Scarlett Johansson's Mom Goes From Life of Luxury to Down-on-Her-Luck After Losing Daughter As Main Client

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  AP

  
  

  Scarlett Johansson

  
  

After years of living the high life, Scarlett Johansson's mother is in financial decline  -- all because Johansson dumped her mom as manager.

"Once I got married, I felt that I needed to cut the cord," the 26-year-old star told Vanity Fair last month of replacing her mother with a professional manager two years ago.

Because of that cut, Johansson's mother, Melanie Sloan, can't afford to buy the New York apartment she'd agreed to purchase.

According to the New York Post, Sloan signed a contract to purchase a $ 1.4 million two-bedroom in Midtown Manhattan in October. Now, Johansson's mother is now demanding the return of her $ 130,000 deposit, claiming that she is cash-poor and can't obtain a mortgage.

Last fall, Sloan presented the sellers of the 1,228 sq. ft. apartment with a sunny financial portfolio, based on her association with her famous offspring, insisting that 2011 was one of her "best years yet in the entertainment industry." 

In reality, when Sloan lost Johansson as a client, she lost most of her business. The only income she had coming in was $ 25,000 from a deal with Moët she signed for her daughter–not nearly enough to keep up payments on the pricey apartment.

"We don't understand how she went from being rich to poor in two weeks," said Adam Leitman Bailey, a lawyer for the sellers. "She acted in bad faith, and therefore our clients have the legal right to keep her down payment."