Expensive Celebrity Divorces: Homes, Cars, Gifts and Weddings
Oil baron Harold Hamm was ordered by a judge to pay his now ex-wife Sue Ann Arnall the biggest divorce settlement in history- $1 billion, a significant portion of his $11 billion fortune.
The expensive end result of the nine-week long divorce proceedings can be attributed to the lack of any sort of pre-nuptial agreement prior to their 1988 wedding. In the immortal words of Kanye West, “It’s something that you need to have cause when she leave yo’ ass she gone leave with half.”
Maybe it wasn’t quite half, but the Squander team did the math and discovered that Hamm’s 25 year marriage cost him approximately $102,880 per day. That’s right. Being married to Sue Ann Arnall cost Harold Hamm per day more than most Americans can aspire to make in a year.
That got us thinking about other infamously expensive celebrity divorce settlements throughout history and how they rank compared to Hamm’s daily payout. After all, most successful business men will agree that time is money. So how much money did the time spent being married cost famously wealthy men like Mel Gibson and Tiger Woods?
No matter what way it’s looked at, Mel Gibson’s divorce from Robyn Denise Moore cost him an unfathomable amount of money. In December 2011, after 28 years of marriage, Gibson was ordered to pay ex-wife Moore about half of his estimated worth in the sum of $400 million. Even the considerable length of the marriage can’t save the fact that Gibson’s marriage to Moore cost him an estimated $34,719 per day without the inclusion of whatever money he willingly spent on her during those years.
Though former Beatles member and music legend Paul McCartney only had to pay ex Heather Mills $48 million, that’s a relatively small number in comparison to others on our list. The short duration of their marriage leaves his daily payout at about $23,076. It’s nothing when stacked next to the daily payout of the next celeb on our list, but considering McCartney has gone on record saying that his marriage to Mills was the “prime contender” to be one of the worst decisions of his life, we’re guessing he would agree it’s $23,076 too much.
While no one is entirely certain exactly how much Tiger Woods was forced to pay his ex of six years, Elin Nordegren, reports are that their divorce settlement grants her between $200- $400 million. Even assuming the lower amount of $200 million, Woods’ daily payout is a cringe-worthy $93,896, putting his cost just below that of Hamm’s $102,000. Even though Woods may have shelled out $800 million less than Hamm, Hamm has 19 years of marriage on Woods very brief time with Nordegren.
Finally, we’ll end the list on a positive note. Congratulations are in order for Neil Diamond. This is probably the one list where the frequently name-dropped celebrity doesn’t rank among the highest spenders. Though Diamond paid second wife Marcia Murphey $150 million after the termination of their marriage in 1995, the 27 years they spent together brings his daily payout to only about $15,851.
