Nathaniel Martin Stroman is known professionally to the world as Earthquake. The stand-up comic, actor, voice artist, and radio personality has enjoyed a career filled with some admirable highs. He’s brought his comedy to the television and movie screens, done sets on Def Comedy Jam and The View, and just debuted a Netflix special titled Chappelle’s Home Team- Legendary: Earthquake this year.
It is safe to say Earthquake has done well for himself. However, In a recent interview with Football Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe, Earthquake opened up about a time in his life when he let himself splurge a bit too much. On Club Shay Shay, Earthquake admitted that even though he was experiencing success, he allowed himself to live a bit above his means thanks to pressure from his ex-wife.
He reveals that he had purchased a home next to fellow comic Jamie Foxx. He realized that his ex-wife was blowing through their spending, forcing him to work even more and stay on the road to keep up with the lifestyle. “I brought a house right next door to Jamie Foxx, up the street from Jamie. I used to tell my ex-wife at that time, ‘listen, this [guy] got an Oscar. We just got a dog named Oscar. You gotta slow up on this spending, baby. Once we blow, imma put us here.’ And she never understood.”
Unfortunately, his ex-wife did not listen. Earthquake said he would bring home .10 cents, and she’d spend .11. Eventually, he realized his quality of life was declining because he was constantly working and not seeing a penny of his income. “It kept me on the road, kept me going. I was doing mule time instead of staying at home and being able to be a Clydesdale.”
Eventually, her lavish spending put Earthquake in $3 million worth of debt. “Aint nothing that I can put my hand on that I personally brought for myself. And that’s when it changed. I said I gotta get up out of here. This [woman] too expensive for me.”
Fans in the comments sympathized with the comedian. One said, “If ya person can’t understand when it’s grind time, you gotta do what you gotta do 🤷🏽.”
