Divorce is one of those things in life that can happen to any celeb. They live a fast lifestyle with beautiful (needy and greedy) people around them. Heck, some get paid to make out with their co-workers (as trained actors). Sadly, not everyone who walks down the aisle will experience happily ever after, especially when it comes to celebrities. They often have lavish, expensive weddings, followed by equally expensive divorce proceedings. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the high-stakes media attention and a hefty payday for one of the famous spouses. At least, that’s true during these celebrity divorces.
Sure, some hooked up before the spotlight, but it didn’t help. Others met well after the fame and still couldn’t make it work. These famous exes had to duke it out in court and pay handsomely as a result. Furthermore, it was all under the watchful public eye. Check out this list of celebrity marriages and the jaw-droppingly high cost of divorce that resulted long after swapping “I do’s.”
Phil Collins and Orianne Bates
What went wrong: This pair called it quits not only once but twice. When famous singer Phil Collins and Orianne Bates (then Cevey) split in 2006 after seven years of marriage, their $46.68 million settlement was the biggest in British legal history at the time. The couple, who share two teenage sons, found their way back to each other in 2016 — only to split again acrimoniously at the end of 2020.
The end result: After the singer discovered that his ex-wife married Thomas Bates while still living in their $40 million Miami mansion, Collins served his ex-wife an eviction notice. She contested the eviction by claiming that Collins “refused to shower.” Plus, she said had a “stench that became so pervasive that he became a hermit.” (Collins’ lawyers refuted the claims. He described them as “immaterial and impertinent” to the case and categorized Bates’ allegations as a means of “extortion.”) Bates and her new husband moved out of the Miami home in mid-January 2021, but she is now auctioning off Collins’ records and awards while awaiting the judge’s decision on her claim that she’s entitled to half of the home’s proceeds once it sells.