The internet can’t stop praising him\u00a0<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”credit-name” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Black Han Sans|||on|||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ header_4_font=”|||on|||||” header_4_text_align=”center” text_orientation=”center” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]
Words by Alice Hall<\/strong><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/03\/imago699286380.jpg” alt=”Michael Sheen” title_text=”Michael Sheen & Sarah Silverman, LOS ANGELES, CA – DECEMBER 14, 2016: Actor Michael Sheen & girlfrie” force_fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″] Michael Sheen is well known for his philanthropic endeavours, particularly in his hometown of South Wales. And his latest move has got the internet talking. The actor\u00a0has paid off \u00a31m worth of debt for neighbours in his local community of Port Talbot, South Wales \u2013 using \u00a3100,000 of his own money.<\/p>\n Documented in Michael Sheen’s Secret Million Pound Giveaway, a new Channel 4 show which will air tonight – it comes five months after the closure of Port Talbot’s last blast furnace, which marked the end of traditional steelmaking in south Wales.<\/p>\n Overall, Michael has helped 900 people in the Port Talbot area by buying \u00a31m worth of strangers\u2019 debt for \u00a3100,000. In a teaser for the documentary, Sheen says \u2018I\u2019ve always wanted to do something big to expose the unfairness of the system,\u2019 continuing \u2018I want to see if I can help people going through a tough time, and at the same time I want to do something that gets people\u2019s attention.\u2019<\/p>\n People have taken to social media to express how impressed they are by Michael\u2019s generosity. One user wrote on X \u2018Really moved by this man who works tirelessly to help people and to spread kindness and awareness, using his platform for so much good. He\u2019s a real inspiration.\u2019 Another user wrote \u2018There\u2019s always more good in the world than bad, if you look hard enough. Be more, Michael Sheen people !\u2019 A third wrote \u2018He\u2019s too good for this world. His kindness, his empathy, his sense of justice, his desire to fix things, certainly seem like things from another world.\u2019<\/p>\n More than eight million people across the UK were in debt and another 12 million lived on the edge in 2023, according to the Money and Pensions Service, external. Speaking in the documentary, Sheen described him writing off \u00a31m-worth of people’s debts as a \u2018drop in the ocean,\u2019 continuing \u2018Until the government makes the banks responsible for affordable credit, the problem will only get worse.\u2019<\/p>\n Michael appeared on The One Show last week to speak about the premise of the documentary. \u2018\u00a3100,000 to buy 1million worth of debt seemed like a good deal to me. I didn\u2019t have \u00a3100,000 to throw around. So I wanted it to be effective,\u2019 he said. \u2018But when I realised I could do this, get \u00a31million worth of people\u2019s debt and just write it off, it seemed like a good thing to do.\u2019<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”||0px|||” global_colors_info=”{}”] He outlined how this exchange works, continuing \u2018People\u2019s debt gets put into bundles. Then debt-buying companies can buy those bundles, and they can sell it on to another debt-buying company at a lower price. So even though the amount of people who owe is still the same, the people who own the debt, can sell it for less and less money.\u2019<\/p>\n He added \u2018So I was able to set up a company and for \u00a3100,000 of my own money buy \u00a31mill worth of debt, because it had come down in value, because they don\u2019t think there\u2019s as much chance to get the money back. I had no idea this happened.\u2019<\/p>\n However, Sheen explained that the process of setting up a debt company was much more difficult than he expected \u2013 something he wasn\u2019t prepared for. He said the whole process of getting a licence took him \u2018two years\u2019, because they had to do it \u2018secretly\u2019 for the documentary. He explains he was motivated to keep going after speaking to workers in a cafe opposite the steelworks, who describe people crying at the tables as the closure loomed.<\/p>\n <\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”custom-quote” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_font=”Libre Bodoni|||on|||||” header_2_text_align=”center” header_2_text_color=”#333333″ header_2_font_size=”40px” header_2_line_height=”1.2em” global_colors_info=”{}”] Appearing tearful in the documentary, he says \u2018It couldn’t be more real how much people are hurting. Maybe this programme will make a tiny bit of difference, maybe it won’t, I can’t walk away from it now.\u2019 One TikTok user has spoken out about how she benefited from Sheen\u2019s generosity. TikTok user LezzyLongLegs shared a video praising Sheen\u2019s kindness. \u2018Me and [my partner Jade got ourselves into a lot of debt individually and together and we were finally sorting it out today \u2013 only to find that 12 grand of our debt has disappeared and been settled.\u2019<\/p>\n She continued: \u2018Michael Sheen has paid off the majority of our debt! I cannot believe it.\u2019 Detailing Sheen’s actions further, she explained that each of the 900 people he has supported are in the 25-35 age bracket. \u2018I cannot believe I was one of them and I didn’t even know about it,\u2019 the user said. \u2018And Jade was one of them, what the f***? What’s going on? How does this happen to a person like me?\u2019<\/p>\n She finished by sharing that she and Jade have now been given a \u2018second chance\u2019 with their debt \u2018minimal compared to what it was,\u2019 adding \u2018I just feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders and we are going to make these payments now and be debt-free and just start a new, fresh, clean slate. “I cannot wait for life.Thank you, Michael, so much. Honest to god, if there is a god, you are an angel and if you’re ever in Newport, feel free to pop in for a cuppa!\u2019<\/p>\n This comes after Sheen announced he was a \u2018not-for-profit actor\u2019 after selling his houses and giving the proceeds to charity in 2021. In an interview with The Big Issue at the time, Sheen said that organising the 2019 Homeless World Cup in Cardiff was a turning point for him. When funding for the \u00a32m project fell through at the last moment, Sheen sold his own houses to bankroll it.<\/p>\n ‘I had a house in America and a house here and I put those up and just did whatever it took,\u2019 he said. \u2018It was scary and incredibly stressful. I\u2019ll be paying for it for a long time.\u2019<\/p>\n Sheen said that when he \u2018came out the other side\u2019, he realised he could do these kinds of things and, if he could keep earning money, \u2018it\u2019s not going to ruin me.\u2019 He\u2019s pledged to carry on using the money he earns from acting to fund more projects.<\/p>\n There was something quite liberating about going, all right, I\u2019ll put large amounts of money into this or that, because I\u2019ll be able to earn it back again. I\u2019ve essentially turned myself into a social enterprise, a not-for-profit actor,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n Ok so we can\u2019t all be millionaires, but maybe we can all try and be a bit more Michael Sheen every now and again.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider color=”#111111″ divider_position=”center” divider_weight=”2px” module_class=”custom-divider” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”0px||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”0px||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text module_class=”credit-texts” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”|||on|||||” text_orientation=”center” global_colors_info=”{}”] Photo: Imago<\/b><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The internet has rushed to praise him…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":7757,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fashion","category-news"],"acf":[],"modified_by":"guestgrazia","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7751"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7751\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7768,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7751\/revisions\/7768"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}‘It seemed like a good thing to do.’<\/h2>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]
Michael managed to clear banking debt, overdrafts, credit cards and store cards, plus personal loans. \u2018Ironically, I am genuinely not sure I can afford to do this, but I’m still going to do it, because I’ve made a commitment and because I know this problem isn’t going to go away,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n