Today I thought I’d unveil a new series focused on celebrities and their money. It’s not going to be a regular series – I’ll only post when I find relevant articles. If you have a link to a celebrity and money, feel free to contact me.

The first feature comes from an unlikely source (at least for the Lazy Man)… Self magazine. My wife has subscribed to the magazine for the past couple of years. While doing a little re-organization of the junk that I’m too lazy to clean, I came across the October 2007 issue. It features Sarah Michelle Gellar on the cover. As an obsessed fan of the Buffy the Vampire series, I was curious what she’s up to nowadays. I lost track of her career when she started doing Scooby Doo and The Grudge.

Well it seems like Scooby Doo, The Grudge, and some cartoon voices were the big career things. The article focused more on her life outside of work. This is what people want to read anyway. While some magazines make headlines out of Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan, Self took Sarah (I’ve watched enough Buffy to pretend I’m on a first name basis with her) and her relatively boring life.

Here are the money related from the magazine:

• Her transportation – For the first season of Buffy, it was a Chrysler LeBaron… “You hear about people… get their first pilot and get the Porsches…, but I just couldn’t do that.” Now she just uses a bike to get around New York City, “It’s bright pink, with the bell and streamers… it has Hello Kitty tires.” You can’t beat the frugality, but the image just made me throw up in my mouth a little.
• Upbringing – “I was raised by a single mom. Finances were tight.” She took up acting at age 4 in an attempt to make a little extra money for private school. She notes, “100 commercials still doesn’t cover a private school education.”
• Frugality – While she has birthday parties on two separate coasts (I suppose it’s tough to have half your friends in NYC and half in LA), she saves money just like us. “I take my reusable bag to Whole Foods, so I get a discount. I go to Bloomingdale’s on double-rewards days. I always print my dry cleaning coupons before I go.” I guess all of us can’t afford to shop at Whole Paycheck, but other than that, you have to commend her.
• Charity – She chooses to support CARE whose main mission is to fight global poverty. The only way Sarah would do the interview is if she got to promote the charity which, of course, Self had no problems with.

One can never be sure if all the things said of stars are true. However, I believe there’s some truth to every story. I’m inclined to believe that Britney and Lindsay have “some issues”, while, in general, Sarah is a money-smart star.