The king of pop was also the king of profligacy, spending his final years fending off creditors in spite of prodigious earnings over four decades. Michael Jackson broke multiple entertainment earnings records and greatly supplemented this with an impulsive but extremely profitable 1985 investment in The Beatles' copyrights. But financial pressures likely forced him to agree to a new concert series while in frail health.

流行音乐之王同时也是恣意挥霍之王，尽管40年来收入惊人，但他生命的最后几年却是在躲避债主的日子里度过的。迈克尔•杰克逊(Michael Jackson)打破了娱乐界的多个收入纪录，更加锦上添花的是，他1985年心血来潮投资购买的披头士乐队(The Beatles)歌曲版权最终获得了极其丰厚的利润。但可能正是由于财务上的压力，才迫使他同意抱病举行新一轮巡回演唱会。      
His debts have been estimated at $400m and an accountant testified in 2005 that he spent $20m-$30m more than he made each year. His biggest asset remains the catalogue, since merged with a larger one owned by Sony and valued at $1bn, which served as collateral for his loans.

据估计，他的债务高达4亿美元，一名会计师在2005年作证称，他每年的开销都要比收入多出2000万至3000万美元。版权目录依然是他最大的资产，与索尼公司(Sony)规模更大的目录合并后估值达10亿美元，这也成为杰克逊贷款的抵押品。

He is hardly unique among celebrities whose money has started to run out, even if the sums are larger than most. One common way to evaporate wealth is divorce, and Jackson had two, both after the apex of his career. But he did not earn the nickname "Wacko Jacko" for nothing. Lavish and bizarre personal spending coupled with multiple lawsuits alleging paedophilia took their toll too.

财富的逐渐枯竭在名人中并不罕见，即使杰克逊的财富比大多数人都多。让财富蒸发的一个常见方式是离婚--杰克逊离了两次婚，而且都是在他职业生涯的鼎盛时期过后。但他"怪人杰克"(Wacko Jacko)的昵称也不是凭空而来的。铺张奇异的个人开销，再加上数起栾童诉讼案，也让他付出了巨大代价。

They say the rich are different, but it is the famous who are really different. The merely wealthy would have gone bankrupt long ago. Even faded stars such as Jackson can stay afloat with the promise of income from comebacks like his now-aborted concert series.

有人说富人与众不同，但真正不同的是那些名人。如果只是有钱，他们早就破产了。即使是像杰克逊这样的过气明星，凭借着像他如今流产了的巡回演唱会这类复出可能带来的收入，还能维持下去。

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