Have you ever received a package in the mail that you can’t remember buying? But then the memory of that hazy night starts coming back to you: what started off as an innocent night out with some friends ended up with you coming home drunk and literally buying every item on Amazon. That probably explains the Nicolas Cage pillowcase in the package.
A Dino Head for His Kids’ Playroom
But we are not the only one who fall victim to impulse buying after having one too many drinks — celebrities fall in that trap too. After all, they are also humans — filthy rich, but still humans.
The only difference is that their impulse purchases run higher than a few hundred bucks. They don’t order a bulk of weird kitchen gadgets or customized shirts with their ex’s face on it, rather, they buy $35,000 presents for their kids.
This may be a strange yet very specific example, but it’s a real tale of Russell Crowe that he told on Howard Stern’s show on SiriusXM.
As the story goes, on one vodka-induced night in 2008, the “A Beautiful Mind” actor showed up to his fellow actor and former co-star Leonardo DiCaprio’s home for a round of drinks, and when he walked out, his purse was $35,000 lighter.
While walking around the “Titanic” actor’s home, Russell’s eyes fell on a strange dinosaur skull hung up in the living room.
When the “Les Miserables” thespian showed interest in the artifact, DiCaprio offered to sell it to him for around $35,000, which was pretty much the same price he had paid for the skull himself. Surprisingly, Russell accepted the offer.
The 55-year-old pointed out that he bought it for his kids who adored dinosaurs at the time. Although he admitted he did not bother to inquire which type of dinosaur it was, he quipped that it would make a neat addition to the children’s playroom.
Komodo Dragon’s Ancient Cousins
It turns out that the valuable skull, as identified by the Sotheby’s at the actor’s divorce auction, belonged to a Mosasaur, the large marine reptile that ever lived.
The now-extinct mosasaurs were found during the late Cretaceous period 65 million years ago, a time when they reigned as the most successful predators in the food chain with their double-hinged jaws and snake-like skulls that they used to devour their prey in just one bite.
They are also related to the monitor lizard family and one of their most famous cousins is the Komodo dragon. The first fossil of this Cretaceous superstar was discovered in Maastricht, the Netherlands in 1776.
Double its Price
The ridiculously priced skull was then sold by the actor as part of a Sotheby’s Australia auction funding the “Cinderella Man” actor’s divorce to Australian actress Danielle Spencer whom he was married to for 15 years.
The auction was aptly called “Russell Crowe: The Art of Divorce,” which included more than 200 items, some of which were props that were used in the actor’s famous films.
While the “Robin Hood” star paid Leo around that amount for the skull, the auction sold the ancient predator’s head for almost twice that price!
The skull fetched a jaw-dropping $65,000, turning a fluke into a massive investment decision. Counting all the items, including this precious item, the auction raked in $3.7 million for the estranged couple.
What a classic example to show how celebrities are just like us when it comes to impulse buying but with more followers and more money to waste.
