Already retired, the hero of Vampire Diaries says he was heavily in debt

Ian Somerhalder and his wife, Nikki Reed, had to sell “house, paintings, watches” to get by.

Revealed to the general public in the 2000s thanks to Lost then became an icon of the small screen in the 2010s with The Vampire Diaries, actor Ian Somerhalder went through a zone of turbulence far from the spotlight.

In a recent interview with E! News, the American actor confides that he had to face a colossal debt – eight figures, or more than 10 million dollars – after ending his career. Former Mystic Falls Damon Salvatore says:

“I retired seven years ago. I left an extremely lucrative TV career after financial problems linked to a business that I had not properly set up. Fraud plunged my wife and I into a catastrophic financial situation. Such a sum is difficult to repay.”

A financial pit from which he finally managed to escape, not without sacrifices. With his partner, the actress Nikki Reed (past Twilight), Ian Somerhalder had to sell a large part of his possessions:

“Nikki (Reed) and I got there. She really negotiated to get us out of this mess, but we sold our houses, our paintings, our cars, our watches, everything.”

The actor today recognizes a form of error of judgment:

“I should have been able to live on the income from one of the biggest series in the world, instead of launching businesses that might never have made me any money.”

Married to Nikki Reed since 2015, he highlights the crucial role she played in this difficult period. On Instagram, 5 years ago, he already spoke of a “real nightmare”, explaining that his wife had fought to get them out of this situation, going so far as to put together a team and negotiate their way out of the crisis: “This woman decided that she did not want to see her husband destroy himself physically, mentally and spiritually. She rolled up her sleeves and got to work, put together a team to negotiate and find a solution” he wrote at the time. “She dedicated her life to getting me out of this mess, and she almost died. I am where I am because of her.”

Since the end of the V Wars series on Netflix in 2020, Ian Somerhalder has moved away from the sets. In an interview with People, he explained that his Hollywood career was now “behind him”. An assumed choice, motivated by a new priority: “I remember a discussion with my agent about it. Acting is the only thing that has ever allowed my family to provide for itself, and I’m putting an end to it, at the peak of my career. I much prefer doing that rather than spending two months in a city filming a TV series, far from it, or going back and forth incessantly. I don’t need to chase awards or anything like that. whatever can give me a clear conscience…”