Celebrity
marriages start and end faster than most of us can keep up with. Many
would say it is due to the public nature of the marriage, others would
say it is the celebrity tendency toward narcissism, while most would say
that such hectic schedules and lavish lifestyles keep celebrities from
fully committing to work through the difficult ups and downs of
marriage. No matter the reason for a celebrity divorce, the high
possibility of a marriage failing means that celebrities need to protect
their assets. Most celebrity couples opt to sign a prenuptial agreement
before taking their vows.By claiming their assets and setting a
fair financial stipend even before vows are taken, a celebrity’s
finances are protected. However, there are occasions when celebrities
choose to enter into a marriage without a prenuptial agreement. When
these marriages end, the outcome is a difficult and costly battle
between the celebrity working to retain as much of their wealth as
possible, and the spouse attempting to retain some of the wealth for
themselves. These are the Top 10 Most Expensive Celebrity Divorces.
10. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver
While
a strong marriage has the ability to withstand dozens of hardships,
fathering a child with a member of the house staff tends to be a deal
breaker, or so was the case with Arnold Schwarzenegger
and Maria Shriver. Best known as the niece of John F. Kennedy, Maria
Shriver was a news writer and producer, as well as a news correspondent
before she resigned in 2003. At the time, her husband, Arnold
Schwarzenegger became the Governor of California. Just eight years
later, and 25 years of marriage, the couple announced their divorce in
July of 2011. Schwarzenegger was forced to split his net worth with
Maria Shriver. Exactly how much was half? Approximately $250 million!
9. Irina Malandina and Roman Abramovich
When
the wife of a Russian business tycoon files for divorce under the
suspicion that her husband is having an affair, she is bound to seek out
a large amount of money in the divorce settlement. Irina Malandina
however, did not. Instead, the former Aeroflot flight attendant
remained true to her low-key lifestyle and chose to proceed with an
amicable divorce settlement. Had she chosen to ask for more of a
substantial amount of money, there is no doubt that Abramovich,
who made most of his money through trade and the acquisition of a
handful of companies, could have parted with much more. As the ninth
richest man in Russia, Roman Abramovich has a net worth of $9.1 billion
and is the proud owner of the English Premier League Football team, the
Chelsea Football Club. When the divorce between Malandina and Abramovich
was finally complete in 2007, the final settlement was around $300
million.
8. Robert and Sheila Johnson
Some couples prefer to keep their career and marriage separate. Others, such as Robert
and Sheila Johnson find a great deal of success working side by side.
As a married couple, the Johnsons successfully founded the BET Network.
During their 33-year long marriage, the couple became a very wealthy
power couple. In 2000, they became even wealthier when Robert Johnson
sold BET to Viacom. However, just two years later, the couple announced
their divorce sighting “professional differences”. In the end, Sheila
received $400 million in the divorce settlement.
7. Mel Gibson and Robyn Moore
When
a couple is together for nearly three decades and have seven children
together, it seems likely that they will be together forever, but this
was not true of Mel and Robyn Gibson.
In 2006, the pair separated. Three years later, in 2009, after the news
broke of Gibson’s affair, Moore filed for divorce. Since the couple did
not have a prenuptial agreement, Moore was entitled to half of Gibson’s
net worth. At the age of 55, Gibson had reached a high point in his
career as well as his wealth. He was heavily invested in
real estate
,
the owner of an island in Fiji, and a highly paid actor and director.
In the end, Moore was awarded $450 million. She is also entitled to half
of any film residuals Gibson receives for the remainder of his life.
6. Craig McCaw and Wendy Petrak
When Craig McCaw
founded McCaw Cellular and then sold his company to AT&T for $12.6
billion, he and his wife Wendy Petrak were in the midst of their 21 year
marriage. Just years later, in 1995, McCaw and Petrak split due to
‘personal differences’. McCaw was the initiator of the divorce and the
first to proclaim his right to the couple’s $1.3 billion. Along with the
division of money, there was also the division of luxuries such as
private jets, the family yacht, and the large family home. In the end,
Petrak was awarded $460 million. Though the divorce settlement was
large, McCaw had little financial issues as he went on to found
Clearwire, a company that later merged with Sprint Nextel. When he
stepped down as CEO in 2012, McCaw sold his remaining stake to Sprint
for $100 million.
5. Steve Wynn and Elaine Pascal
After giving marriage a try from 1963 to 1986, and then again after getting remarried in 1991, Steve Wynn and Elaine Pascal
finally called it quits in 2010. At the beginning of their
relationship, the couple moved to Las Vegas, NV. From there, Wynn went
on to revitalize and rebuild the Las Vegas Strip. He is famous for his
hotels and resorts such as The Mirage, Treasure Island, The Bellagio,
The Wynn, and The Encore. With so much success in business, Wynn easily
generated a net worth of over $1 billion dollars by 2004. When Steve
Wynn and Elaine Pascal’s marriage went south, Elaine received 11 million
shares of the Wynn stock. The shares equal out to $741 million.
4. Bernie Ecclestone and Slavica Ecclestone
During their 23-year marriage, Bernie Ecclestone and Slavica Ecclestone
held a net worth of $4.2 billion. Ecclestone is the CEO and president
of Formula One racing. Their initial meeting occurred at the 1982
Italian Grand Prix, where Slavica was modelling. With nearly a foot
height difference between the pair and a 28-year age gap, they seemed an
unlikely pair. However, Bernie and Slavica stayed together for over two
decades and raised two daughters together. However, in 2009 the couple
chose to divorce. Ecclestone was ordered to pay Slavica $1.3 billion.
3. Rupert Murdoch and Anna Maria Torv
Rupert Murdoch’s fortune began at an early age when he took over his father’s newspaper,
Sunday Mail. Over the next forty years, Murdoch made his millions by acquiring news outlets such as, the
Chicago Times,
New York magazine,
and Century FOX Film Corporation; which he consolidated with several
independent television stations into FOX, Inc. He also bought several
publishing companies and consolidated them into the famous
HarperCollins. All of this work created a substantial amount of money
for Murdoch and his wife of 32 years, Anna Torv. Murdoch was reported to
have a net worth of close to $8 billion. Together the couple had four
children. In 1999, the pair divorced. What did Anna Torv take away from
the marriage? A whopping $1.2 billion.
2. Rupert Murdoch and Wendi Deng
Yes,
Rupert Murdoch appears on the list of the most expensive celebrity
divorces twice! This time his divorce was with Wendi Deng, a woman he
met just before he separated from his previous wife, Anna Maria Torv.
Murdoch and Deng dated for only a short time before they were married;
just 17 days after his divorce to Torv was finalized. Though there was a
37 year age difference between the pair, Murdoch and Deng managed to
stay together for 13 years, though according to many accounts the
relationship should have ended years before. The price tag for this
divorce: $1.8 million.
1. Alec Wildenstein and Jocelyn Perisse
After their first meeting during a Kenyan hunting trip in 1978, Alec Wildenstein and Jocelyne Perisse
were headed toward marriage. Just one year after their meeting they wed
in Las Vegas and then set up residency in New York City. Wildenstein’s
family business of highly lucrative art dealings and racing horses, kept
the couple in an excessively lavish lifestyle. The pair enjoyed the
luxuries of several houses: one in the French countryside, Paris, the
Caribbean, and a 66,000 acre ranch in Kenya. Jocelyne began a series of
extreme plastic surgeries to keep the attention of her husband. However,
her efforts did not work. Perisse discovered her husband in bed with a
19-year-old woman, which put an end to the marriage. Jocelyn received
$2.5 billion in the divorce settlement. She also received $100 million
every year for 13 years after their divorce.
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