The Vampire Diaries ended nearly a decade ago, and this star’s retirement left him nearly penniless.

The supernatural teen drama franchise is loosely based on L.J. Smith’s book series and was developed by Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec. The Vampire Diaries series has two spin-offs, including The Originals and Legacies, and the universe now consists of 17 seasons and 331 episodes filled with vampires, witches, werewolves, and a lot of romance.

Ian Somerhalder, who starred in The Vampire Diaries as Damon Salvatore, spoke to E News about life after retiring from acting seven years ago. Unfortunately, it has not been smooth sailing for the actor as he and his wife, Nikki Reed, who is also an actor, faced a mountain of debt that went up to eight figures following a bad business deal.

“I retired from acting seven years ago. I left an insanely lucrative career in television after financial upheaval from building a business that I didn’t build properly. And due to fraud, it put my wife and I into an eight-figure hole. Eight figures is a hard hole to climb out of, but Nikki and I did it. You know, she really negotiated us out of this deal, but we sold houses, paintings, cars, watches, everything.

I should’ve been retiring off of one of the biggest TV shows in the world [instead of] starting companies that were not gonna pay me possibly ever”

Somerhalder’s last acting role was in 2019 for the role of Luther Swann in V-Wars; he had other roles before this, and even before arguably one of the biggest teen drama series in the world, The Vampire Diaries. The actor also appeared in The Rules of Attraction, Lost, Smallville, and The Anomaly. Reed also has some notable roles under her belt, including a role in another iconic vampire franchise, Twilight, as Rosalie Cullen. The actress has also appeared in V-Wars, Thirteen, Sleepy Hollow, and The O.C.

Since retirement, Somerhalder has become an entrepreneur of sorts with several businesses under his belt, including a brand with former The Vampire Diaries costar Paul Wesley named Brother’s Bond Bourbon after their roles as on-screen brothers during the series. The actor also has a business named The Absorption Company, which is a wellness brand focusing on delivering science-backed supplements.

Despite multiple financial setbacks, Somerhalder hasn’t revealed any desire to return to acting. He has been married to Reed since 2015 and has praised her for getting him out of a “true nightmare” in an Instagram post from 2021:

“This woman here decided that she didn’t want to see her husband ruin his body/mind/spirit and pulled up her bootstraps and got down in the trenches assembling a team to get to the negotiating table to find a way out. She devoted her life to getting me out of that mess and it almost killed her along the way. I am where I am BECAUSE of this woman.”

Reed and Somerhalder share two children and have spent the majority of their retirement privately living on a farm with their family. The Vampire Diaries still remains a major TV show, and continues to dominate streaming charts to this day.