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We won’t lie: when Selling Sunset season three wrapped on Netflix, the withdrawals set in something awful. Incidentally, we needn’t have worried, because the streaming giant had something else in mind for our bizarre fixation on the lifestyles of the rich and richer. Cue: Bling Empire.
Described as a fusion of Selling Sunset and Crazy Rich Asians, the show more than delivered with its kooky cast and the window into their (extremely) wealthy lives. Featuring friends Kevin Kreider, Kane Lim, Anna Shay, Kim Lee, Christine and Gabriel Chiu, Cherie Chan, Kelly Mi Li, Jamie Xie, Cherie Chan and Jessey Lee, Bling Empire quickly catapulted itself into Netflix’s top 10 across the world, spawning many reactions in its wake.
Naturally, gauche or not, one of the biggest questions on our collective mind appeared to be: “So, just how rich is the Bling Empire cast?”
With the high-flying group composed of both heirs and heiresses and those with self-made money, it was one thing that stayed on the brain, even as their antics continued to call us poor in 26 different languages (Gucci bag claw machines, anyone?).
So, in the interest of staying entertained until season two comes along, we thought we’d do a little digging. Below, a very serious investigation into the Bling Empire cast’s net worths.
Andrew Gray
Age: 34
Estimated net worth: USD $2 million (AUD $2.62 million)
As an actor who is best known for his role as the red Power Ranger in Nickelodeon’s Power Rangers: Megaforce, Andrew is unsurprisingly not as wealthy as the rest of the Bling Empire cast. Besides acting, he also works as a model, music producer and manager and has his own clothing line, AMG Clothing. Based on his various occupations, reports estimate his net worth to be around USD $2 million.
Kevin Kreider
Age: 37
Estimated Net Worth: Unknown but projected USD $10 million (AUD $13 million)
While he might be the show’s ‘low outsider’, it appears model and cast member Kevin Kreider’s net worth is set to the up and up. Although his actual net worth is unknown, several sites, including The Tab, have listed his net worth as USD $10 million, which Kevin himself referred to as a “prediction”.
“I think I’m probably the last person to know I was worth that much. Secondly, it seems more like a future prediction instead of a current prediction,” he told E! News.
Kelly Mi Li
Age: 35
Estimated Net Worth: USD $5 Million (AUD $6.54 Million)
An entrepreneur who works as an investor and movie producer, these days Kelly Mi Li is a self-made woman whose net worth is reported to be an estimated $5 million. Fun fact? She’s also the one who came up with the idea of Bling Empire as a show, pitching it to former Keeping Up With The Kardashians producer Jeff Jenkins and helping to put the cast together.
While her wealth is entirely her own these days, viewers of the show may also recall Kelly Mi Li used to be married to a very rich man who was later arrested for running one of the biggest cyber scams in America.
Kim Lee
Age: 32
Estimated Net Worth: USD $10 million (AUD $13 million)
Dubbed the ‘Calvin Harris’ of Asia by Kane, DJ Kim Lee is a self-made millionaire. The 32-year-old makes most of her coin from travelling the world for various gigs, and has also appeared as a model in music videos for artists like Nicki Minaj and Kanye West. She’s even had a slew of acting roles in films and shows like The Hangover Part II and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Her net worth is reportedly an estimated USD $10 million.
Kane Lim
Age: 31
Estimated Net Worth: USD $20 million (AUD $26.16 million)
Hailing from a Singaporean family whose immense wealth comes from oil, real estate and shipping, Kane was both born into wealth and has made his own millions. The 31-year-old began investing in stocks when he was 17, made his first million by the time he was 19 and reportedly has an estimated individual net worth of USD $20 million (with a shoe collection valued around USD $300,000).
Jamie Xie
Age: 22
Estimated Net Worth: USD $50 million (AUD $65.4 million)
A front row regular at fashion week and former equestrian champion (whose horses flew Emirates, naturally), Jamie Xie is the daughter tech billionaire Ken Xie, who is famous for building the world’s first VPN. While her father has an estimated USD $3.9 billion net worth and Jamie has very clearly born into wealth, she’s also been carving her own path as an influencer and model and has a personal net worth of around USD $50 million.
Christine and Dr. Gabriel Chiu
Ages: 38 and 53
Estimated net worth: USD $80 million (AUD $104 million)
Christine and Gabriel Chiu are quite the joint force when it comes to wealth, with Christine being an heiress from Taiwan, and Gabriel a celebrity plastic surgeon and descendent of the Song dynasty—an imperial dynasty from China that dates back to 960 AD to 1279 AD—which would have made him next in line to become emperor if the dynasty still existed today.
That said, they have very much made their own money as well, with the married couple co-founding Beverly Hills Plastic Surgery, putting their estimated net worth around USD $80 million. Fun fact? In 2019, Christine started a foundation with Prince Charles, called the Prince’s Foundation Chiu Integrated Health Programme, in Scotland.
Cherie Chan and Jessey Lee
Ages: Unknown
Estimated Net Worth: USD $200 million (AUD $262 million)
While Cherie Chan may be the heiress to a denim empire and former rising pop star in Japan, she and her now-fiancé (who could forget that proposal?) Jessey Lee have accumulated a significant amount of wealth of their own. Together, they have an estimated net worth of around $200 million, and co-own a tequila company called Religion Tequila. Jessey also has his own furniture empire.
Anna Shay
Age: 60
Estimated Net Worth: USD $600 million (AUD $786 million)
Are we surprised? The iconic Anna Shay, whose one-liners and silky smooth voice won the hearts of reality TV-lovers the world over, is the wealthiest of the entire Bling Empire cast with an estimated net worth of a whopping USD $600 million.
Her wealth is generational, with Anna inheriting it from her father Edward Shay, who founded defence technology company Pacific Architects and Engineers in 1955, before selling it for USD $1.2 billion in 2006 and giving half the money to Anna and half to her sibling. Of course, Anna has always been surprisingly humble and generous when it comes to her wealth.
When talking about never having seen Crazy Rich Asians in a recent interview, Anna revealed that she doesn’t think ‘crazy’ is a good descriptor in relation to wealth.
“I didn’t watch it. I was going to say, ‘I live it’, but I thought that would be too snobbish. Because how would I know, if I didn’t see the movie?” she said.
“In the world I was raised in, ‘crazy’ is not a good word to put next to the lifestyle I was born into. I didn’t do anything except be born. It’s my parents. My dad is from the South Side of Chicago. My mother is from aristocracy. Those two are amazing. They’re not here, but they’re here. [Cries]. My mother said, ‘You were born in a crystal ball with a silver spoon.”
We can’t wait for more of this woman in Bling Empire season two.
Facebook has banned the sharing and viewing of Australian news articles on its platform. Keep up with the latest in fashion and culture by following marie claire Australia on Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest. Sign up for our newsletter for curated content with substance and exclusive offers.
Facebook has banned the sharing and viewing of Australian news articles on its platform. Keep up with the latest in fashion and culture by following marie claire Australia on Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest. Sign up for our newsletter for curated content with substance and exclusive offers.
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