One-Hit Wonder Says She Had to Live in a Basement After Spending All Her Money From Initial Fame

Natalie Imbruglia experienced some of the highest highs and the lowest of lows.

Before embarking on what would be a successful music career, Imbruglia was a cast member on the Neighbours, an Australian soap opera. She experienced fame and success through the soap and opted to move to London in an effort to capitalize on her TV success.

Once there, she was unable to secure a Visa or steady work.

“That was the first time in my life where everything didn’t fall in my lap. And so I just partied because I didn’t know what to do,” Imbruglia told Begin Again with Davina McCall. “But then the money ran out.” 

She began losing friends and hope and wasn’t able to live on her own. “I was living in a basement of someone’s house in Chelsea, which was weird because I had no money,” the singer/actress said. “I’m in Chelsea in this big mansion, but I’m just in the basement.”

Though her career had stalled, she came to recognize she was more fortunate than most since she at least had a rough over her head. She also embraced having to restart her career from the ground up.

Imbruglia turned to meditation and began writing music in an effort to make a living.  “I knew I could sing.I was a stage school kid, but there’s no guarantees… It felt very risky, but I had run out of money,” Imbruglia said.

The reward was certainly worth the risk.

Soon, Imbruglia recorded a cover of “Torn,” written by Scott Cutler, Anne Preven and Phil Thornalley. The song was a smash hit in the UK and eventually the United States. Imbruglia’s version of “Torn” sold more than 4 million records worldwide and peaked at No. 2 on the UK charts and reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart in the United States.

Just like that, Imbruglia was no longer broke and living in a friend’s basement.

Now, the 51-year-old is still singing and acting, and in 2024 put both her talents to use as a contestant on the 12th season of The Masked Singer.