{"id":50726,"date":"2026-05-13T12:47:52","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T16:47:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=50726"},"modified":"2026-05-13T12:47:52","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T16:47:52","slug":"parent-trap-star-hayley-mills-says-she-lost-her-disney-fortune-to-the-tax-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2026\/05\/parent-trap-star-hayley-mills-says-she-lost-her-disney-fortune-to-the-tax-man.html","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Parent Trap&#8217; Star Hayley Mills Says She Lost Her Disney Fortune to the \u2018Tax Man\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_50729\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-50729\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2026\/05\/Hayley-Mills_credit-Left-Featureflash-Photo-Agency-Shutterstock-Right-Public-Domain.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-50729\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2026\/05\/Hayley-Mills_credit-Left-Featureflash-Photo-Agency-Shutterstock-Right-Public-Domain.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-50729\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: Featureflash Photo Agency \/ Shutterstock.com | Right: Public Domain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Former child star Hayley Mills is opening up about the heartbreaking financial loss that followed her wildly successful years with The Walt Disney Company \u2014 revealing that most of the money she earned as a young actress disappeared because of taxes and poor legal advice.<\/p>\n<p>Mills, best known for starring in Disney classics like &#8220;The Parent Trap&#8221; and &#8220;Pollyanna,&#8221; recently reflected on the situation while appearing on \u201cThe Rosebud Podcast\u201d alongside her sister, Juliet Mills, in celebration of her 80th birthday.<\/p>\n<p>When podcast host Gyles Brandreth asked what happened to \u201cthe millions\u201d she earned during her Disney career, Mills bluntly replied, \u201cI gave it to the tax man.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was rather a big chunk,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was most of it because it was all put into a trust fund, because super tax was 90% in those days, so they had to do something.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mills explained that the trust fund created to protect her earnings ultimately backfired after British tax authorities challenged the arrangement. She said the family solicitor, Stanley Passmore, badly mishandled the situation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStanley also advised Daddy, and not very well,\u201d Mills said, referring to her father, acclaimed British actor John Mills. \u201cThe trust company was set up for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to Mills, things came crashing down when she turned 21 and expected to receive access to her money.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInstead of being given the key to the door, I was handed an envelope across a green baize tablecloth,\u201d she recalled. \u201cThe Inland Revenue basically saying, \u2018Thank you. You owe us 90% of your earnings.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mills admitted she struggled to fully understand what was happening at the time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI said, \u2018Well, what does this mean? I don\u2019t understand,\u2019\u201d she shared. \u201cAnd Stanley laughed and said, \u2018Well, I think it means you have to move to America [for work].\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She then added sharply, \u201cHe was a crook. He didn\u2019t give a flying Dutchman.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Reports from <em>The Times of London<\/em> later revealed that Mills fought the case for years and even briefly won a legal victory when Judge Lord Denning ruled in her favor during the 1970s. However, the decision was later overturned by the House of Lords, leaving Mills responsible for the enormous tax bill.<\/p>\n<p>If she had ultimately won the case, Mills said she could have kept roughly 2 million pounds \u2014 an amount worth more than $17 million today.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the painful financial setback, Mills said she still considers herself fortunate compared to many former child stars.<\/p>\n<p>Back in 2021, she told Fox News Digital that she benefited from having supportive parents and working under Walt Disney himself.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was working for a studio with a boss who was a genuinely good man,\u201d Mills said. \u201cHe cared about the people who worked for him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She also reflected warmly on her friendship with Walt Disney, calling him \u201ca very warm, kind and sweet man.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI always knew he was a brilliant, wonderful, amazing man,\u201d Mills said in a previously reshared interview. \u201cAnd how amazing is that, to be taken around Disneyland by Walt Disney?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former child star Hayley Mills is opening up about the heartbreaking financial loss that followed her wildly successful years with The Walt Disney Company \u2014 revealing that most of the money she earned as a young actress disappeared because of taxes and poor legal advice. Mills, best known for starring in Disney classics like &#8220;The&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":462,"featured_media":50729,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-television"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>&#039;Parent Trap&#039; Star Hayley Mills Says She Lost Her Disney Fortune to the \u2018Tax Man\u2019<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former Disney star Hayley Mills says she lost most of her childhood fortune to taxes and a failed trust fund set up by advisers.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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