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Meet The Parents Star Teri Polo Files For Bankruptcy
Actress owes over $1m. Could Playboy shoot be to blame?
Teri Polo, the actress best known for playing Pam Byrne in the ‘Meet The Parents’ films, has filed for bankruptcy in Los Angeles.
The 44-year-old star is said to owe over $1m (£595,000), including $745k (£443k) to the IRS, and $30k to a former landlord who is suing Polo for trashing a rented property leaving it in a “disgusting, and deplorable condition”.
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Her former landlord Edwin McPherson claims the actress allowed her eight pets to run wild, soiling the carpets adding that she "left the sole walkway on the west side of the premises covered with dog faeces”.
He also claims that Polo left food in the fridge which created a “tremendous odour” and left an overwhelming amount of damage to the property.
Polo, who lives in Manhattan Beach, California is currently appearing in ABC Family’s show ‘The Fosters’, but most will recognise her from the ‘Meet The Parents’ films.
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She plays Pam, the long-suffering partner of Greg Focker (Ben Stiller), alongside Robert De Niro who plays her father Jack. She also appears in the two sequels, 2004’s ‘Meet The Fockers’, and 2010’s ‘Little Fockers’.
Although the three films went on to be huge commercial hits, each taking over $300m at the box office globally, Polo’s movie career has since failed to reach the same dizzy heights.
Her biggest non-‘Fockers’ film role came in 2009’s Joe Dante-directed horror flop 'The Hole’, and many have suggested her Playboy shoot in 2005 could be the cause of her stalled career.
She told Hollywood Life that she has no regrets about the naked spread with ran with the headline “She’s One Hot Focker', saying: "It was one of the best experiences of my life. I’m very proud. We shouldn’t be ashamed of the human body.”
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Polo first ran into trouble with the IRS back in 2011 after failing to pay taxes for four years.
At the time she owed $458k, and her manager Bob McGowan blamed an expensive divorce from former husband Anthony Moore in 2005, along with spending time off the screen to bring up her children for her financial woes.
Her bankruptcy filing states that Polo has agreed to “mandatory credit counseling”, but she must be hoping that Ben Stiller gets the long-mooted fourth ‘Fockers’ film off the ground sometime soon.
