Vampire Diaries Star Ian Somerhalder Credits Wife With Bold Move That Erased Their Eight-Figure Debt

If you've ever wondered what it looks like to flush a wildly successful TV acting career and land yourself in a pile of debt that would make most people curl up in the fetal position, well, Ian Somerhalder's lived it. And according to him, the only way out involved selling just about everything that wasn't nailed down—and most importantly, some serious negotiating skills from his wife, Nikki Reed.

The Debt Spiral: How It All Went Down

So here's the lowdown, straight from Somerhalder's own recounting to E! News: After years on 'The Vampire Diaries' and all the perks of being a popular supernatural heartthrob, he decided to step back from acting. Why? Because he sank a lot of personal capital into a 'no-name clean energy company' that, to put it mildly, did not go the way he'd hoped.

What makes this story wild is just how deep the hole got. Somerhalder said he personally signed on for bank guarantees in the eight-figure range. That's tens of millions, for anyone doing the math. The situation wasn't helped by some apparent fraud inside this business venture. I'll go out on a limb and say this is not the glamorous Hollywood break most actors are after.

"I retired from acting seven years ago. I left an insanely lucrative career in television after financial upheaval from building a business that I didn’t build properly. And due to fraud, it put my wife and I into an eight-figure hole."

How They Dug Out

This wasn't a simple fix. Somerhalder explained that he and Reed had to make some tough calls—think the full fire sale special: houses, paintings, cars, watches, the works. Basically, if it wasn't essential to everyday survival, it was up for grabs.

But here's the part most people wouldn't expect: Somerhalder flat-out credits his wife with negotiating their way out of the disaster. According to him, Nikki Reed was the one who managed to crack a deal with the powers that be, allowing them to find their way back to financial sanity. That's not a detail you get from every Hollywood couple story.

Still, Somerhalder says he doesn't miss the grind of TV or acting one bit. Looking back, his feelings are basically 'No regrets.' Years on set, lots of memories, but he's moved on. Not everyone can say that after losing... well, a lot.

Quick Relationship Recap

• Somerhalder and Reed started popping up in romance rumors around July 2014.
• They went public (as public as you can get in Hollywood) with an engagement the following year.
• A few months after that, they were married in Topanga Canyon, Malibu.
• They have two kids: a daughter named Bodhi, and a younger son—they've kept his name out of the spotlight.

So if you were curious, that's how one of The Vampire Diaries' leads almost lost it all—and literally owes his financial comeback to his wife's deal-making. Some Hollywood stories are dramatic on the screen, but this one is something else behind the scenes.