Sometimes you just have to say what the heck?

At least that’s what they kept saying in the film Risky Business.

Risky Business is a 1983 American coming-of-age comedy film written and directed by Paul Brickman (in his directorial debut) and starring Tom Cruise and Rebecca De Mornay. The film covers themes including materialism, loss of innocence, coming of age, and capitalism. Known as Cruise’s breakout film, Risky Business was a critical and commercial success, grossing more than $63 million against a $6.2 million budget. The soundtrack was done by Tangerine Dream. The movie poster reads: There’s a time for playing it safe and a time for… Risky Business.

Meet the model son who’s been good too long.

However, the title of the post is Catwalking To Get Paid: Modeling Is Risky Business. So why is modeling risky business?

Well you are about to find out.

The film Risky Business was released on August 5, 1983. Joel had all the normal teenage fantasies…cars, girls, money. Then his parents left for a week, and all his fantasies came true. 

He was just a Chicago teenager looking for fun at home while his parents were away, but the situation quickly gets out of hand.

Speaking of dreams coming true and things getting out of hand; People magazine reported in the news this week that former Victoria’s Secret model Erin Heatherton (former girlfriend of Leonardo DiCaprio) has filed for bankruptcy owing
$560,242.13 in debts and having $6,464.57 in assets.

Like our protagonist in the film, she has goals of securing her future.

Joel (Tom Cruise) chose Princeton, but Erin chose modeling.

He is the model son.

She is the model.

How can it be possible to get in debt so bad that you have to take drastic measures such as filing for bankruptcy or starting, in Joel’s case, a brothel?

Keep reading and find out.

EVERY STORY HAS A BEGINNING AND LIFE IS BUT A DREAM

A suburban Chicago teenager’s parents leave on vacation, and he cuts loose. An unauthorised trip in his father’s Porsche means a sudden need for lots of money, which he raises in a creative way. While the cat’s away, the mice will play. After his overprotective parents leave town, Joel has some fun.

He plays loud music, dances around the house, and invites over a young woman named Lana (Rebecca De Mornay) from a house of ill repute. It will cost him. For her services, she charges him $300.

On a joyride, he later crashes his father’s Porsche and that’s when things really get crazy.

The model son turns into a enterprising young man indeed. Although this movie is pure fiction and for entertainment, the business of modeling, which is very lucrative and glamorous, also has its pitfalls.

Model Erin Heatherton was discovered by a model scout in South Beach Miam,i FL. She moved t New Yorl City to chase her dreams and launched her career in 2006 walking for Diane von Fürstenberg.

At the same age as Joel, 17, she began to focus on her future and started modeling for top designers such as Prada and Chanel.

She began walking in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in 2008.

In 2010, Heatherton was officially contracted as a Victoria’s Secret Angel. Then things begin to change after a few years.

ALL BUSINESS IS RISKY Going back to Joel, he knows he needs money fast to fix his father’s Porsche so he decides to be enterprising and recruits Lana to help him turn his parents house into a brothel for one night.

In Erin’s world, she is collecting paychecks and accumulating debt fast. She purchased a $1.7 million dollar home in 2012, then the very next year ended her contract with Victoria’s Secret in 2013.

In her bankruptcy filing she states she only makes $1,089.91 a month and $221 of that comes from family and friends.

So, now I have to ask that infamous question that keeps coming up in the movie, “What the F*ck?” How in the world did she go from catwalking for top designers to barely able to avoid the mortgage on her million-dollar price tag bachelorette pad?

After doing some digging, it seems that models are not all as rich as Gisele.

According to a website called Job Monkey, Models can make lots of money and depending on the type of modeling you do you can actually make a huge amount per day you work. … Photgraphic Model – You can earn anywhere from $100 per hour or $1,500 per day for catalogues and for advertising agencies $250 per hour or $10,000 per day is average.

According to Refinery, models can make the following:

Internationally-known mass brands:
Runway Show: $800 
Presentation: $1,000 
Runway Show: $1,000

Independent brands well-respected in the fashion community:
Runway Show: $1,500 in trade 
Runway Show: $800 in trade 
Runway Show: Trade (unspecified amount) 
Runway Show: $2,500 in trade 
Runway Show: $300 plus trade (unspecified amount) 
Runway Show: $1,000
Runway Show: $100 plus trade (unspecified amount)

Not exactly enough to buy that yacht yet.

Modeling is a young woman’s sport. Most models are considered over the hill by age 30. That would mean you need to make a boatload of money from ages 15-27.

Those are your peak earning years.

Very risky business indeed.

THERE IS ALWAYS A PRICE TO BE PAID

Joel succeeds in getting the funds necessary to fix the Porsche, but then he has to pay a pimp to get his furniture back that was stolen from his house while he was away. He tells Joel that he seems like a smart kid and to not mess with a man’s money during a bad economy. That night at his house cost the man money because the girl’s were working for Joel instead of him. Instead of making a profit Joel was in the hole.

In Erin’s case, so far this year, Heatherton says she’s made $2,820. She currently has $919 in her checking accounts and her living expenses are a little over $1,000 a month.

How can she possibly save making so little?

From ages 22 to 28, I doubled my income. No where near what a Victoria Secret model is earning, but still managed to start putting away $150 a month until I was able to ratchet it up a notch to $1,100 per month. I am basically saving the same amount PER MONTH what she needs to live on!

According to Complete Payroll, Average model salary Victoria’s Secret Models are among the highest paid models in the world. These women make anywhere between $100,000-$1,000,000 a year, on average. However, the paychecks increase due to seniority and fame. Some of the most experienced models, like Gisele Bundchen and Adriana Lima, earn significantly more.

I have reviewed dozens of bankruptcy filings of celebrities over the years. Ms. Heatherton hit every mark that generally throws people’s finances into a tailspin.

Owe IRS. Check. Tons of credit card debt. Check. The list goes on and on.

The usual suspects are living beyond your means.

It just so happens I discuss this topic of bankruptcy more in detail in a post I did on the film about models in The Devil Wears Prada. What a coincidence?

See my post 5 Pieces of Money Advice From The Devil Wears Prada

IT WILL COST YOU Joel hands over his cash he made on that incredible night to get his parent’s furniture back. It cost him EVERY CENT HE MADE!

As for Erin, she currently owes $11,514 on one credit card, $9,485 on another and $194,602.49 on a third — adding up to $215,601.49, the outlet reported. Heatherton owes City National an additional $201,000 for a separate line of credit. She also owes $41,000 in back taxes to the state of New York.

She owes over$416,000 in credit card debt! That is more than most people owe in student loans. And she is has no degrees and is not a doctor, lawyer, MBA-holder, or CPA!

She also sold her Manhattan apartment for $2.68 million last year in 2018.

Makes you wonder where all her money went?

At the end of the film, Joel and Lana meet up after everything that went down. They are still friends. She tells him that she wants to keep on seeing him; he jokes that it will cost her.