The 14 Most Expensive Divorces in History
The largest divorce settlement in history happened despite no prenup being in place. It’s amazing what you can negotiate when your ex-husband was a close personal friend of Jeffrey Epstein.
A Cell Phone Magnate May Regret His Donation to Free Willy
Craig McCraw made his fortune-creating cell phone companies in the ‘80s and ‘90s and then sold them off to AT&T and T-Mobile. In 1993, he was a cofounder of the Free Willy Foundation, throwing $2 million into the pot to get whale actor Keiko returned to the ocean. Four years later, he got divorced from his wife Wendy, which cost him $460 million ($900 million today).
A Fertilizer Oligarch Got Outed by the Panama Papers
Dmitry Rybolovlev’s wife Elena filed for divorce in 2008 for “serial infidelity,” but it would drag on until 2015. In that time, Elena was arrested for “stealing” a diamond ring her husband had gifted her, then was awarded $4.8 billion by a Swiss bank, but that was later lowered to $685 million. In 2016, after the divorce was finalized, the Panama Papers showed that Dmitry had hidden a bunch of assets from her.
Tiger Woods’ Really Bad Year
In 2010, Woods had to very publicly cop to multiple infidelities, then undergo a painful and costly divorce, losing $710 million (over $1 billion, adjusted for inflation) to ex-wife Elin Nordegren. Even worse, he dropped to number 58 in the professional golfing world. Just kidding, losing a billion dollars is worse than sucking at your job. Things have turned around for Woods; he’s now dating Donald Trump Jr.’s ex.
Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Got Off Easy, All Things Considered
The current vice president of the UAE was found by a British court to have abducted his daughters and kept them drugged, one of them having been in captivity for at least 20 years. He also threatened the children’s mother, Jordanian princess Haya bint Hussein. He divorced 10 of his 11 wives, but his divorce from Hussein cost him $730 million.
Arms Dealer Loses an Arm and a Leg
Adnan Khashoggi, prolific arms dealer and uncle to slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi, was known as “The Great Gatsby of the Middle East.” What a loser. When he got divorced, he owed his wife $874 million in 1980 dollars — that’s about $2.8 billion today.
The Fracking King of Oklahoma
Harold Hamm is a gas, oil and fracking magnate who was going to be Mitt Romney’s energy advisor in 2012. Despite this impressive honor, his wife left him that same year. On paper, she should have received half of his $20 billion fortune, but a friendly judge ruled that she would only get $1 billion of that.
This One’s Pretty Boring
South Korean billionaire Chey Tae-won and his wife Roh Soh-yeong got divorced in 2022, and a court ordered Chey to give one of his billions to Roh. Roh has had more public controversies than her husband — after being accused of screaming and throwing stuff at her chauffeur, she pulled a “could a depressed person do this?!”, telling the media, “How can someone who throws things and uses foul language live like this. You can understand what I mean if you think about it.”
Steve Wynn Should’ve Quit While He Was Ahead
Wynn made his fortune building hotels and casinos, and used his spare time to keep marrying and divorcing the same woman. He and Elaine Farrell Pascal got married in 1963, divorced in 1986, remarried in 1991 and redivorced in 2010. That last divorce cost him $1 billion. Interestingly, when their son was kidnapped in 1993, it was Elaine who shelled out the $1.45 million to get him back.
One of the World’s Oldest Daddies Lost One of the World’s Largest Sums
Formula One founder Bernie Ecclestone had his first kid in 1955, and his latest in 2020. At 89 years old, the latter makes him the seventh-oldest known father in history. He shelled out $1.5 billion to his ex-wife Slavica when they divorced amicably in 2009.
A Bitter Battle Over a Picasso
Sue Gross was known as a cheeky artist, often copying famous works for the fun of it and signing them “Sue.” During her divorce from billionaire Bill Gross, an original Picasso became a point of contention. Bill claimed she tried to fool him with a replica (which, again, was clearly signed “Sue”), but Sue had two major points in her favor: 1) she had won that particular piece from Bill in a coin toss in better times; and 2) he had told her “take all the furniture and art you like.” Ultimately, Sue won $1.3 billion and half of their art collection.
Don’t Date Your Boss. Or Do, It Might Work Out in Your Favor
Rupert Murdoch married one of his reporters, Anna Torv, when he owned Sydney’s Daily Mirror in 1967. They were together for over 30 years when Rupert cheated on her with his next ex-wife, Wendi Deng. Torv was entitled to half of his fortune, but settled for a modest $1.7 billion, because a legal battle with one of the world’s richest men sounds like a real headache.
It’s Almost As if Billionaires Are Obsessed With Control
Horse breeder Alec Wildenstein was introduced to Jocelyn Perisset by fellow divorcee Adnan Khashoggi in 1977, and the two eloped less than a year later. A couple decades after that, Jocelyn walked in on Alec with a Russian model who was zero years old when the two got married — at which point he threatened her with a gun. During the subsequent divorce, it was revealed that he pressured her to undergo constant cosmetic surgery, but in awarding her $3.8 billion, a judge stipulated she couldn’t use the money for surgery.
Breaking the Glass Ceiling of Single-Digit Billions
MacKenzie Scott skyrocketed past the other ex-wives when she won $38 billion from Jeff Bezos in 2019. She’s made it her life’s work to Robin Hood that shit while Bezos watches impotently on, and has managed to give away $19 billion so far.
Jeffrey Epstein Raised Billions to Empower Women
Melinda Gates lawyered up in 2019 when it became public just how close Bill was with New York financier Jeff Epstein. The two apparently didn’t have a prenup, but Melinda reportedly still managed to get $76 billion out of it. There’s probably nothing sinister going on there.
