$450 Million
The founder of McCaw Cellular, Craig McCaw successfully sold his company to AT&T for over $12 billion. His marriage to California newspaper publisher Wendy Petrak wasn’t as successful and the two divorced after 21 years of marriage in 1995.
She must have had a convincing divorce attorney considering that she walked away with $450 million. Craig is no longer on the list of the 400 wealthiest Americans, but with a net worth of over one billion dollars, we somehow don’t feel so bad.
$2.5 Billion
Billionaire businessman Alec Wildenstein and Jocelyn Perisse met when she was a guest at Ol Jogi Ranch in Kenya. They got married in 1978 and divorced 21 years later in a huge divorce settlement with Jocelyn getting $2.5 billion in addition to $100 million every year for 13 years. Their two-year divorce proceedings gained wide media coverage.
The couple is remembered most for their extensive plastic surgeries, specifically Jocelyn who got catlike features to satisfy Alec’s desires. During the divorce settlement, the judge ruled that Jocelyn could not use the money for plastic surgery. That was a great call on his part.
$118 Million
Indiana Jones star and Hans Solo, also known as the iconic actor Harrison Ford, was married to his second wife, screenwriter, Melissa Mathison for 17 years before their marriage came to an end in 2004. The pair had two children together, Malcolm and Georgia.
Harrison Ford has a net worth of around $240 million and still, their divorce settlement of $118 million seems a bit steep. With five of his films being in the 30 top-grossing films of all time, we're sure he's bounced back.
$25 Million
It's no secret that the former U.S president Donald Trump has been married three times. The former businessman and TV personality married his first wife at age 30, Czech model Ivana Zelníčková. Together, they have three children; Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric. The two got divorced in 1992 after Ivana found out that Donald was having an affair with actress Marla Maples. Their divorce was the subject of a lot of media attention, and it was featured on New York tabloids newspapers' covers for 11 days in a row.
The following year Donald married Marla (which also ended in divorce six years later). In 2017, Ivana released her autobiography, Raising Trump, in which she shares stoies about her upbringing and the early days of raising children with Donald.
$25 Million
Singer and five-time Grammy winner Lionel Richie had an affair with Diane Alexander while he was married to his first wife and college sweetheart, Brenda Harvey. Lionel and Brenda got divorced after 18 years in 1993 so that he could pursue his relationship with Diane. The two also divorced 8 years after having two children together, Miles and Sofia.
Considering that Lionel has sold over 90 million records worldwide and has a net worth of $200 million, we think his bank account survived the $25 million divorce settlement just fine.