For wealthy celebrity couples who had no prenuptial agreement, divorces are usually more than just a string of accusations, broken hearts, removal of rings and moving out. Money, a huge amount of it, is often times involved with celebrity divorces.
Celebrities like Madonna, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and even U.S. President Donald Trump, have all had their own share of expensive divorces. Obviously, when these expensive celebrity divorce settlements go down, the receiving partner gets to walk out feeling like a winner or at least, “not a total loser.”
This list of the most expensive celebrity divorces since time immemorial features only settlements worth millions and billions of dollars.
10. Robyn Moore and Mel Gibson, $425million
There’s yet to be another Hollywood divorce payout to beat that of Robyn Moore and Mel Gibson. Moore walked out of the nearly 30 year’s old marriage with half of Gibson’s total net worth. The couple actually signed a prenuptial agreement that entitled Moore to half of Gibson’s earnings. So you can probably say the settlement didn’t catch Gibson off guard.
9. Wendy McCaw and Craig McCaw, $460 million
Newspaper publisher Wendy McCaw and telecommunications entrepreneur Craig McCaw cordially called it quits, with a settlement that’s close to half a billion dollars.
8. Elena Rybolovlev and Dmitry Rybolovlev, $604 million
The Russian socialite Elena Rybolovlev already bagged the sum of $4.5 billion from her divorce settlement with the Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev. However, after an appeal, the settlement was reduced to $604 million. “Serial infidelity,” on the part of Dmitry was what led to their divorce in 2014, they were married for 27 years.
7. Soraya Khashoggi and Adnan Khashoggi, $874 million
20-year-old Sandra Daly married Adnan Khashoggi, a Saudi Arabian arms dealer in 1961. On marrying him, she converted to Islam and started bearing the name Soraya. Their divorce in 1974 made Soraya $874 million dollars richer.
6. Sue Ann Arnall and Harold Hamm, $975 million
Oil tycoon Harold Hamm wrote his wife Sue Ann Arnall a whooping sum of $975 million after a dragged-out bitter divorce proceeding. Sue refused to cash the check though for several years, appealing in court for a larger settlement. She finally cashed the check in 2015.
5. Steve and Elaine Wynn, $1 billion
It’s been an on and off marriage for American billionaires Steve and Elaine Wynn. They first got married in 1963, separated in 1986, joined hands again in 1991 and finally divorced for good in 2010. Their second divorce settlement is estimated to be up to $1 billion.
4. Slavica Radi and Bernie Ecclestone, $1.2 billion
Bernie Ecclestone, Formula One executive and one of the wealthiest people in the UK, divorced his Croatian model wife Slavica Radi in 2009. And as strange as it may sound, it appears that Radi is the one paying the estimated settlement of $1.2 billion to Ecclestone.
3. Maria Torv and Rupert Murdoch, $1.7 billion
Journalist Maria Torv was married to her media mogul husband for 31 years before they “amicably separated” in 1998. While details of the divorce are sparse, rumors going around claim Torv received $1.7 billion.
2. Jocelyn Wildenstein and Alec Wildenstein, $3.8 billion
Until the recent Jeff Bezos’ divorce settlement, Jocelyn and Alec Wildenstein divorce
1. Mackenzie Bezos and Jeff Bezos, $36 billion
People expected nothing less from the world’s richest man when news of the divorce emerged in January. However, that didn’t stop ‘ahs’ and ‘ohs’ from trailing the official announcement that Mackenzie will be leaving with $36 billion. This divorce has made Mackenzie the third richest woman in the world.
