Fame and Fortune: Vanilla Ice Reality TV and real estate pad the rapper's pockets
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Bankrate: Are you sober these days?

Vanilla Ice: Yes. Therapy came through for me. Also, I have two daughters, 8 and 5. I am a pushover for them. I've given them kangaroos, horses and hairless rats. I'm not a disciplinarian. I wouldn't want anyone to have to walk in my shoes, but I wouldn't trade my experience for the world. I don't even do weed, maybe a beer every blue moon. I do Starbucks, that's all. What don't kill you makes you stronger.

Bankrate: Are you involved with any charities?

Vanilla Ice: Well, I won the "Hit Me Baby One More Time" contest, so I had them donate $20,000 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. I got a big thank you in the mail. It's so sad for those kids, they don't have a chance.

Bankrate: Have you changed the people you work with from the earlier part of your career?

Vanilla Ice: I'm still with the same people. My deejay and I went to the same high school. My drummer is from the same area. My assistant is my agent's brother. The others (stars) should take more control. They pay money to people and they don't even know what they're doing.

Bankrate: Do you have investments?

Vanilla Ice: I have real estate, mortgage and home building companies in Florida. They're LLCs, so nobody knows they're buying a Vanilla Ice home. They have no clue. I own buildings and land. My homes go for $750,000 to $3 million. I've been doing it for over 10 years, so I'm sitting pretty. You know what real estate has been doing. I have four people working for me; I trust my team. First, I started out buying one home a year. I sold it, then compounded my investment by buying two homes. Then, I turned those into four.

Bankrate: Do you manage your own money?

Vanilla Ice: Yes. Most don't, MC Hammer's bankrupt. It took a little while for me to do it. I'll gamble a little bit with the stock market. I played the stock market, made a little, lost a little, made a little and lost a little again. And, I had no idea what I was doing. But when I bought and sold houses, I made money on every single one. And, it was quick. So, I saw that I could have made triple on the houses what I made in the market.