Kevin Bacon opened up about losing losing "most" of his fortune when Bernie Madoff's Ponzi Scheme collapsed.
Kevin Bacon opened up about his experience losing "most" of his fortune when Bernie Madoff's Ponzi Scheme collapsed in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. The 64-year-old actor spoke about his and his wife, Kyra Sedgwick's experience on Monday's episode of the "SmartLess" podcast hosted by Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, and Sean Hayes.
"We had most of our money in Madoff," Bacon said. "There's obvious life lessons there -- if something is too good to be true, it's too good to be true." Madoff's fraud is now said to be the largest Ponzi Scheme in history, estimated at around $65 billion.
Bacon and Sedgwick never revealed exactly how much money they lost, but the New York Post cited various news reports claiming the figure could be "millions of dollars." Bacon told podcast hosts this week that they've managed to recover "a portion" of the funds lost, and also mentioned a lawsuit that could continue to help victims recoup their losses. According to its website, the Madoff Victim Fund has now returned more than $4 billion to over 40,000 victims.
"Certainly, you get angry and stuff, but I have to say, there were a lot of people who were much worse off than we were – old people, people whose retirement funds were completely decimated," Bacon continued on the podcast. "So there’s always going to be somebody that’s going to have it a lot worse than you."
He continued, "When something like that happens, you look at each other and you go, ‘Well, that sucks and let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work.' We’ve made it this far, our kids are healthy, we’re healthy, you know? Let’s look at what we have that’s good. We can still both work."
Throughout, Bacon maintained this sense of optimism and didn't feel a big need to focus on the numbers lost. "I think people will be not happy to hear me whining about money," he added.
Madoff died in prison last year at age 82. He was serving a 150-year sentence in connection to his financial crimes.
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