The news of Bill Gates and Melinda’s divorce created a flutter around the world. This took many by surprise, especially after a 27-year-old marriage.
In announcing their split, the couple announced they will continue to work together on philanthropic issues through their Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Below are some of the most expensive celebrity divorces of all time”
1. Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Scott – $38 billion
The billionaire Amazon founder and his wife announced their split in 2019 after 25 years of marriage, what followed was an expensive divorce that made Scott the third-richest woman in the world.
She left Bezos with 75 percent of their shared stock in the e-tail giant, although she only kept nearly 20 million shares, which were valued at about $35 billion at the time.
The split is deemed as the most expensive divorce ever as Bezos had to part with $38 billion of his wealth.
2. Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren – $110 million
Tiger Woods’ divorce payout to ex-wife Elin Nordegren may be as much as $110 million, according to HuffPost.
Tiger admitted to having multiple affairs and the couple decided to divorce after six years together in 2010.
In 2010 his divorce settlement was finalised and Elin Nordegren pocketed US$110 million with the couple sharing custody of their two children.
3. Michael Jordan and Juanita Vanoy – $168 million
Michael Jordan and Juanita Vanoy filed for a divorce in 2002 after being married for almost two decades.
The couple tried to sort out their differences for four years before issuing a statement about their separation in 2006.
After the divorce, Vanoy received a $168m divorce settlement, which is still one of the largest in sports history.
Michael Jordan and Juanita Vanoy’s divorce settlement is considered as one of the most expensive in sports history. Jordan also paid $2.1 million for their legal fees.
4. Elon Musk and Talulah Riley – $16 million
The second-richest man in the world has also divorced twice from the actress Talulah Riley.
After their first marriage ended in 2012, Riley reportedly walked away with $4.2 million.
They reconciled and wed again a year later, only for Elon to file for divorce in 2015.
That time, Musk agreed to pay her $16 million in the split, TMZ reported.
He is currently worth about $151 billion, according to Forbes.
5. Ivana and Donald Trump – $25 million
The former president of the United States of America’s divorce from his first wife, Ivana, wasn’t just expensive but dramatic.
Trump cheated on Ivana with his eventual second wife, Marla Maples, in a scandal that claimed many headlines.
Famously, Maples confronted Ivana in Aspen, where she reportedly said: “I’m Marla and I love your husband. Do you?” according to an interview Ivana gave to Barbara Walters. The divorce soon followed, with an estimated settlement of $25 million.
6. Alec Wildenstein and Jocelyn Wildenstein — $3.8 billion
Jocelyn Wildenstein, who is known by her plastic surgery moniker, “Catwoman,” had the priciest divorce settlement to date at the time when she split from her billionaire art dealer husband, Alec Wildenstein, in the late 1990s.
The breakup turned ugly after she caught him in bed with another woman, The high-profile divorce proceedings resulted in Jocelyn being awarded $2.5 billion and $100 million for each of the next 13 years, for a total of $3.8 billion.
7. Rupert Murdoch and Maria Torv – $1.7 billion
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch and journalist Maria Torv were married for 31 years and have three children together.
But the couple had diverging plans for when Murdoch would retire, and they agreed to an “amicable separation” in 1998.
Murdoch married Wendi Deng 17 days after the divorce while Torv married William Mann six months after, Torv is rumoured to have received $1.7 billion in settlements according to Economic Times.
8. Adnan Khashoggi and Soraya Khashoggi — $874 million
Saudi Arabian arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi married a 20-year-old British woman named Sandra Daly, who converted to Islam and changed her name to Soraya in 1961.
According to Time, at the height of their wealth, the couple owned 17 homes, three planes, and three yachts.
The couple divorced in 1974 and their settlement totaled a then-record $874 million dollars, equivalent to more than $2 billion today.
9. Bob Johnson and Sheila Crump Johnson — $400 million
Co-founders of Black Entertainment Television Bob Johnson and Sheila Johnson were married from 1969 to 2002.
In 2000, the couple even became the first African-American billionaires, and when the couple divorced in 2002, Sheila Johnson acquired $400 million.
In a twist of fate, Sheila later married the judge who presided over her divorce.
10. Melissa Mathison and Harrison Ford – $85 million
Another high-profile celebrity divorce was Ford’s split with ex-wife Mathison in 2004. The divorce came after 21 years of marriage and Mathison walked away with a large chunk of Ford’s earnings after their $85 million settlement.
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