Kevin Jonas revealed in a new interview he almost went broke when the Jonas Brothers was on hiatus.
“I’ve seen the beginning of the success to financial success — not knowing what money really was and understanding it — to not having [it], to losing almost all of it,” the 37-year-old confessed on Lewis Howes’ “The School of Greatness” podcast Monday.
Jonas, who forms the popular pop trio with his younger siblings Joe Jonas and Nick Jonas, attributed his financial slump to a slew of “bad business deals” that took place around “nine years ago.”
“You almost lost all your money?” host Lewis Howes asked, to which Kevin replied, “Yeah, most of it, like, down to the one 10 percent left.”
Kevin said he had “invested in a bunch of property” at the time, and said “sadly” it just “wasn’t the right partnership.” The “Sucker” singer then held back from going too into detail about the issues he faced, hinting at potential legal backlash by saying, “I can’t really get too much into it.”
The Jonas Brothers split for a few years starting in 2010 and, during that time, Kevin left the music biz to go into real estate. He formed his own residential development company, JonasWerner, which specialized in building custom mansions within commuting distance of Manhattan.
In 2016, he listed a mansion he built in Montvale, NJ, for sale for $2.6 million, then took it off the market and re-listed it in 2018. It eventually sold for a $1 million profit in 2020, according to the Sun.
Aside from that particular investment, the “Leave Before You Love Me” singer also dabbled in tech, investing in a food app called Yood and partnering with a tech startup called We Hear It.
Kevin added on “The School of Greatness,” “I’ve learned a lot of lessons in that and thankfully, for, life in general, we got a second shot and bite of the apple with the band coming back together.”
The Jonas Brothers officially reunited in 2019 and saw massive chart-topping success with the release of their fifth studio album, “Happiness Begins.”
“I learned this lesson — never wanted to learn it, but I did,” Kevin further reflected. “But then, at the same time, reevaluated how to approach life and — from that perspective, and look into the future. At the same time, I was able to really feel honored that we could have a second shot at it.”
Joe, 35, and Nick, 32 — who were also present for the wide-ranging interview — touched on what drove the group apart and then back together after a nearly 10-year separation.
“We all had to go figure out creatively what we could do on our own,” Joe — who is also the lead singer of DNCE — shared before adding, “We call it a breakup, but we had no intent of getting back together.
“There was too much under the rug to roll up … We had to trust each other a bit more with being, like, ‘Actually, you are good in this band. You are talented. All of us and for different reasons.’”
Joe said he realized, “We can all share the spotlight, we could all share the studio, and we could all share songwriting, and we could all share money.”