10-page special

Hollywood’s biggest divorces

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt

The Hollywood mega-couple’s $715 million split in September 2016 was sudden, and shocked most of the known universe.

Jolie asked for full custody of their six children while Pitt was being investigated over allegations he got ‘verbally abusive’ and ‘physical’ with Maddox on the pair’s private plane the day before Jolie filed for divorce.

The case was dismissed, but a flurry of ugly accusations followed, and their clashes over the kids wound up surfacing in public court documents. A judge ruled that Jolie could lose custody if she didn’t allow them each to form a ‘healthy and strong relationship’ with their dad. She claimed he hadn’t paid her any meaningful child support, but Pitt’s lawyer hit back the next day, accusing her of manipulating media coverage to make her look like the better parent.

Even now, Jolie is furious that he turned their lives upside down, and refuses to clear the air. She has reportedly told friends she had never wanted to marry him in the first place.

Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman

The A-listers met and fell in love on the set of the 1990 movie Days of Thunder. “He basically swept me off my feet,” Kidman told Vanity Fair. “I fell madly, passionately in love.”They adopted two children, but in 2001, Cruise abruptly filed for divorce, less than two months after they’d renewed their vows on their 10-year anniversary. According to reports in the New York Post at the time, when people asked why they were getting divorced, Cruise would say, “Ask Nicole. She knows”. The $544 million divorce was finalised on August 8, 2001, with many speculating that his devotion to Scientology and her refusal to follow suit caused the split. He continued to raise their children as Scientologists.

Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos

A day after the Amazon CEO and his wife announced their decision to split after 25 years of marriage in January last year, the National Enquirer published salacious details of Jeff’s new relationship with TV anchor Lauren Sánchez. Bezos’ lawyer accused the tabloid of trying to extort him by threatening to publish nude photos he’d sent to her. MacKenzie walked away with $55 billion (leaving him with $164 billion, and still the richest person on earth) and she plans to donate half of her settlement to good causes.

Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger

After nine tumultuous years of marriage, the film actors split in 2001 and became embroiled in an acrimonious years-long custody battle over their only daughter, Ireland, which cost more than $5 million in legal fees. In seemingly endless court files, affidavits and motions, 9½ Weeks star Basinger depicted Baldwin as having a dangerous temper, and he in turn characterised her as manipulative in turning his daughter against him. Things intensified in 2007 when TMZ posted Baldwin’s threatening voicemail in which he berated 11-year-old Ireland as a “rude little pig” and threatened to straighten her out. He blamed Basinger for the leak, and apologised through gritted teeth, saying he was “driven to the edge” by years of “parental alienation”. A court ordered him to take anger management and parenting courses.

Lionel Richie and Diane Alexander

The ‘All Night Long’ crooner got together with the former dancer in 1986 when he was still married to first wife Brenda. Two years into the affair, Brenda discovered them together in a hotel room bed after she’d yelled “Room service!” through the door.

He married Alexander after the divorce from Brenda (they are adoptive parents to reality TV star Nicole), but after seven years and two kids together, Diane filed for divorce. In her alimony petition she claimed a monthly clothing allowance of $23,000, money for five luxury holidays a year, a full-time staff – including two nannies and someone to comb the dog – as well as a plastic surgery budget of $30,000 a year. Richie eventually coughed up $30 million.

Rupert and Anna Murdoch

After 32 years of marriage, the media mogul called it quits with his wife in 1999. Seventeen days later, the then 68-year-old married 30-year-old Wendi Deng in a secret ceremony on his yacht in New York. “I think that Rupert’s affair with Wendi Deng – it’s not an original plot – was the end of the marriage,” Anna told the Australian Women’s Weekly in 2001. “His determination to continue with that. I thought we had a wonderful, happy marriage. Obviously, we didn’t.” Of the $2.5 billion in assets that Anna scored in her settlement, $160 million was in cash.

Harrison Ford and Melissa Mathison

The pair met on the set of Apocalypse Now in 1976 and married in a 15-minute ceremony at a Santa Monica courthouse in 1983. They had two children during 21 years of marriage before they divorced after numerous fights about his workload. She wanted him to do only one film a year and spend more time with the family, but he refused. Ford was ordered to pay out a whopping $171 million, with the settlement decreeing his ex was entitled to a percentage of royalties from all the blockbuster films he made during their marriage, including the Indiana Jones and Star Wars movies. Mathison, who wrote the screenplay of ET, died of cancer in 2015.

Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck

The actors married in June 2005 and announced their separation a decade later as reports surfaced that he’d had an affair with their nanny – claims he has denied. “We had been separated for months before I ever heard about the nanny,” Jennifer told Vanity Fair. “She had nothing to do with our decision to divorce. Bad judgment? Yes.” The parents-of-three divorced in 2018, two months after Garner drove Ben for a stint in rehab. He has since struggled with alcohol, including being pictured drunk on Halloween last year. “What [Garner] ultimately cares about is his sobriety,” a source told WHO at the time. “And whether she can rely on him to co-parent.”

Sandra Bullock and Jesse James

Days after 2010 best actress winner Sandra Bullock walked the red carpet at the Oscars with husband of five years, bike mechanic and gun manufacturer Jesse James, the couple’s marriage imploded. A tabloid revealed James had cheated with a stripper and several other women. At the time, the couple were in the process of secretly adopting a baby boy called Louis. The Blind Side actress finalised the adoption alone. “I messed up really bad on a global scale and everybody knows it,” James later said.

Mel Gibson and Robyn Moore

The Braveheart star and the former dental nurse married in 1980 and had seven children together before separating in 2006 following his infamous arrest in Malibu for drink driving. Moore finally filed divorce papers in 2009 after devout Catholic Gibson’s relationship with thenpregnant Russian pianist Oksana Grigorieva was made public, shortly before she gave birth to his baby. “When all’s said and done, I did a pretty good hatchet job on my marriage,” he admitted. He was ordered to give half his $618 million fortune to Moore.

Johnny Depp and Amber Heard

Heard filed for divorce in 2016 after 15 months of marriage. Four days later she walked into a Los Angeles courthouse with a black eye and filed for a restraining order, claiming Depp had been “verbally and physically abusive” throughout their relationship, allegations he denied.

But even after the divorce was settled, and she agreed to accept $10 million (which she donated to charity), the drama continued. She wrote an article for The Washington Post, describing being a victim of domestic violence. She never named Depp, but he launched a $73 million lawsuit. In response, Heard filed court documents stating he repeatedly hit her, ripped out her hair and choked her. “Johnny often would not remember his delusional and violent conduct after he came out of his drunk or medicated states,” she said. Depp’s lawyers were quick to dismiss the claims as a “hoax” and accused her of abuse. The case is ongoing.

Kevin Costner and Cindy Silva

The pair met at California State University in 1975 and married two years later. “She was beautiful, she was sweet, she was smarter than me,” Costner told WHO in 1989. “She represented everything about women that I like.” Rocky times followed due to his workload and rumours of womanising. Silva filed for divorce in 1994, days after stories swirled that Costner was having an on-location affair with a married hula dancer while filming the box office bomb Waterworld in Hawaii. Silva finally walked away with $116 million.

Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren

On Thanksgiving weekend 2009, golf legend Woods crashed his Cadillac outside his Florida mansion. His wife of six years told police she’d used two golf clubs to shatter the rear windows of the car to help rescue an incoherent Woods. But there was widespread speculation that she had broken the windows after an argument. The accident occurred just days after a report in the National Enquirer claimed he was having an affair. Within days, several more women came forward with stories that he’d been playing around with them too.

“I was unfaithful. I had affairs. I cheated,” he declared in a televised statement. “I stopped living by the core values that I was taught to believe in.” But Nordegren rebuked his attempts to make up.

“I’ve been through hell,” the Swedish-born former model and nanny told WHO, admitting she was ‘blindsided’ by her husband’s infidelity. “I felt stupid as more things were revealed – how could I not have known anything? The word ‘betrayal’ isn’t strong enough. I felt embarrassed for having been so deceived.”

For her trouble, she is said to have walked away with close to $145 million in the settlement, one-sixth of his net worth at the time.

Bernie Ecclestone and Slavica Radić

Diminutive Formula One billionaire Bernie Ecclestone divorced Croatian model Slavica Radić, who is 27 years younger than him, in 2009, after a 23-year marriage. Friends joked at the time that they were the same height … if he was standing on his wallet. The settlement was estimated at $1.7 billion. Soon afterwards, he announced his engagement to then 35-year-old Fabiana Flosi, a Brazilian marketing exec 47 years his junior.

Paul McCartney and Heather Mills

The former Beatle and modelturned-activist Mills were married in a lavish wedding in 2002, on the private grounds of a remote castle in Glaslough, Ireland, and went on to have a daughter, Beatrice, together.

Their 2008 divorce, however, was more public, and extremely acrimonious. The mudslinging began when he alleged in documents that she was argumentative and rude to his staff, and accused her of bugging his phone. Mills, who in 1993 lost a leg after being struck by a police motorbike, accused him of physical and emotional abuse as well as doing drugs during their marriage. In court, she requested $364 million; he offered $44 million and she received a lump sum of $48 million, $22 million in real estate and $102,000 a year to support Beatrice, now 16, for whom they had joint custody.

Mills angrily threw a glass of water over his lawyer in court after the judge questioned her honesty.

Amy Irving and Steven Spielberg

The up-and-coming actress and the Jaws director’s four-year marriage ended in 1989 after he fell in love with the female lead in the second Indiana Jones film, Kate Capshaw, who is still his wife today. A judge invalidated a prenuptial agreement written on a cocktail napkin, and Irving was awarded $145 million dollars, half of his fortune.

Ivana Zelníčková and Donald Trump

The business mogul turned president does everything big, and his sensational headline-hogging divorce was no exception. Trump and model Zelníčková were married in 1977 and had three children together – Ivanka, Donald Jr, and Eric. They split in 1989 after he had an affair with model and actress, Marla Maples (who later became his second ex-wife). Famously, Maples confronted the then Mrs Trump in Aspen and said, “I’m Marla and I love your husband. Do you?” The reply was: “You bitch, leave my husband alone.” Divorce followed and after a contentious back-and-forth, a judge ordered she receive $20 million plus a 45-room mansion in Connecticut, an apartment in the Trump Plaza and roughly $950,000 annually to support their kids.