Hamptons Stars Prosper in Forbes' 2018 Wealthiest Lists

The year is over and the results are in: Hamptons stars are in the money! As the Forbes 2018 lists come in, certain names have been stirring our local pride.

On December 18, Forbes released its America’s Wealthiest Celebrities 2018 list, ranking the year’s top 10 stars with the highest net worth. Though Star Wars creator George Lucas led the list at No.1 with $5.4 billion—thanks to his recent $4 billion deal with Disney—East Hampton’s Steven Spielberg came in close second with $3.7 billion.

Skip ahead to No.5, where fellow East Hamptonite, Jay-Z, tied Kylie Jenner for an equal net-worth of $900 million. Jay-Z rose up the ranks this year thanks to the release of his new The Carters album, Everything Is Love with Beyoncé and their second joint tour, On the Run II. Billboard ranked On the Run II the third highest grossing tour of the year. Yet another East Hampton musician, rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs, came in at No. 8 with a net-worth of $820 million.

In a different Forbes list, Amagansett’s Jerry Seinfeld was ranked the No. 1 highest paid comedian of 2018 with an overall earning of $57.5 million. His stand-up career, Netflix deal, including their acquisition of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, and Hulu streaming all seasons of Seinfeld, have kept him at No. 1 for the 11th time since the first list in 2006. He was taken off the top spot once by Kevin Hart in 2016, who came in just behind Seinfeld this year with $57 million. (Better watch your back, Jerry.)

Sadly, two East End-related comedians couldn’t make the list this year, albeit for very different reasons. Hamptons visitor Amy Schumer made history last year as the first woman to make this list, but she just couldn’t pass the $15 million cut-off this year. Shelter Island’s Louis C.K. didn’t perform much in 2018 following the sexual misconduct allegations and confirmation. He’s trying to trudge his way back to the stage, but remains fairly quiet.

Now give a round of applause for the East End stars and wish them an even more prosperous year in 2019.