7 stunning divorce settlements from female celebrities

Celebrity, Divorce, News, Relationships

Doesn’t it seem like marriages get shorter and shorter while divorce settlements get larger and larger? Yet despite the high divorce rate, celebrities still get married. When they get divorced, it’s not uncommon for the partner with lower net worth to request support from the other. (Although sometimes they don’t.)

In most of the divorces we hear about, the women receive money from the man, but sometimes it’s the women who have to pay big in the settlement. Read on for the reasonable, the generous and the downright crazy. 

7 big divorce settlements from female celebs

Victoria Principal Harry Glassman#1 We got a prenup!

Actress and infomercial queen Victoria Principal reportedly paid $25 million in her divorce settlement when she and hubby Harry Glassman split in 2006 after 21 years. They had a prenuptial agreement, which Glassman supposedly contested.

#2 Pay me baby one more timeBritney and Kevin_crop

Britney Spears was the hottest singer in the 2000s, and many people were mystified when she took up with unknown back-up dancer Kevin Federline. The couple got engaged in 2004 after three months of dating, married two months later and got divorced just two years after that. The marriage was a success for Federline: he fathered two children with the star (he’s now up to six) and walked away with a reported $13 million.

Madonna and Guy_verticle#3 Call him Ritchie Rich

British director Guy Ritchie, most recently known for the Sherlock Holmes movies, had a relatively high profile before marrying Madonna in December 2000, but his wealth didn’t touch the superstar’s. In their divorce, finalized eight years later, the media reported that Ritchie ended up with a payout between $76 million and $92 million.

#4 A marriage worth over $10,000 per weekKate Walsh Alex Young

Compared to other settlements, ABC’s “Private Practice” actress Kate Walsh paid a relatively low settlement to ex-husband Alex Young. The movie executive got a one-time payment of $627,000 plus a share of some royalties. But Young filed for divorce a mere 15 months after their 2007 wedding; that works out to over $10,000 for every week they were married and together. Not bad.

Melanie Brown#5 When one become two

Melanie Brown, also known as Mel B or Scary Spice of the Spice Girls, married dancer Jimmy Gulzar in 1998. When they divorced in 2000 amid a contentious custody battle over daughter Phoenix Chi, Gulzar supposedly requested £10 million, or about $16 million. He apparently had to settle for just £1.25 million, or approximately $2 million.

#6 Second time’s a charm?Anna Feris

Comedy actress Anna Faris, star of CBS’s “Mom” and the Scary Movie franchise, was married before she got together with “Guardians of the Galaxy” star Chris Pratt. Faris married actor Benjamin Indra in 2004 and the couple divorced three years later. The divorce settlement called for her to pay Indra $900,000 plus some acting royalties.

Kirstie Alley#7 Where everybody knows your net worth

Fittingly, NBC’s “Cheers” actress Kirstie Alley says she picked up her husband Parker Stevenson at a bar. The two married in 1983 and divorced after two children and 14 years of marriage. Stevenson, himself a TV actor of ABC’s “The Hardy Boys Mysteries” and NBC’s “Baywatch” fame, ended up with $6 million of Alley’s money in the divorce.

Plus: 3 more marriages to watch 

In these ongoing, recently reported celeb splits, these women may end up paying out large settlements to their ex-husbands, too:

  • Katharine McPhee and Nick Cokas married in 2008 when she was 23 and he was 46. Cokas’ grounds for divorce? He claims the NBC’s “Smash” actress cheated with her director Michael Morris.
  • Bethenny Frankel and Jason Hoppy married in 2010 and had a daughter that same year. The star of Bravo’s “Real Housewives of New York City” filed for divorce in January 2013. The couple agreed on child custody but not on how to split their assets.
  • Sherri Shepherd and Lamar Sally married in August 2011; Sally filed for divorce in May 2014. Shepherd, a former co-host of ABC’s “The View,” offered Sally a lump sum of $100,000 plus $3,000 per month for child support. Sally denied the offer and the two are still hashing out their difficult divorce settlement. 

This could be you!

Women, are you a high-net-worth individual hoping to protect your assets when you get married after knowing someone for just a few months? Men, are you a D-list musician, actor or “regular guy” hoping to Federline-it (yes, that’s a verb) at the end of a high-profile marriage? Either way, you need to talk to a lawyer about drawing up a prenuptial agreement. While you’re at it, find out if you live in a community property state, too.

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