Lance Bass Drops *NSYNC Financial Shocker: ‘We Were Famous, But We Were Not Rich’

The stars, they’re just like us… If by just like us you mean they totally got hosed in the pay department on their first jobs. Case in point: Lance Bass. During a chat on The Jess Cagle Show on Wednesday (April 26), Bass revealed that despite what you might think, he’s made a ton more money since *NSYNC‘s 2002 permanent hiatus than he did while the band was topping the charts in the late 1990s and early 2000s

“Well, the worst thing is people thinking that we were rich, because we were not,” Bass told Cagle about the common misconception that he, Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick were rolling in dough after a historic run that included such enduring hits as “Girlfriend,” “It’s Gonna Be Me,” “Tearin’ Up My Heart,” “Pop” and “Gone” and a 2000 album, No Strings Attached, that sold a remarkable 2.42 million physical copies in its first week.

“We were famous, but we were not rich,” said Bass, 43, who has gone on to star in a string of TV and film projects and Broadway shows (On The Line, Robot Chicken, Dancing With the Stars, Hairspray, Unicorn Hunters) and dabble in radio and movie production. “I made way more money after *NSYNC than I did during *NSYNC.”

And, if you followed the arc of *NSYNC’s career, you can probably guess why. “He [Pearlman]really took the majority of our stuff… and the record label too. Horrible, horrible deals,” Bass said of the band’s disgraced former manager, who died in prison at age 62 in 2016 after pulling off one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in U.S. history. Pearlman — who was also credited with the formation and launch of the Backstreet Boys, O-Town and LFO, among others — was sued by a number of his former acts for what they said were unfair contracts and financial mismanagement.

But, Bass added, “to do that with those guys it was incredible and you had some of the best experiences ever. I mean obviously changed my life, led me to so many things I wanted to do in life.” Among the most memorable times he recalled was performing with his musical heroes Aerosmith at the 2001 Super Bowl XXXV halftime show alongside Mary J. Blige, Britney Spears and Nelly.

Watch Lance Bass on Cagle’s show below.