This Aussie Actor’s TikTok Explaining Her ‘Crippling Debt’ Is A Grim Insight Into Showbiz

With so many people trying to break into the industry, acting is probably one of the hardest gigs to find success in.

But Adelaide Kane — the Aussie actress who found fame in popular shows like Teen Wolf and Reign — has proved that success isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

After doing a bit of self-Googling, Kane found out that the internet places her net worth around the $4 million mark. Shocked by the overestimation, the actress decided to use TikTok to set the record straight.

“So I found out today the internet thinks I’m worth $4 million,” Kane said in a TikTok. “My crippling debt says otherwise. WHERE?!”

Confused by her financial standing despite her success on a number of popular television programs, a curious fan commented: “But u were on Reign and it says they paid u 15k for each episode”.

In response, the actress decided to break down those earnings for people to understand that there’s a lot more that goes into showbiz than just acting. While Adelaide Kane agreed that the question was fair, she decided to break down her average earnings over the last 14 years that she’s been working as an actor.

“Generally speaking the SAG minimum for a series regular on a network show is 20 grand per episode,” she started. “So say I did 78 episodes on Reign, that pairs out to $1.56 Million dollars [US] for four years of work, right?”

“Assuming that I’ve made $5 million in my entire career… 10 percent goes to my agent, 10 percent goes to my manager, 5 percent goes to my lawyer, 5 percent goes to my business manager, and then I get taxed a further 30 percent because I’m a foreign national working in the US,” Kane continued.

“So I lose 60 percent right off the bat, which leaves me with about $2.2 million over the last 14 years. If you average it out, that comes up to about $178,000-ish a year.”

Continuing her breakdown, Kane then explained that that $178,000 is then broken down into expensive rent, publicist fees, social media teams, hair and makeup artists, and stylists amount to approximately $6,000 a month in additional costs.

The TikTok breaking down her expenses quickly went viral, with people in disbelief over how little Adelaide Kane was actually left with at the end of the day — a far cry from the supposed $4 million she was worth.

But to ease the minds of her worried followers, Kane filmed a follow-up video to tell her fans that she was fine and had her savings to survive off of. The actress also explained that the “crippling debt” she spoke about was things like her mortgage and clarified that she wasn’t making the video for pity, but rather just to answer those who were curious.

“I know I earn more money than the average person, it wasn’t like a ‘poor me moment’,” Kane said. “It was just information. I’m sorry that a lot of people found it triggering. I was broke ass bitch when I moved to LA. I worked three jobs just to make rent. This is just for information purposes. My life is good.”