Las Vegas has been the musical emergency room for entertainers for decades, resuscitating countless acts that had ventured dangerously close to the realm of irrelevancy. For songstress Toni Braxton, however, it has been her personal hell.
Braxton, most famous for the smash ’90s hit “Unbreak My Heart,” was literally broken by a convergence of separate circumstances in Vegas that have left her at bankruptcy’s door for the second time.
When Braxton signed on for a multi-year run at the popular Flamingo Hotel & Casino on the Vegas Strip, most people believed that the gig would be a financial windfall as it has been for countless superstars from Elvis to Diana Ross to Prince and everyone in between. But an insurance glitch left the beauty queen virtually penniless.
Braxton, a relative told TMZ, took out “show insurance” through the world-famous Lloyd’s of London back in 2006. But Braxton’s well-known heart problem forced the singer to pull the plug on the prized gig. According to the relative, Braxton had racked up quite a debt at the hotel and they wanted their ends.
Seems reasonable. Just one problem: Lloyd’s of London believes Braxton lied to them by not disclosing her pre-existing condition and refused to cover her massive expenses. Lloyd’s rendered the policy null and void. The Flamingo and many other creditors now have their hands out and Braxton doesn’t have anything to put in them.
The relative says Braxton’s downward financial spiral has left her virtually homeless. –terry shropshire
