Nicolas Cage, Compulsive Spender

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The star is blaming his ex-money manager for his money problems. But insiders say it was Cage who spent his way into big troubles. Jacob Bernstein reports on the star's head-spinning treasure trove: more than a dozen houses, two Bahamian islands, dinosaur skulls, shrunken heads, the shah of Iran's Lamborghini (and more). Fun while it lasted.

Even by Bel Air standards, the Christmas party in the tent at Nicolas Cage’s mansion was a major to-do. The pool was covered up. Blocks of ice were brought in and carved into a buffet table, from which an extravagant array of shellfish was served. A production crew blew fake snow. There were enormous nutcracker men, 8- to 10-feet-tall, out by the gate in front of the house. Lighting specialists came by and illuminated Cage’s favorite cars, which sat on display in the driveway. Guests at the December 2003 event included Hugh Hefner and Jay Leno, who later called it the greatest Christmas party he’d ever been to.

View our Gallery of Nicolas Cage’s Collections

The following morning, staffers arrived at Cage’s house and were surprised to find a straggler roaming the backyard: a young pony that had been given to Cage by a relative the night before. Later, he moved the pet out to his ranch in Malibu.

But today, the property in Bel Air is in contract to be sold for less than half of what Cage was originally seeking. The personal chef who orchestrated the evening? Laid off. The decorator? Gone as well.

And now the actor is suing his former money manager, Samuel J. Levin, for $20 million in Los Angeles Superior Court, claiming he enriched himself while “sending Cage down a path toward financial ruin.” (Levin declined comment for this article.)

Whether the actor proves his former money manager is at fault remains to be seen, but conversations with several sources close to Cage reveal a person whose financial problems stemmed at least in part from his own profligate spending. As they tell it, Cage’s appetite was extreme even for Hollywood, with a decade-plus shopping spree that saw him snapping up houses, motorcycles, a jet, yachts, vintage and new cars, expensive watches, meteorites, dinosaur skulls, an enormous pet collection, massive amounts of jewelry for the women in his life, group vacations for his entire entourage, and on and on and on. “He lived like a sheik,” says one person who’s known him for several years. “Spent money like it was water,” says another.

Reached for comment, Cage’s lawyer Martin Singer said, “Half the stuff you say is false. I’m not going to get into detail.” A publicist for Cage had nothing further to add. “As you’ve already spoken to Marty, I don’t have anything else to contribute.”

Until fairly recently, Cage’s primary residence was the 1940 Bel Air mansion, with eight bedrooms, a theater, wine cellar, and a library. The house’s previous owners included Dean Martin and Tom Jones. “A Gothic mausoleum” is how one sometime guest describes its décor in recent years. When Cage first put it on the market a few years back, the asking price was more than $30 million. He later dropped the price in half, and finally put it up this September in a sealed bid sale, where only offers above $9.95 million were considered. A source close to the sale says it went for less than $15 million. Some argue that the economy may not be the only reason the house went for so much less than Cage had desired. “It was not what I would call good taste,” says the visitor.

Down South, Cage’s two mansions in New Orleans have been foreclosed upon and will be auctioned off later this month. The first, a 13,000-square-foot, six-bedroom house in the Garden District, was originally put on the market for a reported $3.45 million. The second, on Royal Street in the French Quarter, went on sale for $3.5 million and has been described as one of the most beautiful houses in the city, though there are rumors it’s inhabited by ghosts. (Seriously.)

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