Celebrity Divorces: Who Had the Most Expensive Split?

As a culture, we’ve come to expect a certain amount of lavishness and excess when it comes to celebrity weddings. We’ve also gotten to see that celebrity divorces can be just as costly.

For example, when Paul McCartney divorced second wife Heather Mills, it turned into Britain’s most expensive split with a price tag of $48.6 million. That number included assets, alimony, and a yearly payment to the couple’s then 4-year-old daughter.

Michael Douglas reached a similar deal with his wife, Diandra Douglas, to the tune of $45 million. Cheers star Ted Danson also learned about the cost of alimony when he was forced to hand over $30 million amid accusations of extramarital affairs.

Infidelity also paid a high price for Kevin Costner, whose wife Cindy Silva walked away with $80 million after she accused him of being unfaithful. Costner denied the cheating, but when notorious player Tiger Woods is claiming that you helped him hone his technique, it doesn’t speak well for your innocence.

The men aren’t the only ones handing over their paychecks, either. When Madonna divorced Guy Ritchie in 2008, she lost somewhere between $76 million and $92 million, a number that included both their business (a pub in London) and their joint home in England.

Where are the divorce lawyers when all these costly splits are taking place? You’d think celebrities could afford the best, especially ones living in high-divorce states like California or New York, where a Brooklyn divorce attorney could shepherd a divorce as fast and painlessly as possible. Well, Neil Diamond had one, but it turned out not to matter: He claimed his ex-wife Marcia Murphey was “worth every penny” of the $150 million he handed over.

However, the most expensive divorce in celebrity history goes to Michael and Juanita Jordan. Their split cost them a staggering $168 million, a number no doubt hiked by all the assets and property issues between them. That said, despite the complicated paperwork, their representative insisted the couple “mutually and amicably decided to end their 17-year marriage.”

It seems like happy endings can exist after all as long as the paycheck is right.