‘Gum advert made me $300k in two hours’
The US supermodel Janice Dickinson reflects on going from earning tens of thousands of dollars a day to losing it all. By Samantha Rea
Since Janice Dickinson’s supermodel career launched in the 1970s, she has racked up 50 magazine covers and countless catwalks. Dickinson was a judge on America’s Next Top Model and had her own series, The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency. Possibly best known in the UK for ITV’s I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, Dickinson first took part in 2007, returning in 2023 for the All Stars series. In between she’s been a housemate on Celebrity Big Brother, and cooked up a storm on Celebrity Come Dine with Me.
Dickinson has survived breast cancer and bankruptcy. She has two children, Nathan, 34 and Savannah, 29, as well as a grandson, Leo, one. A granddaughter, Talulah, is due to arrive in the summer. Now 68 she lives with husband, retired psychiatrist Dr Roger “Rocky” Gerner in Los Angeles.
HOW DID YOUR CHILDHOOD INFLUENCE YOUR ATTITUDE TOWARDS MONEY?
We didn’t have a lot of money when I was growing up. My father was a merchant marine and my mother was a nurse. I had two sisters and we grew up in Hollywood, Florida – between Miami and Fort Lauderdale.
We lived in a bungalow with four bedrooms and three bathrooms. It was on an acre of land, 12 blocks from the beach, within bicycle riding distance, so I could go every day. It was fun and I took up watersports at an early age, so I’d be sailing, surfing, fishing and waterskiing. We didn’t have the money to go to many places on holiday. We’d go to the Bahamas or Jamaica.
WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST JOB? My first job was at a pizza parlour. I was 14 but I lied about my age and told them I was 18. I worked there for a couple of years around school, until they found out my real age. I was still too young to work there so they let me go. I was probably earning minimum wage.
ARE YOU A SAVER OR A SPENDER? I’m a spender. I spend on fashion. I buy shoes, purses, dresses, evening dresses, jackets, lingerie and bathing suits.
The most expensive shoes I’ve bought were $3,000 (£2,630). They’re Louis Vuitton and they’re covered in gems, in all sorts of colours. I got them a year and a half ago to wear to a gala. I have a Chanel handbag that was $6,000. It’s black canvas with tweed and it has
Chanel Rue Cambon printed on the back. It’s beautiful. I love swimwear. I like the French brand Eres. I have an electric blue Eres bikini that was $395 for the top. The bottom was $150.
DO YOU INVEST IN SHARES? My husband does, for me. He’s in charge of the cha cha. We bought some B-grade bonds in July last year when the interest rate was over 7pc. As interest rates go down, the value shoots up, so later this year we’ll probably make 50pc.
HAVE YOU INVESTED IN PROPERTY?
In 2018 we bought two houses in Marina del Rey [California]. We remodelled them, then sold them in 2019 and 2020, making a 20pc profit on each one. We should have kept them though – they’d be worth a lot more now.
We’ve lived in our home in LA since September 2016. It has five bedrooms, five bathrooms, a den, a big kitchen, a dining room, a couple of rooms for children or maids, and a couple of rooms for guests. It’s worth $1.7m.
WHAT’S YOUR BEST FINANCIAL DECISION?
I didn’t make much for my magazine covers – but doing them helped me get the more commercial stuff that pays better. I’ve been on the cover of 37 times and I got paid $75 a day. I’ve been on the cover of Playboy – they paid a few hundred dollars. Magazines figure we should pay them for the prestige of being on the cover. That’s why they don’t really pay but it helped my career.
WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR WORST FINANCIAL DECISION? Selling off the real estate we had.
HAVE YOU SAVED FOR RETIREMENT?
I got a pension in 2016 when I married Rocky. He got me involved in it. I wish I had started a pension much earlier.
WHAT’S THE BEST THING YOU’VE BOUGHT?
My husband’s wedding ring, and taking a three-week trip to Italy together in 2019. We stayed in suites, eating the whole way through Rome, Venice, Florence and Milan. We saw every church there was. I kind of wore out my heels.
WHAT’S THE WORST THING YOU’VE BOUGHT?
I asked my husband for a gold Rolex and he got me one, but it’s self-winding. Every time I put it on, I have to ask him to reset the watch because it hasn’t been self-wound.
WHAT’S BEEN YOUR MOST LUCRATIVE WORK?
I made $300,000 in two hours making a commercial for Orbit chewing gum. That was in the 2000s. In the 1980s I got several commercials from Japanese clients, where my day rate was $30,000.
Gianni Versace used to pay $10,000 a catwalk show, and I did all his shows. I did four a year. Out of the reality TV shows, I’m a Celebrity is the show I’ve been paid the most for. I’m not supposed to disclose how much I got, but if it’s one price, I’ll say, quadruple it.
HAVE YOU EVER STRUGGLED FINANCIALLY?
The way my industry works is, when I’m hot. I’m hot, and when I’m not, I’m not. When I’m hot I get booked. When I’m not, the money doesn’t come in.
In 2013 I went bankrupt for a lot. A million dollars? Probably. I lost track of what I was spending. Going bankrupt was the right decision at that time because, what else could I do? Break it up into payment plans? The amount was too large for me to do that.
WHAT’S YOUR BEST BUSINESS DECISION?
I took photographs of celebrities for magazines. I was doing it on the side from the early 1990s, because I figured I might as well pick up a job I could do after I quit modelling. The photography lasted for 20 years, then my eyes went bad – but I still model. They haven’t let me hang my heels up yet.
WHAT’S YOUR WORST BUSINESS DECISION?
Telling women to steal their husbands’ wallets in the middle of the night and buy jewellery. It got me fired from the Home Shopping Network. HR didn’t think that was appropriate.