Ian Somerhalder has opened up about the financial crisis that forced him to walk away from one of television’s most lucrative careers, and sell houses, paintings, cars and watches to claw his way back.

The Vampire Diaries star told E! News that fraud and a badly built business left him and his wife Nikki Reed in an eight-figure hole, meaning the debt ran to at least $10 million. 

“I left an insanely lucrative career in television after financial upheaval from building a business that I didn’t build properly. And due to fraud, it put my wife and I into an eight-figure hole. Eight figures is a hard hole to climb out of. But Nikki and I did it. You know, she really negotiated us out of this deal but we sold houses, paintings, cars, watches, everything.”

He was candid about the painful irony of the situation. 

“I should’ve been retiring off of one of the biggest TV shows in the world [instead of] starting companies that were not gonna pay me possibly ever,” he said.

Somerhalder retired from acting seven years ago, after his Netflix series V Wars was cancelled in 2020. 

Before that, he had spent years as one of television’s most recognisable faces, first as Boone Carlyle on Lost, then as vampire Damon Salvatore across all eight seasons of The Vampire Diaries on The CW.

He has previously credited Reed, whom he married in 2015, with saving him from what he called a “true nightmare.” 

In an Instagram post at the time, he wrote that she had “devoted her life to getting me out of that mess and it almost killed her along the way. I am where I am BECAUSE of this woman.”

Looking back on the decision to leave acting, Somerhalder expressed no regret. 

“I remember sitting with my management talking about this, saying, ‘Hey, this is the only thing I’ve ever known that’s ever sustained my family, and I’m walking away from it,’ at this sort of peak. I would much rather do this than go spend two months in some city, shooting a TV show away from my family. Once you reach a certain level, you’re like, ‘Okay, I want to focus on family and the future of farming and food and energy and the big things.’ I don’t need to chase awards and anything that would make me feel better about myself.”

Evangeline Lilly has publicly called out The Walt Disney Company over its latest round of Marvel layoffs, accusing the studio of discarding the artists who built its empire and replacing them with artificial intelligence.

The actress, who played Hope van Dyne, the Wasp, across four Marvel films, took to Instagram to voice her anger after learning that Marvel’s visual development department had been among those hardest hit in company-wide cuts that reduced Disney’s workforce by around eight per cent. 

“SHAME ON YOU for turning your back on the people who built the power you are now using to throw them away,” she wrote in her caption.

In the accompanying video, Lilly explained that she had reached out directly to Andy Park, the artist who designed the Wasp suit she wore in the original 2015 Ant-Man film, to confirm what she had seen reported. He confirmed he had been let go. 

“I can’t quite believe that Disney have let go of the artists who brought the current Marvel Universe to life through their imagination and their genius,” she said. 

“That the people who invented these characters in the first place, who designed them in the first place, are now being replaced by AI. AI that will take their designs and take what those artists created and use it to create iterations of that.”

She was direct about where she stood on the issue. 

“I am so sorry Andy, and I am so sorry to every single one of the artists who were let go in the 1000 artists that Disney fired, and particularly the entire team at Marvel who have been considered obsolete now after building the Marvel empire.” 

She added that the work these artists produced “are human creations, and they shouldn’t be stolen by tech giants so that their robots can replicate them. I think it’s disgusting and horrible, and I stand with all the artists and Andy.”

The cuts at Marvel affected most of its departments, including film and television production, comics, franchise, finance, legal and visual development, the latter being particularly hard hit, following a smaller round of redundancies in 2024.

A former Harvard scientist, who was convicted in America for lying to U.S. officials regarding payments from China, has rebuilt a high-profile brain-computer interface research lab in China.

The 67-year-old American scientist was found guilty of lying to officials about his ties with the Chinese state program to recruit overseas talent and spend two days in prison and six months under house arrest.

The scientist, Charles Lieber, a once-prominent nanoscience researcher at Harvard University, is now leading China’s state-backed i-BRAIN initiative in Shenzhen.

Lieber’s return to active research marks a dramatic turnaround for a figure once considered one of the world’s leading minds in nanoscale science.

In China, he now oversees work on brain-computer interface (BCI) systems technology designed to translate brain activity into digital commands that can control external devices such as robotic systems or computers. His work reignited global debate over how far advanced neurotechnology could go in the future of medicine and warfare.

According to the project’s description, the lab is developing non-invasive and advanced neural interface systems aimed at enabling communication between the human brain and machines.

The research is part of China’s broader push to become a global leader in next-generation neurotechnology.

China has already elevated brain-computer interfaces to a national strategic priority, with government-backed institutions investing heavily in the field and pushing for rapid commercialization.

Some trials in the country are exploring how BCIs could help patients with paralysis regain movement, while others examine broader human-machine interaction systems.

Lieber’s lab operates within the Shenzhen Medical Academy of Research and Translation, where he has access to advanced nanofabrication tools and specialized research infrastructure. Chinese officials have positioned the facility as part of a wider effort to attract top global scientific talent into strategic technology sectors.

The development also comes amid growing U.S.-China competition over advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence, quantum systems, and neuroengineering. U.S. officials have previously warned that such technologies could have dual-use implications, spanning both civilian healthcare and military modernization.

Lieber has not publicly commented in detail on his new role, but has previously said his scientific goal is to advance cutting-edge research in brain interfaces and nanotechnology.