More people owe money than in any other time in history. Household debt is at an all time high, with many borrowers unable to make more than just the minimum payments. It is a crippling epidemic that leaves many citizens feeling trapped and hopeless, unable to escape the aggressive interest rates and a growing mountain of debt.
But Michael Sheen, the famed Welsh actor of stage and screen, has made it his mission to help those suffering under those conditions. Sheen has spent over $120,000 of his own money to write off nearly $1.3 million dollars worth of debt accumulated by residents of his hometown around Port Talbot, Wales.
“I think one of the most destructive things about the way we live now is that we’re constantly surrounded by injustice or a sense of things that are not right, and yet feeling like we can’t do anything about it. I’ve learned that by engaging in whatever way it is, it at least allows you to feel like you’re doing something.”
Sheen’s charitable efforts will be featured in a documentary titled “Michael Sheen’s One Million Pound Giveaway” to be broadcast on Channel 4 on British TV.
“People’s debts get put into bundles and then debt-buying companies can buy those bundles and then they can sell it on to another debt-buying company at a lower price so … the people who own the debt can sell it for less and less money,” Sheen said to BBC TV. “I was able to set up a company and for £100,000 of my own money, buy £1 million of debt because it had come down in value like that.”
Some may scoff at the fact that Sheen is turning his charitable donation into a TV show, but the classical actor has always made philanthropy a crucial component of his person and his career. In 2021, Sheen said that all his future earnings garnered from his acting would be given away to charity, dubbing himself a “not for profit actor.”
Sheen got the idea for erasing his neighbors’ debt after watching an episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver in 2016, in which the show used $60,000 to purchase $15M of medical debt, and then cancelled it. Inspired by the action, Sheen deep dived into ways to help in the UK, where the process was much more difficult. Sheen was horrified that the poorest members of society were forced to pay the highest and most aggressive of interest rates and loan policies.
In Sheen’s hometown of Port Talbot, residents are really struggling. The closure of steelwork furnaces and manufacturing plants have resulted in a spread of hardship. In fact, 30% of children in that town live in poverty, so Sheen’s contributions are surely to help a vulnerable sect of the population.