Brendan Fraser's Net Worth Is Officially Climbing High After Years of Ups and Downs
In case you missed it, 2023 is a good year to be Brendan Fraser. The actor's profile is higher than it's been in years thanks to his critically-acclaimed performance in The Whale, and, as it turns out, his bank account balance is also higher than it's been in years. Scroll on for a complete rundown about everything that's contributed to Brendan's financial roller coaster ride and, of course, where his total net worth stands today (hint: he's doing *much more* than just okay).
Brendan Fraser Has Made Most of His Money from Acting
Unsurprisingly, most of actor Brendan Fraser's money has been earned by, you know, acting. According to Celebrity Net Worth, his per-movie paycheck steadily increased back in the '90s and early 2000s, starting with $1.5 million for The Scout in 1994, bumping up to $4 million each for The Mummy and Duddly Do-Right in 1999, $10 million for 2000's Bedazzled and $12.5 million for The Mummy Returns in 2001. Brendan's salary peaked in 2008 when he earned a whopping $14 million to star in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.
From there, Brendan's paychecks started shrinking—in 2010, he was paid $10 million to star in Furry Vengeance and reportedly took a voluntary pay cut down to just $1 million to star in the drama Extraordinary Measures with Harrison Ford (but being able to consider $1 million basically slumming it shows just how great things were still going for Brendan, career-wise, tbh).
Flash forward to present day and Brendan's salary is once again trending up—he reportedly earned $12 million to star in The Whale.
He Has Real Estate Investments
Like most celebrities (/absurdly wealthy people in general), Brendan has used some of his money over the years to buy real estate, starting with an almost 4,000-square foot Beverly Hills home that he and Afton reportedly purchased for $675,000 in 1996 and eventually sold for $3 million (aka about $2.3 million in profit) in 2007. Here's a video tour of that house, because the internet is great:
After his divorce, Celebrity Net Worth reports that Brendan relocated to Bedford, New York and spent a little less than $3.4 million on a large property with several acres and room for horses.
His Divorce Caused Major Financial Drama
Under Brendan's 2009 divorce settlement with his ex-wife, Afton Smith, the actor was responsible for paying $900,000 a year in alimony and child support for his and Afton's three sons. In 2013, the actor made headlines when he petitioned the court to get his $50,000-per-month alimony payments reduced, claiming he was no longer earning enough from acting jobs to make the payments and that he was actually losing as much as $87,000 per month at the time because his expenses so outweighed his earnings. Afton fought back, accusing him of "fraud" for allegedly hiding lucrative film contracts and claiming (via her lawyer) that Brendan's assets totaled $24.7 million in December 2012.
As Celebrity Net Worth points out, Brendan needed to earn about $2 million a year before taxes to make the court-ordered alimony and child support payments (his divorce settlement with Afton stipulated that his payments wouldn't go down unless his annual earnings fell below $3 million per year). Brendan's spousal support payments ended in 2019 (10 years after their divorce settlement was reached), meaning this chapter of the actor's financial drama is over, at least.
He Faced Health Issues That Hurt His Earnings
According to a 2018 GQ profile, Brendan spent the better part of seven years in and out of hospitals having surgeries to address a myriad of health issues—many of which would have been exacerbated by the physically demanding action roles he became so famous for.
At least some of the issues reportedly stem from injuries he suffered during a "freak accident" when he was handling cleanup of his Connecticut property after Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
"In his efforts to clear up after the storm, Brendon grabbed his chainsaw and tried to cut the fallen tree free. As the chainsaw went through the bark, Brendan’s back gave way, and he was left in excruciating pain," a source told Radar Online of the incident in 2013. "The debilitating injury left him requiring correction back correction surgery, which he was performed in a private Beverly Hills clinic. Then, he had to undergo rehabilitation and was even using a stroller for a while, the injury was so bad. After the surgery, doctors advised Brendan against performing his own stunts, which is causing him to fret about his future income prospects."
The GQ profile lists vocal cord repair, a partial knee replacement, a procedure to correct spinal pad compression problems, and a laminectomy (a surgery that involves removing a small pieces of bones in the spine) as some of the health issues Brendan ultimately needed treatment for.
"By the time I did the third Mummy picture in China [in 2008], I was put together with tape and ice," he told GQ. "The lumbar didn't take, so they had to do it again a year later."
What Is Brendan Fraser's Net Worth Today?
So, after all of ^^this^^ where does Brendan Fraser's net worth stand today? Answer: Pretty damn high. According to Celebrity Net Worth, the actor is currently worth an impressive $20 million.
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