Dom Joly, the star of Trigger Happy TV, has admitted he worries he will “die in savage poverty” after revealing he has no pension. The 58-year-old, known for BBC’s World Shut Your Mouth and ITV’s I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, said he is in a “financial spiral” following his marriage to art editor Stacey.
Creative career ‘price to pay’
Speaking to The i, he acknowledged there is a “price to pay” for working in the creative industry. He said: “The people I mocked for commuting to sensible jobs are now retiring with pensions, while I spent my mornings dressed as a squirrel shouting: ‘F**k you.’ Accessing the strange part of your brain that produces comedy may also open the door to something darker. One day, everything is exciting; the next, the diary is empty.”
He added: “I should have married an accountant or lawyer who could do the finances. I panic about money but I have had the best 30 years imaginable. Whenever I made money, I spent it and took my children to extraordinary places. I have no pension – just a financial spiral.”
Advice to his younger self
Joly said that if he could speak to his younger self, his advice would be to “get a pension and never sell the flat in Notting Hill”. He continued: “I have travelled, made things I am proud of, embarrassed my family and spent almost all the money. I just hope I don’t die in savage poverty.”
He previously admitted regretting the sale of his Notting Hill flat to author Salman Rushdie. He told Mail Online it was his “biggest money mistake”, saying: “If I’d held onto it, I’d never have needed to work again.”
Property regrets
Joly bought the flat for £117,000 in 1992, later purchasing the flat below for £220,000 and combining them. The property sold for £1.3 million, but by 2024 it was worth £12 million. He told the publication he did the same with a house in the Cotswolds “before it became full of Londoners and totally unbearable”.
