The Most Expensive Celebrity Divorce Settlements

Marriage can be one of the happiest times in a couple's relationship. You get to be the center of attention around all your friends and family in a gathering they will all remember. However, the opposite is also true when things begin to go south and both parties agree a divorce is necessary. This has happened on numerous occasions with celebrity couples and it is always tricky when finances get involved. 

Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s love story began after the actors met on the set of Rum Diary in 2011. Four years after they met, the lovebirds tied the knot in a private ceremony. Unfortunately, their union didn’t last very long; it ended in divorce in 2012 due to irreconcilable differences between the lovers. 

Giuggioli and Firth met while they were both starring in the BBC drama, Nostromo in 1996. They bonded and got married in 1997 only a year after they met and remained together as a couple for 22 years until their split and subsequent divorce was officially announced in December 2019. 

Mike Tyson’s marriage to actress Robin Givens ended when she filed for divorce in 1989 on grounds of spousal abuse, something that no couple should have to go through. They mutually agreed to end their marriage only eight months after tying the knot. 

Jennifer Lopez is one of the most influential people of Latin-American origin in the world and she was the rave of the music industry when she filed for divorce from Cris Judd in 2002. The announcement sent shockwaves around because they hadn’t even been married for a year at that point and the divorce was particularly expensive for the screen diva.

An ugly alimony battle broke out between John Cleese and Alyce Faye Eichelberger shortly after they announced their decision to get a divorce. After the legal proceedings, John Cleese was ordered to pay his ex-wife about $19 million in alimony payments and another $13 million in assets. 

Paul McCartney married former model and activist Heather Mills in 2002 but their union didn’t last for long as they split four years after. Procedures and agreements crawled by slowly during the divorce and it took the former lovers two years to reach an official divorce settlement. 

Kenny Rogers made his mark on country music and is widely regarded as a legend but he was equally prolific at love matters. Rogers was married five times but his most expensive divorce was with his fourth wife, Marianne Gordon. 

About a decade before James Cameron made history with his ground-breaking Avatar movie, he was locked in divorce agreements with his ex-wife Linda Hamilton. He was already a director, and she was a famous actress when they got married in 1997. Hamilton and James Cameron became a couple while James Cameron was still married to movie director Kathryn Bigelow and history repeated itself when Hamilton found that Cameron was having an extra-marital affair with Suzy Amis.

The paths of American pop superstar Madonna and popular British movie director Guy Ritchie were always bound to cross. When they officially decided to get a divorce in 2008, they had been married for eight years. 

Cindy Silva and Kevin Costner met at California State University and got married in 1978. Their union lasted for 16 years and they share three children. He wasn’t always an award-winning actor; it was during the course of their marriage that Costner became one of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood, and one of its most successful with roles in high-grossing movies like Field of Dreams, Dance With Wolves, and more. 

Steven Speilberg and Amy Irving met during Irving’s audition for Close Encounters of the Third Kind and they got married not long after. Spielberg and Irving’s union lasted for four years until their divorce. A curious thing that happened during their divorce proceedings was that it was revealed that the couple signed a prenup on a piece of paper. 

Harrison Ford and Melissa Mathison had been married for about 17 years when they announced their separation in 2000. According to reports, Ford’s extramarital affair with a young lady is the reason the marriage crashed early. 

Frank McCourt’s separation from Jamie McCourt remains one of the most controversial and expensive celebrity divorces ever. The divorce settlement negotiations were so messy that they incurred a combined $20.6 million in legal representation fees. 

Tiger Woods’ multiple extramarital affairs became public in 2010, causing his wife Elin Nordegren to file for divorce shortly after. Apparently, before Elin filed for divorce in August 2010, she was in the dark about Woods' extracurricular activities. 

Garth Brooks became a country music legend after he met and married Sandy Mahl. When they tied the knot in 1986, Brooks didn’t yet have an album to his name. They were married for 14 years; Brooks’ career really boomed in this span as he became one of the highest-paid touring artists in history. 

Mel Gibson’s 31-year marriage to Robyn Moore ended in divorce in 2011. The divorce arrangements and settlement judgment left a big hole in Gibson’s bank account as he had to pay Moore a staggering sum of $425 million in settlements. 

Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen’s divorce was more than just another controversial celebrity divorce in 2006. Their union was full of turbulent years; documents presented in court included allegations that Charlie Sheen was abusive to the screen diva and that he slept around with prostitutes while they were married. 

Michael Jordan got dunked on when his former wife Juanita Vanoy filed for divorce. No one really knows what was going on in her head when she called it quits but a clearer picture is painted by the reports of Jordan’s extra-marital affairs and a private investigator who claimed to have seen Jordan with several women in compromising positions. 

Rupert Murdoch’s marriage to Anna Mann lasted for 32 years and they have three children. Because Murdoch’s fortune is worth billions of dollars, the divorce settlement wasn’t a small figure by any measure. Mann was paid about $1.7 billion in settlement and another $110 million in cash settlements. 

Jeff Bezons has been the richest man in the world on more than one occasion and he’s also one of the wealthiest individuals in history. It is therefore not surprising that his divorce from Mackenzie Scott was such an expensive affair. 

Adele’s decision to file for divorce from Simon Konecki surprised a lot of fans and the award-winning singer herself. They have a nine-year-old son, Angelo and they had been together for eight years, three of which they were married before their separation and divorce. 

Reba McEntire is a country music icon and Narvel Blackstock was her manager for 35 years. When their previous marriages crashed in 1989, McEntire and Blackstock got married and they were together for 26 years until their separation in 2015. 

Michael Strahan and Jean Muggli tied the knot in 1999, five years after they first met. Their union was full of bliss and they welcomed twin daughters in 2004 but a year after their children were born, Jean called emergency services on threats of abuse from her husband who already had a history of abusing her. 

Jesse Williams filed for divorce from his wife Aryn Drake-Lee after five years together. They had been in a relationship for 13 years at that point and it appeared Drake-Lee didn’t want the divorce as she came out to discuss the pain divorce can bring to couples and their children. 

Co-founder of BET, Robert Johnson was married to Sheila Johnson for 33 years until he filed for divorce in 2002. Their separation was very public, very bitter, and worse still, the timing of the divorce wasn’t quite great for Johnson who had just sold BET to Viacom two years before he filed for divorce from Sheila.  

Business mogul Michael Polsky was married to Maya Polsky for 31 years before he filed for divorce in 2004. A messy divorce played out after the announcement; during the two-month legal battles, Polsky alleged that his wife Maya was only a housekeeper and it was he who created their fortune after their migration from Russia. 

Allen Iverson is an NBA legend and one of the league’s most prolific small scorers ever. Off the court, he was married to Tawanna Iverson; he was in a relationship with her for 24 years and they have five children. Everything changed for Iverson when Tawanna filed for divorce because he had amassed a staggering $150 million debt. 

Neil Diamond’s marriage to Marcia Murphy was his second; they were married for 26 years before their divorce was concluded in 1995. Their union coincided with the period in which Diamond’s brand was booming with successful hit songs like "You Don’t Bring Me Flowers" and "Sweet Caroline" so she was basically set up for a sizeable divorce settlement. 

Donald Trump’s marriage to Ivana Trump ended after 15 years as Ivana got wind of his affair with Marla Maples. She quickly filed for divorce as soon as she found out and she was prepared to milk every penny she could out of Trump. 

Ted Danson was already married to his first wife Cindy Coates while he was finding his feet in Hollywood. He hadn’t yet hit it big on Cheers and he wasn’t yet a famous actor when he married Coates. 

Greg Norman’s second divorce was filled with lots of twists and history. He was in a messy divorce with his first wife as he had to pay her $103 million in divorce settlements. After that divorce was concluded, he married tennis star, Chris Evert. Evert had gone through a nasty divorce herself as she had paid her first husband $7 million after their divorce in 2006. 

Ellen Barkin is a multiple award-winning actress and movie producer who’s been married twice. Her second marriage was to Ron Perelman, a cosmetics mogul she married in 2001 and divorced in 2006. According to reports, they had a troubled marriage full of turbulence so it wasn’t out of place for them to have the kind of messy divorce they had too. 

Matt Lauer and Annette Roque got married in October 1998 after they had gotten to know each other on a blind date. Even though they hit it off quickly, their union suffered when Lauer lost his job on NBC on grounds of alleged sexual misconduct. 

Hulk Hogan was married to Linda Hogan for 23 years until she filed for divorce in 2007 after finding out the wrestling icon cheated on her. They had a two-year legal battle that ended after their divorce was finally concluded in 2009. 

Mick Jagger’s fairytale romance with Jerry Hall began in 1977 after they met in London in 1976. The couple has four children and they were together until they decided to end their union after nearly 20 years together. 

Lionel Ritchie is no longer the young and energetic performer he once was but his songs are still featured at wedding ceremonies, dinners, and more. He met Diane Alexander while performing at the 1984 Olympic games and they became strongly attached to each other immediately. 

Angelina Jolie’s 12-year relationship and 2-year marriage to Brad Pitt ended when she filed for divorce in 2016. Not only did she file for divorce, but Jolie also requested to have sole custody of their children, citing irreconcilable differences as the reason for her decision. 

American talk show host, Johnny Carson was married to Joanna Holland. She is a model and his third wife; they met while Carson was having dinner with Molly Parnis and Holland came around. Their attraction was instant and mutual so they got married shortly after they met. 

Lance Armstrong conquered the Tour de France twice and he was married to Kristin Richard for five years until their divorce in 2003. They met in 1997 while he was getting chemotherapy for testicular cancer and she soon quit her job to support Armstrong’s career. 

Jeff Gordon’s first marriage was to Brooke Sealy. He was at work when they met; he was a NASCAR driver and she was a successful model at the Daytona 500. They had to keep their relationship secret for a while because drivers weren’t supposed to date models. 

Heidi Klum was married to Seal for about seven years until she filed for divorce in 2012. They had announced their separation about two months before then so everyone saw the divorce coming. They have three children but custody arrangements weren’t discussed in their divorce judgment. 

Camille Grammer and Kelsey Grammer got married in 1997 and remained together for 14 years until their divorce in 2011. Even though they have a son and a daughter together, things were far from cordial between them after they split; infidelity on Kelsey Grammer’s part has been cited as the reason for their divorce. 

After several months of rumors that the most famous Kardashian had grown apart from her husband, Kanye West, Kim Kardashian filed for divorce in February 2021. They had been married for nearly seven years at that point and they have four children. 

Alec Wildenstein was a French-born American Billionaire, art dealer, and businessman. He was married to American socialite Jocelyn Wildenstein for 21 years until their divorce in 1999. The divorce was all over entertainment tabloids and gossip mills because of the amount of money involved. 

Retired baseball player Alex Rodriguez exchanged vows with his first wife Cynthia Scurtis in 2002. He was one of the MLB’s best sluggers at the time and he had just secured a historic contract so rumors of him still being a playboy weren’t unfounded as he was linked to a couple of celebrities. 

Bill Gates and Melinda Gates's divorce after 27 years together is perhaps the biggest billionaire divorce in history. Bill Gates is the fourth richest person in the world with a net worth of $124 billion but a lot of his wealth is funneled to a foundation he founded with Melinda; the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. 

When Harold Hamm and Sue Ann Arnall’s divorce was announced in 2013, the oil magnate was the 35th-richest person in the US so the divorce was always going to be an expensive one. They met at his company, Continental Resources, where Sue worked as an attorney and executive. 

You would think that after two failed marriages, Phil Collins would have learned his lesson and focused on making the music we all know and love. But this wasn't the case as he decided to try it one more time and married Swiss jewelry designer Orianne Cevey.

To end things off we have none other than Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver. The couple got married in 1986 but things took a turn for the worse when Maria found out that Arnold had had an affair and an illegitimate child with their current housekeeper.