Celeb Photographer Annie Leibovitz Pawns Work to Pay Debt

The financial crisis is affecting just about everyone and celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz is no exception. The famous photog, whose iconic photos of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Sting, Whoopi Goldberg, nude Demi Moore, Queen Elizabeth and countless others, has put up  townhouses, a country house in Connecticut and her entire body of work as collateral on a $15.5 million loan to a company called Art Capital Group, the New York Times reported Tuesday.

Leibovitz, a regular and renowned contributor to Vanity Fair, has essentially pawned her life's work in order to pay off debt, the Times reported. She has experienced financial challenges in recent years including renovation and litigation over three adjoining town houses, federal and state tax liens and lawsuits from a lighting company and a stylist she'd hired.

Recently Leibovitz has undergone financial and personal stress including renovations at her Chelsea studio, which has since closed and the death of her long-time partner Susan Sontag and her two parents, according to Robert Pledge, the founder of Contact Press Images, which represents Leibovitz's editorial work.

Despite the loan from Art Capital Group to pay off her debt, she told the Times via email that her financial status was "fine."