Michael Sheen Addresses Claims He's 'Multimillionaire': I'm 'Juggling Debt'

Michael Sheen might have starred in major franchises like Twilight, but he doesn’t consider himself overtly wealthy.

“It’s interesting when people talk about me as a multimillionaire because no — I don’t have that much money,” Sheen, 56, told The Times of London in a profile published on Friday, June 13. “I mean, I have money compared to lots of people, but this is about juggling debt.”

He continued, “I’m still paying off the Homeless World Cup. It’s not like I have all this spare cash. And there are times I can put money into things and times when I can’t.”

Sheen cohosted the Homeless World Cup in Cardiff, Wales, in 2019, making a sizable financial contribution to ensure the annual soccer tournament went on as planned. The actor previously said during a BBC interview that he “put it all on the line” to fund the match.

“We got into a bit of a state, so I essentially put everything I have into this,” he said in July 2019. “You either commit to this stuff or you don’t. … Now I’ve got to pay for this, so I’m going to have to work a bit more now because this has cost me more than I expected.”

While it’s not known how much Sheen donated to the Homeless World Cup, event organizers previously revealed that the annual operating cost totals around £2 million.

Sheen has also helped fund the Welsh National Theatre, which he cofounded earlier this year to replace National Theatre Wales when it lost its funding from the country’s Arts Council.

“Arts Council Wales gave National Theatre Wales transitional funding to either wrap up or come up with a plan for the future,” Sheen told The Times. “And that plan ended up being me running the new organization. There was an argument if any of that transitional funding should come with us, and that’s now been resolved, so we will be in receipt of around £200,000. I am paying for everything else.”

Sheen is also aware that it should take more than just one person to run an entire theater company.

“Well, clearly the system doesn’t work. It’s f***ed,” he lamented. “What really exercises me is that some people are making massive amounts of money, but over the last 50 years we’ve been told about efficiency [and] how technology will save costs. Yet the majority of communities get less and less. It is not working, is it? Everything gets cut. I am not just talking about the arts.”