Ian Somerhalder is usually known for playing the charming, indestructible Damon Salvatore on The Vampire Diaries, but the actor just revealed a real-life struggle that was far more terrifying than anything in Mystic Falls.
Speaking at the Beverage Forum in Manhattan Beach on Tuesday, April , the -year-old actor shocked fans by detailing the massive financial upheaval that led to his retirement from acting seven years ago. According to Somerhalder, he and his wife, Twilight star Nikki Reed, were forced to climb out of a staggering “eight-figure” debt.
“I left an insanely lucrative career in television after financial upheaval from building a business that I didn’t build properly,” Somerhalder told E! News. “And due to fraud, it put my wife and I into an eight-figure hole.”
A Business Nightmare
The trouble began while Somerhalder was still starring in his hit CW series. He had invested heavily in a clean energy company, making “huge personal guarantees to banks” to get the venture off the ground. However, the actor says the dream quickly turned into a nightmare due to “greed and fraud” within the company and a major customer’s fraudulent activities.
The collapse of the oil and gas industry at the time acted as the final straw. Instead of relaxing after eight seasons of one of the world’s biggest TV shows, Somerhalder found himself in a desperate race to save his family’s future.
“It all came crashing down,” he admitted, reflecting on the moments he made promises to lenders he couldn’t keep. “I should have been retiring… instead of starting companies that were not gonna pay me possibly ever.”
Nikki Reed to the Rescue
The internet is currently praising Nikki Reed, , after Ian credited her as the mastermind behind their financial recovery. The actor revealed that the couple had to take extreme measures to settle their debts, selling off houses, paintings, cars, and watches.
Somerhalder previously took to Instagram to gush about his wife’s “unwavering support” during the darkest days of the crisis. He described how Reed assembled a legal team and spent years at the negotiating table to find a way out of the mess.
“This woman here decided that she didn’t want to see her husband ruin his body, mind, and spirit,” he wrote in a heartfelt post. “She devoted her life to getting me out of that mess and it almost killed her along the way.”
Fans React to the “Whirlwind” Romance
The couple, who recently celebrated their th wedding anniversary on April , has long been a favorite for fans of the vampire genre. Seeing a real-life “vampire crossover” couple navigate such a grounded and stressful situation has sparked plenty of conversation on X and TikTok.
“Nikki Reed is literally a superhero,” one fan commented on social media. “To negotiate your way out of tens of millions in debt while raising a family is legendary.” Others expressed surprise at the sheer scale of the loss, with one user noting, “It’s wild that even top-tier TV stars can be one bad business deal away from losing it all.”
Today, the couple is focused on their life away from the cameras, raising their -year-old daughter, Bodhi, and their -year-old son. While Somerhalder may have left his “insanely lucrative” acting career behind, he seems more than happy to have traded the red carpet for a fresh start with the woman who stood by him in the trenches.
