These 11 Celebrities Had Unbelievably Expensive Divorces, And The Settlement Amounts Are More Than Most People Will Make In Their Entire Lifetime
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We've all seen many celebrity marriages come and go, but not every marriage involves multimillion- to multibillion-dollar divorce settlements.
So here are some celebrity marriages that ended in ginormous dollar signs:
1.Michael Jordan and Juanita Vanoy:
Michael and Juanita first met at a restaurant in Chicago in 1985, only one season into Michael's prolific career with the Chicago Bulls. They eventually married in September 1989, almost a year after the birth of the first of three children they would go on to have together.
Here's where things get rocky. After Michael's second NBA retirement in 1999, he rejoined the NBA from 2001 to 2003. After over a decade of supporting Michael's career and their children every step of the way, in 2002, Juanita filed for divorce following his announcement. She requested "permanent custody of their children, the title to their Chicago mansion, and an equitable share of their marital assets." Michael told reporters about the separation: "When you have personal issues, sometimes work is a great avenue to deal with it and move on. Things will work out in the long run."
And "work out" they did...for a bit. Just a month after Juanita filed for divorce, the pair announced they were actually going to try and work things out. Unfortunately, it didn't work out, and they amicably ended things for good in 2006. In the wake of their split, Juanita received one of the biggest divorce settlement payouts in sports history, $168 million. Michael got to keep the Chicago mansion, though.
2.Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Scott:
Jeff and MacKenzie met shortly after she graduated from Princeton. Jeff was the first to interview her after she moved to NYC and sought a job with the investment management firm D. E. Shaw. The couple married in 1993, quit their jobs, and set out to Seattle to start Amazon. According to the Wall Street Journal, MacKenzie was the one who drove them cross-country while Jeff typed out his new business plans.
After moving cross-country together, having four children, creating one of the four horsemen, and 25 years of marriage, Jeff and MacKenzie announced in 2019 via Twitter that they were amicably divorcing. In their divorce settlement, MacKenzie was given a 4% stake in Amazon valued at $38.3 billion. Today, she's the fifth richest woman in the world. MacKenzie gave Jeff all her interests in the Washington Post and aerospace company Blue Origin, 75% of their Amazon stock, and voting control of her shares.
3.Mel Gibson and Robyn Moore:
Mel and Robyn met in 1977. Robyn was a dental nurse at the time, and Mel had just finished filming Mad Max. The pair got married in July 1980 and would go on to have seven children together. In August 2006, Mel and Robyn separated after 28 years of marriage. Their separation came just a month after Mel's 2006 DUI arrest and being filmed spewing anti-semitic remarks. It wouldn't be until 2009 that Robyn officially filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences.
The divorce wasn't settled until 2011, but it was well worth the wait. Due to not having a prenuptial agreement, Robyn was legally entitled to half of everything Mel earned during their marriage. According to People, his assets at the time included over $600 million grossed by The Passion of the Christ alone, $100-plus million in real estate investments worldwide, and $75 million for film and TV projects he executive produced. Robyn ended up with $425 million and is entitled to half of every future film residual check Mel receives for the rest of his life.
4.Kevin Costner and Cindy Silva:
Kevin and Cindy were college sweethearts who met while attending Cal State in 1975. The pair became fast friends, started dating, and married in 1978. As Kevin worked toward becoming an aspiring actor, they struggled to make ends meet before their situation finally hit it off. The couple would eventually go on to welcome three children together.
In 1994, things swiftly started to fall apart. After years of dealing with a movie star's grueling work schedule, three children, and plenty of rumors of womanizing, one final straw broke the camel's back. Not long before their split was announced, rumors started that Kevin had allegedly been having an affair with a celebrated hula dancer in Hawaii while filming the movie Waterworld. Not too long after the rumors began, the couple released this statement: "After 16 years together, we are ending our marriage. We have amicably resolved all issues regarding our children and financial affairs, and a full marital settlement has been reached."
Back in the day, prenups weren't as common as they are now, so like many people on this list, Kevin was required to give away a big part of his working fortune at the time. Cindy ended up walking away with $80 million.
5.Harrison Ford and Melissa Mathison:
Harrison and Melissa met in 1976 when she was a production assistant on the set of Apocalypse Now, and Harrison played Col. Lucas. The pair got married in 1983, just a year after making their romance official, and went on to have two children. In November of 2000, the couple announced their separation, saying in a statement released by Harrison's agent, "We have been living apart for the past month. We sincerely hope that we can work out our differences."
The two couldn't reconcile, and in 2001, Melissa filed for legal separation and custody of their two children. When 2004 rolled around, the couple officially divorced after 20 years of marriage. Melissa ended up winning an estimated $85 million in their settlement, and according to Forbes, she also negotiated "a piece of Ford's future earnings from films he made while married, including DVD sales of the Indiana Jones trilogy and The Fugitive."
6.Dr. Dre and Nicole Young:
Dr. Dre and Nicole reportedly met in the '90s when Nicole was married to someone else. When her first marriage ended in 1996, she started dating Dre. They dated for only four months before tying the knot in 1996. They had two kids and were together for 24 years before their marriage became publicly rocky.
Nicole filed for divorce in June 2020. According to People, in the court documents, she alleged that Dr. Dre was abusive. Nicole stated that she suffered post-traumatic stress syndrome from the way that she was treated. Dr. Dre denied the allegations, telling the court, "At no time did I ever abuse Nicole or threaten her physical safety."
In 2021, Nicole and Dr. Dre settled their divorce. He agreed to pay her $100 million in a property settlement agreement. According to Rolling Stone, Dr. Dre, who was worth about $820 million at the time, agreed to give "over more than one-fifth of his fortune and roughly half of his liquid assets."
7.Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren:
Tiger and Elin met in 2001 at the British Open. They were introduced through a mutual friend, started dating, got engaged in 2003, and were married by October 2004. The pair ended up having two children together. After the birth of their second child, things swiftly began to go wrong.
In November 2009, rumors started swirling that Tiger had cheated on Elin with more than a dozen women; one was even known to be his girlfriend. After the news broke, Tiger checked himself into a rehabilitation clinic to battle his sex addiction. According to Elin, she and Tiger tried for "months and months" to repair their relationship, but alas, their divorce was imminent. They ended their six-year marriage in August 2010. While the settlement wasn't as much as she hoped, Elin still walked away with $100 million.
8.Madonna and Guy Ritchie:
Madonna and Guy met in 1999 at a party Sting and Trudie Styler hosted. The pair had an on-again, off-again relationship for months, but by January 2000, Madonna told People that she was "in love." That March, they announced they were expecting their first child. They later got engaged and married in December 2000. The pair were also together when they met their adopted son, David Banda, in 2006.
Sadly, it didn't take long for things to go sour. In October 2008, Madonna and Guy announced that they were getting a divorce. According to People, between Madonna's alleged affair with baseball player Alex Rodriguez, the couple's varying views on fame and adoption, and a slew of other hardships, their relationship had been on the rocks for a while.
At the time of their divorce, Guy was worth about $35 million, while Madonna was worth about $490 million. Guy ended up with a settlement of an estimated $76 million to $92 million. The price included the ex-couple's country home in western England, and Guy also got to keep their shared west London pub.
9.James Cameron and Linda Hamilton:
James and Linda met on the set of The Terminator, which he directed, and she played the character Sarah Connor. Their relationship didn't start until after filming the second Terminator film in 1991. They were together for eight years before marrying in 1997 and having one child together.
In 1997, James was on a massive high after the release of the billion-dollar blockbuster Titanic and earned a whopping $100 million from that film alone. However, success couldn't solve the problems in their relationship. In May 1999, Linda filed for divorce, citing "irreconcilable differences" as the cause. In the settlement, Linda ended up walking away with $50 million, half of what James earned for Titanic.
Two decades later, Linda opened up about the flaws in their relationship, saying, "That relationship was a mystery to all of us — even Jim and myself — because we are terribly mismatched." She continued with, "I think what happened there is that he really fell in love with Sarah Connor." James would go on to back this up, telling the Times, "I fell in love with her initially because I thought she was a little closer to Sarah than she actually is, but that doesn't mean that much once you get to know somebody."
10.Scooter Braun and Yael Cohen:
Scooter and Yael met when Scooter reached out to her after he saw a video of her TedxTalk where she spoke about her nonprofit, F**k Cancer. He really wanted to meet her, and that he did. In January 2014, Us Weekly reported their engagement, and by July 2014, the pair was married. They went on to have three children together.
However, in 2021, things got rocky. In early July, reports started flooding in that the pair were separating, but there was still hope in fixing what was broken in their relationship. A source close to the couple told People, "Their friendship is the best it's ever been, but they're taking some time apart to sort things out." Well, just days later, Scooter filed for divorce after seven years of marriage, citing "irreconcilable differences" as the cause.
In the divorce, Yael was awarded $20 million to cover the split of property value and a spousal support buyout. Scooter also was made to pay $60,000 in child support every month. Yael also got to remain in their $30 million family home, keep her 2021 Land Rover, and retain several pieces of their extensive art collection.
11.Steven Spielberg and Amy Irving:
Steven and Amy first met when she auditioned for Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which was directed by Steven. They hit it off quickly and soon started dating, shared a home together, and even a dog. The pair initially dated from around 1976 to 1980 before breaking up, seemingly due to the tensions between Amy and Steven's careers and the limelight. In 1977, Amy told Femme Fatales magazine, "I do not ever want to be known as 'Steven Spielberg's girlfriend.' First I want to be Amy Irving."
The couple reunited in 1985 and decided to get married that same year after becoming pregnant with their son, Max. In early 1989, rumors started swirling that Steven had started a relationship with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom star Kate Capshaw, whom he would go on to marry just two years after his divorce from Amy.
In April of that same year, Amy and Steven announced their divorce and stated it was a mutual decision in a "spirit of caring." The two had reportedly created a prenup (without lawyers present) on the back of a cocktail napkin, which Amy later claimed to the courts was invalid because she lacked legal representation at the time of creation. The courts agreed, and due to the lack of prenup, she was entitled to half of what he earned while they were married. Amy left her marriage $100 million richer; the biggest payout in a Hollywood divorce at the time.
