The Times, London – Falling in love may cost nothing, but falling out can cost a fortune, as celebrities such as Neil Diamond and Michael Jordan have found out.
A league table of the most expensive celebrity divorces, published today by the American financial magazine Forbes, claims that the singer and basketball player’s divorces rate as the most costly.
Jordan, the retired legend of the National Basketball Association, is still waiting to finalise the details of his break-up with Juanita Vanoy Jordan, a bank clerk he married in 1989 when he was near the peak of his career.
Forbes estimates that the settlement will cost him more than $150 million (£75 million), less than half of the estimated $350 million he took in during their marriage. At that price, it could be the most expensive celebrity divorce ever.
Diamond, the current record-holder, has already paid out an estimated $150 million in settlement to his wife of 25 years, Marcia Murphey, after their divorce in 1994. Forbes said she took half of the fortune of the singer of hits like I Am…I Said and Solitary Man. The magazine claimed Diamond had commented that she was “worth every penny.”
