The Most Expensive Celebrity Divorces

by Tom Miller

The fix is in on the Mills-McCartney divorce. She got a lot of loot. Approximately $48.6 million all-in. The first quote or two that we read from Heather Mills sounded jaded but then she was quick to say that she was pleased with the ruling. And then, according to Us Weekly,  she poured water onto the back of Sir Paul’s attorney. Good times, right? And every paper out there has an article on the most expensive celebrity divorces but they don’t all have the same figures. We thought we’d take it a step further and convert the celeb divorce payouts into 2008 dollars. And the list turned out a little something like this:

1. Neil Diamond & Marcia Murphey (1995. Then: $151 million. Now: $252 million.)
2. Steven Spielberg & Amy Irving (1989. Then: $100 million. Now: $212 million.)
3. Michael & Juanita Jordan (2007. Then: $168 million. Now: $175 million.)
4. Kevin Costner & Cindy Silva (1994. Then: $82 million. Now: $143 million.)
5. Kenny & Marianne Rogers (1993. Then: $60 million. Now: $109 million.)
6. Harrison Ford & Melissa Mathison (2004. Then: $85 million. Now: $100 million.)
7. James Cameron & Linda Hamilton (1999. Then: $50 million. Now: $71 million.)
8. Michael & Diandra Douglas (1997. Then: $46 million. Now: $71 million.)
9. Ted Danson & Casey Coates (1992. Then: $30 million. Now: $56 million.)
10. Paul McCartney & Heather Mills (2008. Then: $49 million. Now: Samesies.)
11. Lionel & Diane Richie (1994. Then: $20 million. Now: $35 million.)
12. Mick Jagger & Jerry Hall (1999. Then: $15 – 25 million. Now: $22 – 37 million.)

And the granddaddy of all divorces is NewsCorp magnate Rupert Murdoch’s $1.7 billion divorce from Anna Torv in 1999. But he’s not really a celebrity, more of a self-loving mogul, hence not making the list. We wonder if Kenny and Marianne Rogers at least made sport of it and, snicker, gambled for their share of his fortune.

We grabbed these numbers from AskMen.com, FoxNews.com, Forbes.com, and the NYPost.com, so their accuracy could be a touch iffy. We used an average inflation rate of 4.03% from TD Bank North.