Who Is Erin Heatherton? New Details On Leonardo DiCaprio's Ex-Girlfriend Who Recently Filed For Bankruptcy
Mo'money, mo'problems.
Instagram She was a Victoria's Secret model who once dated Leonardo DiCaprio. Yet recently, she filed for bankruptcy. Who is Erin Heatherton?
The Blast recently obtained some documents that detailed Erin Heatherton’s numerous financial issues. According to a recent bankruptcy filing, the former supermodel — who once was the most in-demand “Victoria’s Secret angel” — has more than a half-million in debt.
The filing came as a shock to the entertainment industry, especially since Heatherton once lived a life of luxury that most would envy.
Let’s look at what we know about Erin Heatherton’s career…and what went wrong.
1. Her split with Leonardo DiCaprio was amicable.
According to People Magazine, Erin Heatherton and Leonardo DiCaprio dated very briefly in 2011. However, when they split, neither had anything bad to say about the other. All things considered, that’s quite commendable, especially since today’s high-profile celebrity couples go the extra mile to disparage each other in the press.
2. She once had a very enviable career.
A separate report for People Magazine detailed Erin Heatherton’s amazing career. At 17, she was discovered by a modeling agent while she was on vacation with a few friends in Miami. “All of a sudden he’s asking me questions. What agency was I with?” she told the outlet. “I almost fainted.”
Shortly after that first discovery, she made her debut walking the runway for Diane von Furstenberg. She then went on to model for a variety of companies, including Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, Jason Wu, Christian Lacroix, Desigual, and Carmen Marc Valvo. She also graced the covers of such magazines as Elle Russia, Elle France, Elle Serbia, GQ Spain, and GQ Germany.
3. She quit her Victoria’s Secret contract over their weight loss demands.
According to Fox News, Erin Heatherton made headlines back in 2013 when she announced that she was quitting Victoria’s Secret. Three years prior, she’d signed a multi-million dollar deal with them, and quickly became one of their most in-demand models.
However, according to Heatherton, she quit in a fury when the company told her to lose some weight.
“My last two Victoria’s Secret shows, I was told I had to lose weight. I look back like, 'Really?'” she said, adding that she went through a lot of “self-reflection” before ultimately deciding to leave the company.
4. Her financial troubles stem from her legal woes.
According to Mama Mia Magazine, most of Erin Heatherton’s financial troubles stem from her legal drama. The outlet reports that Heatherton’s former business partner, Clare Byrne, sued her for $10 million for breach of contract, after a deal for sportswear fell through. (In her Chapter 7 papers, Heatherton claimed that she still owed Byrne $100,000.) In 2016, her neighbor in New York City also successfully sued her for making “excessive noise” in her apartment. The State of New York also filed a lien against Erin Heatherton, claiming that she owed more than $41,000 in back taxes. Finally, she also owes $11,514 on one credit card, $9,485 on another and $194,602.49 on a third, plus owes more than $200,000 to City National Bank on a previously-obtained line of credit.
5. She has less than $7,000 in assets, and earned less than $5,000 this year.
There’s a saying in the entertainment industry: all that glitters isn’t gold. It’s important to not be fooled by what you see on Instagram about the so-called “high life” that many celebrities, “travel bloggers,” and “influencers” claim to be living — because more often than not, it’s little more than smoke & mirrors. Those who really have it don’t have to flaunt it.
And that’s the case with Erin Heatherton, too — according to The Blast, despite the fact that she claimed to live the “high life,” she only has $6464 in assets (which include $500 in clothes, less than $1000 in her checking account, and a Japanese jacket worth $750). She only makes $1089 a month, and of that, $221 a month comes from her friends and family. Finally, she also claimed that she made a total of $2820 in 2019.
Hopefully, Erin Heatherton gets back on her feet soon.
Bernadette Giacomazzo is an editor, writer, and photographer whose work has appeared in People, Teen Vogue, Us Weekly, The Source, XXL, HipHopDX, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, and more. She is also the author of The Uprising series. Find her online at www.bernadettegiacomazzo.com and www.longlivetheuprising.com.