Bill Cosby’s Net Worth Affected After Jail Release: Still A Millionaire?

Two years into a three-to-ten-year sentence for sexual assault, Bill Cosby was released from prison on Wednesday. 

Who is Bill Cosby?

For decades in Hollywood, the 83-year-old icon made hundreds of millions of dollars and was once the highest-paid television actor in the world. He is best known for his work on “The Cosby Show.” According to Celebrity Net Worth, he is worth $400 million.

This might change, though, as his lawsuit apparently cost him millions of dollars, according to the publication. In addition, Cosby may be forced to pay millions in damages.

In the 1960s, Cosby began his career as a stand-up comic, appearing on venues around the country. In 1961, he performed at the Gaslight Cafe in New York City after making his debut in Philadelphia bars. During the next two years, he appeared on “The Tonight Show” and went on to create a series of popular comedy albums.

“The Bill Cosby Show,” which he starred in in 1969, depicted him as a high school PE instructor in Los Angeles. After two seasons of “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids,” Bill Cosby conceived, hosted, and produced “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids,” a successful cartoon series.

However, it was in the 1980s that he produced “The Cosby Show,” which aired from 1984 to 1992 and went on to become one of the most popular sitcoms in television history.

 

Bill Cosby’s wealth

People magazine stated in 1985 that Cosby was making $1.1 million a year from his programme. That same year, Caesars Palace in Las Vegas hired him for six 6-week stints. Cosby allegedly received $2.52 million for the two-year contract.

 

According to ActiveNoon, Cosby was paid a total of $1 million every year by Coca-Cola and Jell-O to endorse their products, and he also delivered $50,000 per lecture over the summer.

 

In 1986 and 1987, Forbes declared the actor the world’s highest-paid entertainment director after he allegedly made a total of $84 million in two years.

 

A half-hour episode of “The Cosby Show” was sold for $4 million in 1988, according to the Chicago Tribune. By Celebrity Net Worth’s estimate, Cosby received $166 million from the sale of his 20% stake in the show’s revenues.

 

“The Cosby Show” repeatedly produced $1.5 billion in revenue over the past two decades, according to Forbes in 2017.

 

Why was Bill Cosby convicted?

Andrea Constand, a woman who claims Cosby drugged and assaulted her at his Philadelphia home in 2004, also came out in the same year. Claims of sexual assault were refuted by Cosby at the time and he claimed she gave him her permission. It’s not the first time that he’s been accused by more than 50 women of wrongdoing dating back to the 1960s, including groping and sexual assault.

 

In 2018, Cosby was sentenced to between three and ten years in jail for molesting Constand. After the Pennsylvania Supreme Court reversed his sexual assault conviction, Cosby was freed from jail on Wednesday, according to the New York Times.

 

In 1983, Bill and Camille Cosby acquired their Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, property for $225,000, according to real estate documents cited by Fox Business.