Lance Bass dug Debbie Gibson out of a financial hellhole with a $5,000 loan. The 55-year-old singer was broke in the late aughts, and as her financial situation worsened, she was even forced to rehome her cat temporarily.
But *NSYNC boy band member Lance, 46, gave Debbie a lifeline when he handed over the cash through his assistant in a brown paper bag, something she says she will always be incredibly grateful for.
The Only In My Dreams songstress wrote in her memoir Eternally Electric: The Message In My Music, released on September 9: “I had gotten so far behind with my bills, and my living situation was so up in the air, I even had to temporarily rehome my cat."
"I’ll never forget the day when Lance Bass’s assistant delivered five thousand dollars cash in a brown paper bag, a loan from a true friend who knew I needed some support and has since never made me feel less than!"
She continued, “That was a humbling moment, one of those times where you feel so vulnerable, the earth could swallow you up whole. The way Lance didn’t flinch and sent help immediately, I was so grateful to know such kindness in the midst of such a surreal and painful chapter in my life.”
Recalling that time, Debbie said her finances created a “period of emotional chaos.”
The Lost in Your Eyes singer explained: “So, spending money I didn’t have, I put a down payment on a rustic, two-bedroom, ivy-covered house on Forest Knoll Drive, off Sunset Plaza Drive, [Los Angeles], and now I had a mortgage.”
“I’m not a big fan of mortgages: Don’t pay the note and see who owns your home. I had bought my two New York apartments outright, but this time around, my financial advisors encouraged me to take a loan, and, impressionable during a confusing period, I was swayed."
She continued, "Given how stubborn I can be, that was kinda strange, but financial investments weren’t my forte. In other areas of my life, I am very clear about what I want and what I’m doing, but this was a period of emotional chaos."
Debbie and Lance struck up a friendship after he jumped to her defense when *NSYNC’s management initially refused to allow her to use her piano for her set as a 12-show opener for the boy band’s 2001 PopOdyssey tour.
Debbie recalled: “So when the boys’ management declared I was a ‘track act’ — ‘we’re not traveling with her grand piano for one song; that’s ridiculous’ — Lance Bass went to bat for me, ‘You give her whatever the f*** she wants.’ He and I have been friends ever since.”