With oodles of money at their fingertips, celebrities live and spend lavishly on items most of us can only dream about. They also drop large sums of cash on things most of us have never even begun to dream about. Even those with humble roots often end up making purchases that can range from over-the-top and wasteful to downright bizarre and tacky -- once they hit it big.
Cost: $250,000
Who doesn't like a good bottle of champagne? Especially when you're celebrating. For Jay-Z, apparently nothing but the best will do. And by best we mean the most ridiculously expensive. The famous rapper-turned-business-mogul spent what some people pay for a house on champagne when in Miami promoting the release of the 2011 album "Watch the Throne." The bubbly in question was Ace of Spades, and Jay-Z ordered numerous bottles while partying at LIV Nightclub. The lucky waiters at the club walked away with a $50,000 tip for dutifully keeping Jay-Z's champagne glass full.
Cost: $100,000
Beyoncé and Jay-Z are a match made in heaven. While he's busy dropping a quarter-million dollars on champagne, she is off buying the world's most expensive leggings. (And that's only the tip of the iceberg with these two.) At the 2007 BET Awards, the diva wore a pair of Balenciaga leggings that were made of actual gold. Because nothing but the best for Bey.
Cost: $750,000
Apparently President Donald Trump is the only one who likes his household items coated in gold. Kimye also feel the need to surround themselves in similarly tacky decor. The over-the-top-in-every way couple dropped a load of dough on four gold-plated toilets for their home, but it's a drop in the bucket for these two attention-hungry personalities.
Cost: $276,000
Most kids love dinosaurs. It's a phase they go through around age 5, obsessing over all things Tyrannosaurus- and Velociraptor-related. Apparently it's a phase Oscar-winning actor Nicolas Cage never quite put behind him. The mega-star bought the 67-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus skull by outbidding Leonardo DiCaprio, another celebrity with too much money to spare. As it turns out, the paleontologist who sold Cage the skull later pleaded guilty to illegally importing fossils from Mongolia and China.
Cost: $22,400 per week
Here's a tip for those just embarking on their career and weighing the options. Consider being a celebrity hairstylist. The pay can be remarkable. Take Rihanna for instance. She pays her stylist, Ursula Stephen, a staggering sum each week that's nearly as much as some blue-collar workers make in a year.
Cost: $50,000
File this one under: Who knew this type of gadget even existed? Lady Gaga's belief in ghosts apparently led her to buy a ghost detector. Yes, a ghost detector. Wanting to know where ghosts are at all times, Gaga purchased an electromagnetic field meter. It's a tool used by professional ghost hunters to detect electrically charged objects. If the movie "Poltergeist" comes to mind, you're not far off track.
Cost: $100,000
Batman is cool. Kids like to dress up as Batman for Halloween. There have been some pretty memorable Batman movies. Justin Bieber, however, took the Batman craze to his own special, indulgent-celebrity level when he spent six figures for a customized Batmobile. The vehicle includes a Batman logo on the grill, a matte-black paint job, and suicide doors. Because Bieber practically is Batman, isn't he?
Cost: $17,000
Nice mattresses are great right? Nothing better than a first-class night's sleep. But Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame has taken that concept to a new level. When he was just 17, the actor spent lavishly on a mattress. Talk about a purchase most 17-year-olds could never afford. The mattress in question was made out of horsehair and fleece wool and was hand-sewn. No word on whether the special mattress significantly improved Radcliffe's slumber or if he still had nightmares about Voldemort and Severus Snape.
Cost: $125,000
Wouldn't it be nice to drive a Range Rover? After all, Miley Cyrus' dogs do. That's right. The singer and offspring of Billy Ray Cyrus is serious about her dogs driving in style. Cyrus is so concerned about the comfort of her canine companions that she popped for a Range Rover Sport exclusively to transport her dogs Happy, Bean, Floyd, Mary Jane, and Penny Lane. The dogs are even allowed to scratch the car and leave the upholstery covered in hair. A dog's life, indeed.
Cost: $1,500
Most folks spend life flying economy class, perhaps splurging on economy-plus now and then when they want to live large. But for a legendary rocker like Bono, first class and private jets are a given, which should not be surprising. What is eyebrow-raising, however, is that he even buys first class for his personal belongings. Well, one belonging. A hat. During a trip to Italy the U2 crooner reportedly realized he'd forgotten to bring along his favorite trilby hat. Rather than suck it up and go on with his vacation without it, Bono arranged for the hat to be flown to him with a first class ticket on British Airways. For a hat. To fly in first class. Think about that for awhile.
Cost: Over $2.4 million
What is it with celebrities and surrounding themselves in gold? Retired boxer and ear biter Mike Tyson bought his former wife Robin Givens a $2 million gold-plated bathtub for her birthday. This is only one of Tyson's extravagant purchases. He also famously bought three white Bengal tigers during his heyday. Each tiger cost $70,000 to own and $200,000 to feed.
Cost: $33,000
A woman known for her style, no ordinary phone will do for former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham. Her phone is a custom made iPhone with 150 grams of 24-karat gold. (Yes, another celebrity dazzled by gold). The phone was designed by Stuart Hughes. For those who would like to join in on the gold-coated fun, Hughes also has a solid gold iPad up for grabs as well as a Rolls Royce Phantom with solid-gold features. Tacky apparently knows no bounds.
Cost: $30,000
New Zealand supermodel Rachel Hunter is another celeb who will settle for nothing but the best for her dogs. She spent the equivalent of a year's college tuition and some people's annual salary on a doghouse. The doghouse in question was built by custom doghouse artists at La Petite Maison and is a red clay-roofed mansion large enough for a human and complete with terra-cotta floors. That's one lucky dog.
Cost: $10,000 a month
One of the planet's most legendary divas, it should be no surprise that Madonna has made some pretty unusual purchases in her lifetime. Among the most noteworthy, she spent $10,000 per month on blessed Kabbalah water in 2008. She even had the water shipped to her wherever she was in the world. Because ordinary water would never do when you are Madonna.
Cost: $30,000 a month
Johnny Depp is a fine actor, among the best. And he has been rewarded handsomely for his skills. So what does he do with all that money? Here's one example of his widely reported extravagant lifestyle. Depp spends $30,000 each month on wine, having it shipped to wherever he is. Because really, who can live with anything less?
Cost: $5,200
A diva in the making, Beyoncé and Jay-Z's daughter Blue Ivy gets nothing but the best, of course. Kelly Rowland bought a Swarovski-crystal-studded baby bathtub for the little tyke, putting baby shower gifts everywhere to shame (well, except in the Kardashian household perhaps). Bottom line, when you're attending the baby shower of music royalty, and the baby's mom is known for dropping $100,000 on leggings, an ordinary bathtub simply will not do. Rowland clearly got the message.
Cost: $200,000
If you can't be an astronaut, you can always buy your way into space. Celebrities do. Ashton Kutcher aims to be the 500th person to go into space via Virgin Galactic's SpaceShip Two. It remains unclear when the flight will actually take place.
Cost: $2,000 a month
Glitter is fun. It makes things sparkly. Ke$ha apparently loves the stuff. So much so that she spends thousands on jars of glitter every month. Doesn't she know jars of the glitter can be purchased at craft stores far and wide for just a few dollars? The singer also told Jimmy Kimmel that she employs a glitter specialist to follow her around and ensure she is always covered in an appropriate amount of sparkle. "Speechless" might be a good word at this point.
Cost: Undisclosed
When you're super famous, it's best to just fly your own plane rather than mingle with the commoners. John Travolta gets it. Well, perhaps he went a little overboard. Travolta owns five planes. Among them a Boeing 747 made for Qantas. He also has a runway at his Orlando, Florida, house. Though he has never disclosed the cost of his little airplane hobby, he's probably saving a lot on first-class tickets with commercial carriers.
Cost: $20 Million
Wouldn't it be nifty to own a town and you know ... be in charge of well, everything? Oh wait, Kim Basinger already beat you to it. Basinger bought most of Braselton, Georgia, years ago (1,751 of its 2,000 acres). She paid a whopping $20 million for the purchase. Her goal was to turn the town into a theme park and film production studio. The plan didn't quite pan out, however, and the star later sold Braselton for $1 million. Let's give her the prize for the most foolish celebrity purchase.