Tisha Campbell, Gina on the sitcom Martin, says she once had $21 in her pocket at Christmas and had to choose between a $7 knife and extra toys for her kids. In the divorce, her husband of nearly 22 years got a Bentley.
She married actor Duane Martin, of All of Us, in 1996.
In the video below, she says: "I had nothing. Nothing in the bank. Nothing. I had maybe seven dollars to my name, and I was scared."
January 2016: The couple files for bankruptcy, listing over $15 million in debts and $313,000 in assets. Income: $7,655 a month. Expenses: $17,000.
February 2018: She files for divorce.
October 2018: She agrees to pay the bankruptcy trustee $115,000 to buy back the right to collect her own acting royalties. The trustee had already collected $300,000 of them.
December 2020: The divorce is final. No spousal support either way. She gets a leased BMW. He gets a 2014 Bentley.
The trustee sued Duane, accusing him of hiding assets under a company name, and accused the couple of diverting $50,000 in residuals. Duane denied concealing property.
July 2025, The Breakfast Club: A host says she had seven dollars left. "Actually, no," she says. "The story was I had $21 in my pocket and a knife cost seven dollars." On the bankruptcy: "I don't really understand how we went through the bankruptcy, honestly."
The math: over $16 million in debts discharged when the case closed. $115,000 to get her own royalties back.
Was paying $115,000 for her own royalties fair, or did she take on those debts when she filed with him?