Surveying the personal financial situations of people around, including the rich and famous gives clear indication that many Americans are under financial distress.

Famous fashion and portrait photographer Annie Liebovitz has undergone a very public disclosure of her debt crisis.  She currently owes more than 24 million dollars to to a high end “art pawn shop” and in early September it looked like she might be headed for bankruptcy court to stop the sale of her famous photographs and landmark Manhattan real estate, but apparently to this recent New York Times article “scappy Annie” may have found a loan workout.

But as the article goes on to point out, the loan modification, as with most loan modifications comes with a price. The question remains will she be able to abide by the loan’s new terms or is she just buying herself time while the interest and penalties accumulate. 

Hopefully she is able to feed this “debt monster” and pay down her debt. The article was not clear on the new “terms” that were negotiated between the parties, but rest assured that the lender will make more money or extract more collateral out of the deal.

However, you view the circumstances of her situation and the type of debt she has incurred, it’s clear she went to the lender of last resort — a Hard Money Lender (their terms are “hard” — you either repay or you lose your collateral). Here, Ms. Liebovitz has alot to lose.