Singer Chesney Hawkes was the first famous face to enter this year’s Celebrity Big Brother as he joins a starry house on the ITV show. But despite his huge fame the hitmaker is earning the second lowest salary in the house..
It’s short change for the hitmaker, best known for his The One and Only track, who is said to have raked in over £8million from the tune. The 53-year-old previously opened up about losing the fortune he amassed. He explained how he blew the staggering sum on his crazy lifestyle, and has since gone on to make regular appearance on shows and in clubs.
The singer also revealed he burned himself out with “utter exhaustion” due to his lavish ways. “I did that classic thing when I first made it of just blowing everything,” he said.
He was speaking on the My Dirty Laundry podcast, where he added: “I bought a state of the art studio. I bought everyone in my family a car. So yeah, we had fun.
“My brother Jodie is my drummer and he was with me through the whole time. And yeah, we enjoyed it, because we were young. We were 19 and 17, and we toured all over the world – America, Japan, it was an amazing time.”
However, he said it was like “living in the eye of a storm”. “I had my family and the people around me in this kind of bubble, you know?,” he continued.
“I would be thrown into the hurricane and I’d be gone. And then I’m off to Sweden and then I’m off to New York. I never knew where I was waking up for that first year. It was mental. It was really crazy.”
He went on to say he has worked with a number of up-and-coming artists to help them avoid the “utter exhaustion” he suffered. “I’ve actually worked with a lot of artists that are just going through that first craziness and I always say, ‘Take it easy because you may burn out,'” he said.
“You see it with these young artists now. I remember Adele had to cancel a whole bunch of shows. Harry Styles had a similar thing. Ed Sheeran, I see it happening.
“So I always give them that little, you know [nudge], just be careful, don’t let them, [the machine], burn you out.”
Chesney’s total earnings from this year’s Celebrity Big Brother are said to be the second lowest in the current series, just ahead of TOWIE’s Ella Rae Wise, who has been paid £20,000. In comparison, Mickey Rourke is said to be raking in £500,000 for his stint in the house.
Chesney’s money began to dry out in his career a couple of years after the height of his success. He explained how purchases and mortgages saw him in debt.
However, he has been able to rebuild his fortune and is thought to have a net worth once again of around the £8million mark.
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