Billy Porter: Excluding property, what is the most expensive thing you have ever bought?

The question

Excluding property, what is the most expensive thing you have ever bought?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

The Guardian's weekly The Q&A repeatedly uses this standing prompt, with minor contractions and word-order variation.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Billy Porter

American actor and singer

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

I bought my BMW in 2014 with cash, because I was bankrupt and had no credit. But I was in Kinky Boots, so I was finally making some money.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 9 January 2021 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 198 →

Adeel Akhtar British actor

A snazzy coffee machine that grinds beans and steams milk.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 May 2018 source ↗

Charlotte Church Welsh singer-songwriter and actress

When I was 18, I bought a boat for a million pounds and sold it a year later for just over half the price.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 July 2022 source ↗

Miriam Margolyes

Every time I got a lucrative voiceover, I bought a picture. The most expensive was by James Gillray.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 July 2025 source ↗

Julie Andrews English actress, singer and author

I saw a very expensive painting by a wonderful American painter called Charles Burchfield. I really loved it – it hit me in the solar plexus – and I thought if I did three extra concerts on tour, I might be able to afford it. And I did.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 October 2019 source ↗