We’re going to sell this stuff at 42nd St. on bootleg, and we’re going to get a lot of money. This is my best thinking on drugs.“
Whilst Tyson made his name in boxing, his acting stints made him well-known to a relatively younger audience. Perhaps that’s why ‘Iron’ Mike remains famous amongst even the young fans who never saw him fight live. However, his acting roles were motivated by a variety of personal factors.
