Crowe’s estranged wife could collect £20m in break-up deal

RUSSELL Crowe’s wife is expected to pick up an estimated £20million following her separation from the Oscar-winning actor.

Singer Danielle Spencer, who was seen outside the couple’s £6million mansion in Sydney’s Rose Bay yesterday, said nothing about the split, though her spokesman confirmed the news. Meanwhile Crowe, 48, who is filming the biblical epic Noah, was pictured smiling broadly in New York.

The nine-year marriage had been regarded in showbusiness circles as solid. But according to Australian reports last night, the couple had been living in separate Sydney homes for as long as a year before news of the split emerged at the weekend – while keeping up the pretence of still being together. There were rumours that being left alone to care for their sons, Charles, eight, and Tennyson, six, as Crowe worked in Los Angeles took its toll on Miss Spencer.

She is expected to receive at least £20million under a pre-nuptial deal that is understood to have stipulated they had to be married for at least three years for her to be entitled to a share of his fortune.

As well as his film earnings, the Gladiator star’s investments include a stake in Sydney Rabbitohs rugby league club, and his properties are thought to be worth £30million.