Lesbian Celebrity Photographer Annie Leibovitz Deals With Ailing Finances

: Image via Wikipedia

03/08/2010- by Natasia Langfelder

Annie Leibovitz is known worldwide for her compelling photographs, mostly of famous men and women featured in fashion magazines. Leibovitz is, arguably, best known for a portrait of a naked John Lennon and a clothed Yoko Ono taken on the same day the former Beatle was murdered by a deranged fan. She also made a splash by shooting teen sensation Miley Cyrus topless, covered by a bedsheet. Leibovitz is also an out lesbian.

Althoug Leibovitz has made millions over the duration of her career, due to bad investments and messy spending habits, she is in debt. She was also in danger of losing the rights to her extensive portfolio, which contains her life’s work. Leibovitz has arranged a deal with a private equity firm to sort out her debts, the Financial Times reported in its Tuesday edition. The paper said Leibovitz has lined up real estate investment firm Colony Capital as a sole creditor to help manage her finances and continue to market her work, so that she can bring in more capital.

“We will be partners in managing her assets and her business so that Annie can spend her time and focus in pursuing her passion as only she can do,” Tom Barrack, founder of Los-Angeles-based Colony was cited as saying in the FT.

The firm will allow Leibovitz to hold onto the rights of more than 100,000 photographs and is considering plans to hold traveling photographic exhibitions.

“We will be working on new projects and I will have the support and freedom necessary for nurturing my work and preserving my archive,” Leibovitz said of the partnership.