Kevin Bacon talks about how he and his wife lost “most of our money” to Bernie Madoff’s massive Ponzi scheme.
Appearing on this week’s episode of Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes Podcast “Smartless”The 64-year-old “Footloose” star explained that he and his wife Kyra Sedgewick were among Madoff’s 40,000 victims.
He was drawn to the promise of a high return on his investment with Madoff, but in hindsight, the bewildering numbers should have been a warning sign. “There are clear lessons in life,” Bacon said. “If something is too good to be true, it is too good to believe.”
It is estimated that Madoff’s massive fraud scheme stole customers valued at $65 billion.
Despite the massive financial hit he’s taken, Bacon admitted he doesn’t expect to receive much sympathy for what he experienced.
“I guess people wouldn’t be happy to hear me whine about money,” he said.
In fact, despite saying he was “furious” at the time, Bacon remained well aware that he was still in a relatively fortunate position compared to some of Madoff’s other victims.
“There were a lot of people who were a lot worse off than we are now – old people, people whose retirement money was completely destroyed,” he said. “There will always be someone who will be a lot worse than you.”
There are clear life lessons out there – if something is too good to be true, it’s too good to be true.
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