Hayley Mills, the child star of Disney classics such as The Parent Trap, has revealed that a dishonest financial adviser helped her lose much of her fortune. The 80-year-old actress shared her story on Gyles Brandreth’s Rosebud Podcast, explaining how she was encouraged by solicitor Stanley Passmore to place her earnings into a trust.
Passmore had previously worked with Mills’s father, actor Sir John Mills. “Stanley also advised Daddy, and not very well,” she said. Brandreth noted that her father’s naivety and optimism contributed to the poor advice. The trust was later hit by the 90 per cent super-tax rate imposed after the Second World War.
When she turned 21, Mills recalled being handed an envelope from the Inland Revenue demanding 90 per cent of her earnings. “Stanley laughed and said, ‘Well, I think it means you have to move to America [for work].’ And that’s all he ever said. He was a crook. He didn’t give a flying Dutchman,” she said.
Mills sought legal advice and appealed to the British government but lost, costing her millions of dollars. In a 2021 interview with The Times, she expressed regret over having to work in the US out of necessity, which meant her son went to boarding school at age ten. “I didn’t want him to go, but I wasn’t there. I regret that very, very much,” she said.
Despite the financial setback, Mills maintained a steady acting career in America, starring in sitcoms and films. She returned to British television in 2007 with the ITV drama Wild at Heart and made a surprise big-screen return in M Night Shyamalan’s 2024 thriller Trap.
