"I had been working for eight years and all I had to show for it was this horrible debt. At one point we had the bailiff at the door"
About this Quote
The intent here feels corrective, even mildly defiant. Felton isn’t asking for pity so much as insisting on a more honest accounting of what “success” looks like when you’re young, working continuously, and still financially vulnerable. The subtext is that visibility and leverage are not the same thing. In entertainment, especially for minors or very young actors, the money is real but so are the intermediaries: contracts, guardians, managers, taxes, lifestyle creep, and the weird pressure to look prosperous even when the numbers don’t cooperate.
Contextually, it reads as part of a broader cultural unmasking: celebrities acknowledging precarity in an economy where income can be high and still unstable, and where one bad arrangement can follow you for years. The line works because it’s blunt and domestic. Not “financial hardship,” but a stranger legally empowered to collect what you owe. That’s the whole fantasy collapsing in one knock.
Quote Details
| Topic | Tough Times |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Felton, Tom. (2026, January 18). I had been working for eight years and all I had to show for it was this horrible debt. At one point we had the bailiff at the door. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-had-been-working-for-eight-years-and-all-i-had-5803/
Chicago Style
Felton, Tom. "I had been working for eight years and all I had to show for it was this horrible debt. At one point we had the bailiff at the door." FixQuotes. January 18, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-had-been-working-for-eight-years-and-all-i-had-5803/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I had been working for eight years and all I had to show for it was this horrible debt. At one point we had the bailiff at the door." FixQuotes, 18 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-had-been-working-for-eight-years-and-all-i-had-5803/. Accessed 7 Feb. 2026.





