<p id=”par-1_47″>Several years after retiring from acting, Ian Somerhalder revealed that he faced a seemingly insurmountable <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/the-pitt-patrick-ball-hbo-show-pay-off-student-loan-debt.html/”>amount of debt</a> after starting a business. Somerhalder wanted to focus on other things, <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/common-ground-common-sense-everyone-eats.html/”>including environmental activism</a>. Unfortunately, his involvement with a clean energy company put him eight figures in the hole.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-ian-somerhalder-said-he-was-in-a-significant-amount-of-debt”>Ian Somerhalder said he was in a significant amount of debt</h2>
<p id=”par-2_40″>After years of working as an actor, Somerhalder decided to step away to focus on other projects, including a clean energy company. He said that the business was not managed properly, which landed him in a staggering amount of debt.</p>
<p id=”par-3_45″>“I retired from acting seven years ago,” he told <a href=”https://www.eonline.com/news/1431458/ian-somerhalder-on-8-figure-debt-how-nikki-reed-helped” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>E! News</a>. “I left an insanely lucrative career in television after financial upheaval from building a business that I didn’t build properly. And due to fraud, it put my wife and I into an eight-figure hole.”</p>
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<iframe loading=”lazy” title=”How Ian Somerhalder, Nikki Reed Overcame 8-Figure Debt | E! News” width=”925″ height=”520″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/YfDqdKk-O1o?feature=oembed” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share” referrerpolicy=”strict-origin-when-cross-origin” allowfullscreen></iframe>
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<p id=”par-4_22″>He said he made eight figures worth of personal guarantees to the clean energy company. After this, “it all came crashing down.”</p>
<p id=”par-5_32″>Upon reflection, he said he “should have been retiring off of one of the biggest TV shows in the world” instead of “starting companies that were not gonna pay me possibly ever.”</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-ian-somerhalder-shared-how-he-and-nikki-reed-got-out-of-debt”>Ian Somerhalder shared how he and Nikki Reed got out of debt</h2>
<p id=”par-6_21″>Faced with millions of dollars of debt, Somerhalder and <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/ian-somerhalder-admitted-the-1-thing-about-nikki-reed-annoys-him-the-most.html/”>his wife, Nikki Reed</a>, did all they could to regain financial stability.</p>
<p id=”par-7_36″>“Eight figures is a hard hole to climb out of,” he said. “But Nikki and I did it. You know, she really negotiated us out of this deal but we sold houses, paintings, cars, watches, everything.”</p>
<p id=”par-8_9″>Luckily, Somerhalder has <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/kim-kardashians-brand-outearning-khloes-celebrity-beating-both.html/”>other successful businesses</a> that also helped.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-why-did-he-retire-from-acting”>Why did he retire from acting?</h2>
<p id=”par-9_34″>After starring in massively successful television shows like <em>Lost </em>and <em><a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/vampire-diaries-season-9-ian-somerhalder.html/”>The Vampire Diaries</a></em>, Somerhalder decided it was time to step away from acting. He liked his career, but he was ready for something new.</p>
<p id=”par-10_32″>“I love what I did for a really long time,” Somerhalder told <a href=”https://www.eonline.com/news/1393064/why-ian-somerhalder-doesnt-miss-hollywood-after-saying-goodbye-to-acting” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>E! News</a> in 2024. “I love making films, I just did it for so long. We had an amazing run.”</p>
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<p id=”par-11_15″>Somerhalder and Reed produced the documentaries <em>Common Ground</em> and <em>Kiss the Ground</em> about regenerative agriculture. </p>
<p id=”par-12_45″>“When you see the way that nature operates, you find compassion,” Reed said. “It’s a beautiful thing to see what’s happening with children, to watch them participate in the growing of their food and the understanding of what food is and where it comes from.”</p>
<p id=”par-13_10″>Somerhalder is heavily involved in environmental and animal rights causes.</p>