The ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ Author Is $1.2 Billion in Debt
Plus: 60 New Movies We Can’t Wait to See This Fall
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August 27, 2026

I first encountered Rich Dad, Poor Dad while listening to a podcast called If Books Could Kill—a show that picks apart “airport bestsellers that captured our hearts and ruined our minds.” The book, a hodgepodge of allegory and financial advice, apparently leaves a lot to be desired. But Robert Kiyosaki, the man who wrote it, is absolutely fascinating. You’ll learn as much from Christopher Cox’s absorbing profile of Kiyosaki, which was catalyzed by a baffling declaration: that he was $1.2 billion in debt. How could that be possible? Cox went to his home in Arizona to find out—and discovered a story wilder than he ever could have imagined. (You think that description is hyperbolic enough for the back of an airport bestseller?)


Elsewhere, we’re mourning a universally beloved screen icon—goodbye, Tim Curry; we’ll pour out a bunch of Clue pieces in your honor—and looking forward to what may be the most Vanity Fair–screaming movie ever made: one starring Helen Mirren as Talented Mr. Ripley author Patricia Highsmith. 

HILLARY BUSIS
FEATURES EDITOR

Robert Kiyosaki, who built an empire on the idea of getting rich, now says he’s deeply in debt. Vanity Fair visits the author and friend of Trump at home in Arizona to understand the distance between the gospel of his books and his own bleeding balance sheet. Read more


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Helen Mirren Captures the Difficult Genius of Patricia Highsmith in A Talent for Murder

 

By Rebecca Ford

 

Before its TIFF premiere, Mirren opens up about embodying literature’s most uncompromising misanthrope in Anton Corbijn’s new film. Read more

FALL FAVORITES

 

60 New Movies We Can’t Wait to See This Fall

 

By VANITY FAIR

 

Featuring everyone from Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt to Zendaya and Mikey Madison. Read more


Why this ad?

The Google Guy, His Girlfriend, and the New Tech Right

 

By Sylvia Varnham O’Regan

 

Once Democrat supporters, Google cofounder Sergey Brin and his girlfriend, wellness influencer Gerelyn Soto, have dined with Donald Trump and backed conservative candidates in California, including former Fox News host Steve Hilton and reality TV star Spencer Pratt, underscoring Silicon Valley’s growing foothold in right-wing politics. Read more

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