Here's How Much Shirley Temple Was Worth When She Died

When Shirley Temple retired from acting, she asked about her money and was told that, of the $3 million she earned, only $30,000 remained (via HuffPost). The rest had gone to her parents and other family members. Sadly, this isn't an uncommon experience for child stars. HuffPost also reports that laws designed to protect the income of these actors still leaves 85 percent of it up for grabs.

With only a fraction of her earnings left to her devices, Temple was largely forced to make her own way for the next 60 years of her life. And that she did. Post-Hollywood, Temple and her husband moved to Washington D.C., where she then embarked on what would be a highly successful political career (via Smithsonian). Throughout her life, Temple was a United Nations delegate and a U.S. ambassador to both Ghana and Czechoslovakia — not bad for a former child star whose earnings were all but lost. 

It's thanks to positions like those above that Temple was able to amass a fortune worth $30 million at the time of her death, but it's hard not to imagine what could have been if Temple's Hollywood money had actually gone to her (via Celebrity Net Worth).