Ed McMahon's Painful Financial Lesson

I have no pity for Ed McMahon. His recent financial sob story seems all too avoidable.

Reports circulated this week that Citibank(C Quote) is suing the entertainment icon for outstanding debts totaling $200,000.

The development is the latest in a month-long media blitz that erupted when McMahon and his wife of 16 years, Pamela, appeared on Larry King Live to discuss foreclosure proceedings surrounding their Beverly Hills estate home. The McMahons are reportedly $644,000 behind in payments on their $4.8-million mortgage. Entertainment news Web site TMZ.com reported that McMahon also owes $750,000 to American Express(AXP Quote).

Perhaps McMahon and Pamela, his third wife, could have spared themselves some grief and embarrassment by initiating an ongoing conversation about their personal finances long before they said, "I do."

True, I don't know what occurred in the private lives of Ed and Pamela McMahon, or what they may have been discussing throughout their married life. But it's hard to imagine that any couple with such a mountain of debt could have been speaking regularly to each other about their financial planning.

How did McMahon get into such dire straits?

For starters, as he admitted to Larry King earlier this month, on national television, he and his wife spend more money than they earn. Add that lifestyle to the financial consequences from a few divorces, a sinking housing market (McMahon told King he can't sell his), and an accident in which McMahon broke his neck (which apparently prevents him from working -- at age 85). Where else can the McMahons go financially but down?