She was one of the most dazzling femme fatales of 1990’s cinema who seemed destined to join the upper echelons of Hollywood’s A-List.
But Linda Fiorentino’s spectacular early success fizzled out – and now the Daily Mail can reveal that the Men in Black actress, who has not been photographed in public since 2010, is in severe financial peril.
Fiorentino, 67, exploded into public view by playing gravel-voiced schemer Bridget Gregory in low budget 1994 thriller The Last Seduction.
Made for HBO, the movie’s clever plotlines and Fiorentino’s flawlessly villainous performance saw it hailed as one of the all-time great film noirs.
Critics and viewers agreed that Fiorentino deserved an Oscar for her unforgettable star turn, but the movie was ineligible for any Academy Awards because it was shown on TV before being released in movie theaters.
Sex and the City character Samantha Jones, played by Kim Cattrall, hailed Fiorentino’s character Bridget as her inspiration in the pilot episode of the seminal sitcom.
And Fiorentino so-impressed Hollywood executives that she won the leading lady role of Dr Laurel Weaver in 1997’s Men in Black.
Sadly, it was to prove the pinnacle of Fiorentino’s Hollywood career, with the star now down to her last $10,000 after running up $300,000 in credit card and loan debt.
The Daily Mail has learned that Fiorentino filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in California in 2023.
Those bankruptcy filings revealed that Fiorentino owed money on 20 different store cards, owed over $93,000 in back taxes and $57,412 on her American Express cards.
Linda Fiorentino is pictured with Antonio Sabato Jr. at a Washington DC gala in 2010. It is the last time she was photographed in public, with the actress subsequently suffering severe financial distress
Linda Fiorentino is pictured with Will Smith in 1997’s Men in Black – a huge role which ended up being the pinnacle of her Hollywood career
One of the most poignant insights into Fiorentino’s reduced circumstances is offered by the inventory of her personal possessions included in her bankruptcy filings.
She said the value of her jewelry box comes to just $160, with its contents listed as including ‘Urban Outfitters small hoop earrings’ ‘Satya Bead Necklace’ and a ‘Starburst necklace.’
Fiorentino once bestrode Hollywood red carpets in breathtaking designer dresses, but said in the filings that the total value of her wardrobe comes to $475, with its contents listed only as ‘used women’s clothing.’
She noted the value of her furniture and electronics totals around $1,300, with the inventory including ‘2 broken digital cameras’
Like many celebrities, Fiorentino had a massive line of credit, racking up debt to more than 40 creditors.
The actress failed to pay off her charges at Bloomingdales, Saks Fifth Ave, Lord & Taylor, Neiman Marcus, Ann Taylor, Athleta, Nordstrom, Macys, JCrew, Pottery Barn, West Elm, Gap, Banana Republic and Crate & Barrel.
She seemingly overspent at low-price retailers too, as the bankruptcy petition included balances on her Walmart, Kohl’s, Target, Lowes and Amazon cards as well.
She had several cards with JP Morgan Chase, Citibank and Capital One – all of which she failed to repay.
Fiorentino pictured as Bridget Gregory in 1994 thriller The Last Seduction. Her performance saw her hailed as one of the greatest movie villains ever, but Fiorentino struggled to maintain the momentum the role brought to her career
Fiorentino is pictured in 1994 after the release of The Last Seduction, which turned her into an overnight star
Fiorentino is pictured at the 1997 premiere of Men in Black in California. Sixteen years later she filed for bankruptcy, the vestiges of her glittering Hollywood career long gone
Fiorentino also seemingly struggled to pay her household bills, with Verizon Wireless and rental company Equity Residential being listed among the creditors.
She owed money to multiple medical practices across New York City and had defaulted on her union dues to the Screen Actors Guild, the bankruptcy filing showed.
The actress revealed her monthly income to be $5,323, meaning she was earning just shy of $64,000 per year.
Fiorentino, despite listing her rent and mortgage expenses as $0, declared that her monthly living expenses were $4,065.
Although her salary could seemingly cover the costs of her day-to-day living, the remaining $1,258 that hits her account each month was nowhere near enough to cover the minimum payments on her credit card accounts.
The filing does not specify what her minimum payments were, but most credit cards have an annual percentage rate between 20 and 24 percent.
Her Amex Gold Card alone, with a balance of $57,412 and an estimated APR of 20 percent, would likely require a minimum monthly payment of $2,296 – 4 percent of her total balance.
At the time of the filing, Fiorentino disclosed that she had $226 in cash and only $4,145 in her checking account. She also held $2,713 with the Screen Actors Guild from royalties and residuals for her work.
Fiorentino in The Last Seduction. Sex and the City character Samantha Jones said the femme fatale was the inspiration for her own behavior in the seminal sitcom
Fiorentino has not owned a home many years, according to publicly available property records.
She sold her stunning colonial home in Westport, Connecticut for $1.1 million in January 2015. The actress bought the property in 1997 for $578,000.
She was living in a $1.2 million home in Los Angeles in 2022, although it appears she may have rented the residence as she was not listed on any publicly accessible deeds associated with the address.
The bankruptcy filing disclosed her current address as a family home in rural New Jersey, near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that realty websites estimate is worth around $386,000.
But when the Daily Mail visited the property, Fiorentino’s sister Ellen told us that the actress did not reside in the home.
Ellen did, however, confirm that she was in regular contact with Fiorentino and revealed she currently lives on the east coast.
Fiorentino maintains a PO box in Brooklyn, but staff at the facility said they had not seen her when presented with a photograph of the star.
The Daily Mail visited three properties linked to the star through public records, but Fiorentino was not living at any of them.
Linda Fiorentino and Harvey Weinstein during the NYC premiere of Trainspotting in 1996. Fiorentino was not featured in the film, but Weinstein’s company was involved in its distribution
The once critically-acclaimed star has essentially made herself invisible. She has no online presence and did not appear on any publicly accessible content shared on her family members’ social media accounts.
There was no mention of Fiorentino in a March 2024 obituary for her mother, Clorinda, whom she was named after. Ellen, her other siblings and numerous grandchildren were named on the death notice.
Philadelphia-born Fiorentino, whose film credits date back to the mid 80s, first gained global fame for her performance in the The Last Seduction.
She appeared in a big budget erotic thriller called Jade in 1995, which flopped and which sparked fears the dark-haired actress was at risk of being typecast.
The role in Men in Black helped reset Fiorentino’s career trajectory and she was tipped to star in the movie’s successful sequel.
But a feud with co-star Tommy Lee Jones, who called her ‘difficult to work with’, saw Fiorentino ousted from the film. Jones reportedly refused to be in the sequel if she was in the cast.
Rumors about Fiorentino’s workplace demeanor only worsened when Dogma director Kevin Smith said he regretted casting her as the lead in the hit 1999 comedy instead of Janeane Garofalo.
Smith went as far as claiming she ‘created crisis and trauma and anguish’ on set. He claimed she refused to do any promotional shoots and accused her of “going nuts” after they photoshopped her face on another person’s body for a poster.
Linda Fiorentino as Carol in the 2000 film Where The Money Is, directed by Marek Kanievska
Fiorentino, seen in 1985’s Vision Quest, was regarded by her Hollywood colleagues as being ‘difficult to work with’
Rumors also flew that she rejected advances from the film’s producer Harvey Weinstein, which led him to blackball her in the industry.
These claims have never been substantiated and although Weinstein has been accused of sexual assault by multiple women, Fiorentino has not made any accusations against him.
Scandal continued to engulf the star in 2007 when her then-boyfriend FBI agent Mark Rossini was charged with unauthorized access of agency computers.
Rossini downloaded confidential files about Hollywood private investigator Anthony Pellicano, who was on trial for racketeering, wiretapping and conspiracy. Pellicano was also Fiorentino’s ex.
According to the Justice Department, Rossini gave a copy of the FBI report to someone he shared a ‘close personal relationship,’ who then shared it with Pellicano’s attorney to aid in his defense.
Although Fiorentino is not named in the DOJ report, her involvement in the case was widely reported at the time. She was not charged with any crime.
Kevin Smith announced last November that he is making a sequel to Dogma and told SciFiNow that ever member of the original cast can have ‘place at the table.’
He revealed that A-listers Matt Damon and Ben Affleck will be in the film, but given their own busy schedules will likely have minor roles in the project.
Linda Fiorentino at the 1994 Deauville American Film Festival in France
Smith highlighted how it is not possible for all of the cast to return, specifically naming George Carlin and Alan Rickman, both of whom have died. He did not mention Fiorentino, but it seems like she could have a part if she wanted.
The director previously addressed his feud with Fiorentino in a 2018 interview with the Daily Beast, claiming they never had a falling out, but ‘hadn’t spoken’ in years.
He shared how Fiorentino emailed him after he suffered a heart attack. He said her outreach ‘gave me a chance to say I’m so sorry’ and a ‘chance to make amends’ for the remark he made about Garofalo.
‘I know it hurt her feelings and really unnecessarily because I always loved her performance in the movie,’ he said, adding that Fiorentino was ‘great’.
Millions of movie fans would no doubt agree – and will fervently hope that a late-career comeback could rehabilitate Fiorentino’s finances and cement her place in the Hollywood pantheon of greats.
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