Nicolas Cage stunned by debt

Feb 18, 2010, 6:03 GMT

Nicolas Cage wanted to "crawl up and hide" when his financial situation escalated out of control.

The 'National Treasure' actor - who was forced to put several of his properties on the market to fund a bill for millions of pounds in unpaid tax - admits he was in shock about his huge debts and wanted to ignore them.

He said: "The first thing you think is, 'This can't be true. I want to crawl up and hide at the end of the world.' "

Cage says he trusted his former manager Samuel Levin with his money and took his advice when it came to properties.

He revealed: "With hindsight an inexcusable naivety, because buying these properties ruined me financially."

However, Cage is determined to pay back all the money and has hired a new manager to help sort his finances.

Cage - who has a four-year-old son Kal-El with third wife Alice Kim and a 19-year-old son Weston from a previous relationship - told Germany's InTouch magazine: "I have a new manager now, so I'm halfway there. And I will pay off all those debts, to the last cent.

"I have a responsibility for my sons and my wife. I have to get back on my feet."

The extent of the 46-year-old star's debts were revealed last year, claiming he owed $6 million in back taxes from 2007.

It was also revealed Cage - who owns a jet, two yachts, three castles, two islands in the Bahamas and a number of mansions - once spent $276,000 on a 67-million-year-old dinosaur skull.