20 Celeb Couples Who Signed Strict Prenups Before Getting Married
Smiling faces on red carpets and public displays of affection are all fans see when it comes to celebrity romances. The marriages in Hollywood look perfect from the outside, but what really goes on behind the scenes?
When such big fortunes are at stake, things become a little too complicated to be perfect. Even when a marriage is based on real love, it ends up turning into a business deal if there's enough money being risked. It's pretty rare to come across a high-profile marriage that doesn't include a prenuptial agreement.
These contracts are mostly drawn up to protect people who are worth a considerable amount and have too much to lose in the event of divorce. They offer decent payouts to spouses because that's preferable to watching them walk away with half their ex's fortune. Sometimes, they contain clauses that are intended to keep the marriage healthy and successful, by the way of subtle bribes and incentives to do right by each other.
And even though these agreements may be carefully planned out, it's not uncommon for them to be fought and contested after a separation.
Keep reading to find out which 20 celebrity couples had strict prenups drawn up!
20 Beyoncé Earns $5 Mil Per Child
You probably could have guessed that any contract between Beyoncé and Jay-Z would involve some serious figures! StyleBlazer reported that Jay actually owes Bey $5 million for every child they have together.
In addition to that, she will receive $1 million annually for every year they stay married, for up to 15 years.
At this point, the stars have been married for 10 years, and share three children: Blue Ivy, and twins Sir and Rumi. The prenup also states that Jay would owe Bey $10 million if the marriage was over before two years were up.
19 Amal Won't Walk Away With Half If She Splits With George Clooney
With a successful legal profession of her own, it's safe to say that Amal Clooney can provide for herself. But husband George has probably got the greater fortune of the two since he's one of the biggest movie stars of the age. Radar Online reported that George is worth $220 million, and so a prenup was drawn up to protect that, even though his wife is doing fine on her own too. The agreement states that in the case of divorce, Amal won't get half of his net worth, but she will walk away with a lump sum of $20 million.
18 Justin Theroux Got Very Little Out Of Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer Aniston is another star who's worth quite a bit-$200 million, to be exact, which was earned from her time on Friends, other acting projects, and other income sources. The prenup signed by Justin Theroux was so strict that most of that was completely protected.
In the end, he walked away with $20 million, which is a lot to most people but one-fifth of the half that he probably would have got without a prenup.
Sources have actually reported that the trouble between these two began when the contract was first negotiated, as Theroux disliked that he was with someone that had a “massive fortune that had to be protected.”
17 Katie Holmes Still Gets Quite A Bit In Child Support
Following her 2012 divorce from Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes didn't receive as much as many fans expected her to. It's said that she didn't actually get a lump sum payout at all. In other words, she didn't get any of her ex's fortune, which is estimated to be around $250 million. But she didn't walk away completely empty-handed. Sources say that Holmes still received $400,000 a month in child support from Cruise, and this will continue until the daughter they share, Suri, turns 18. Holmes has her own earnings from her acting work and other ventures to keep her comfortable, too.
16 Kim Kardashian-West Will Always Get To Keep Her Jewelry
We all know how Kanye West feels about prenups-he made it pretty clear in his smash hit "Gold Digger." According to sources that spoke with Radar Online, things were easy when it came time to sorting out the prenup between him and wife Kim Kardashian-West.
Surprisingly, it's been reported that West was happy to forget about the prenup altogether, but ended up going ahead with the negotiations.
Not only does Kardashian receive $1 million per year for up to 10 years that she stays with him, but she also gets to keep all the jewelry and other lavish gifts given to her by her husband.
15 Justin Timberlake May Have To Pay Jessica Biel If He Does The Wrong Thing During Their Marriage
We're glad that Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel still seem to be going strong-this might be one of our favorite Hollywood couples! The NY Daily News reported that there's a clause included in the couple's prenup stating that if Timberlake is the one to provoke the marriage break up, Biel will receive a payout of $500,000. More and more celebrities are including lifestyle agreements like this in their contracts. Another example is Jessica Simpson and Tony Romo-Romo had it written in the prenup that Simpson was prohibited from putting on too many pounds. Thankfully, that marriage never eventuated!
14 Coco Will Have To Return Her Implants Following A Divorce From Ice-T
Ice-T and Coco Austin have been married for over 15 years now, and seem to be doing a great job of maintaining their marriage.
When they were first married, Ice had a prenup drawn up to protect the earnings made from his music, as well as the acting he was starting to break into at that point.
The man who married them, Pastor Bishop Don “Magic” Juan, stated the prenup demands that if the couple separates, Coco will actually have to have her implants taken out and returned to Ice. That's pretty harsh, even if Ice did pay for them!
13 The Jolie-Pitts' Prenup Was All About Custody
We're still not over the heartbreaking split of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. Unlike many other prenups in Hollywood, theirs focused on their kids and who would get custody if they split up, rather than monetary payouts. Even though the exes had a prenup prepared, it didn't stop them from battling it out for their children following the separation. Jolie requested physical custody of all her kids, while Pitt sought joint legal custody. Later Pitt decided to fight for physical join custody as well. It's a complicated matter that's going to be a lot harder to solve than the division of the couple's 12 joint properties.
12 Amy Irving Received Half Of Steven Spielberg's Net Worth
Steven Spielberg married rising actress Amy Irving, who starred in the original Carrie, back in the 1980s. He had a prenup organized to protect his $200 million fortune, but things got complicated when he left Irving after only four years for another actress.
It wasn't just his actions that made things difficult for him, but also the fact that the prenup was written on a cocktail napkin in the first place!
It ended up being totally dismissed in court, and Irving was awarded half of Spielberg's fortune. Lesson learned: never write official documents on cocktail napkins. Also, karma knows where you live.
11 Elin Nordegren Was Offered Payment To Stay With Tiger Woods Permanently
Model Elin Nordegren ended her seven-year marriage to golfing champion Tiger Woods in October of 2010, despite monetary offers if she'd stay with him for good. Woods had a prenup in place to protect his assets, but because the split was so messy, so public and so hurtful to Nordegren, they decided to re-write it in her favor. As an apology for his mistakes, he offered her $5 million before the divorce was finalized. She proceeded with it anyway and walked away with approximately $110 million. The original prenup stated that she'd only be entitled to $20 if they stayed married for 10 years.
10 Kris Humphries Walked Away From Kim With Nada
We're all familiar with the highly publicized 72-day marriage between Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries. At the time of their 2011 marriage, Kardashian was worth $35 million.
Some very competent lawyers worked on that prenup (or maybe Kris Jenner had a say?) because Kardashian basically got to keep all of her assets.
Humphries reportedly walked away with none of her fortune. He could have negated the contract in court but didn't want to waste time battling it out with the Kardashians. As of February 2018, it's said that the basketballer is worth around $18 million, coming from his assets and successful sports job.
9 Crystal Harris Had To Leave The Mansion After Hugh Hefner Passed Away
Say what you will about Hugh Hefner, but the man was savvy when it came to his money! There was a 60-year age difference between Hefner and third wife Crystal Harris, so of course, the Playboy mogul had a prenup sorted out. It stated that Harris was not entitled to any of Hefner's $200 million fortune in the event of a divorce or the Playboy Mansion. This was also the case if Hefner were to pass away, which he did while they were still married. Not only did Harris not ownership of the mansion, but she also had to vacate after his death.
8 Halle Berry Was Sure Not To Give Olivier Martinez Anything
Halle Berry and Olivier Martinez met on set while filming Dark Tide, as so many actors do. They first crossed paths in 2010, and by 2013, Berry was pregnant with their son. But they ended up parting ways, with fans speculating that Martinez's rumored temper had something to do with it.
When she filed for divorce, Berry stated that “no spousal support [shall] be awarded to either party,” according to the prenup.
That means that everything she earned, including all her assets and property, were to be kept separate from Martinez, and he didn't walk away with a cent of her money.
7 Jennifer Lopez Was Entitled To Half Of Ben Affleck's Money If Things Didn't Work Out In Her Favor
Jen and Ben were one of the most popular couples of the early 2000s. Shortly before their planned wedding, the two reportedly got into a tiff over some of Ben's behavior while on a trip to Canada, which led Lopez to add a few clauses to the prenup. The Daily Mail reported that if a repeat of Affleck's behavior was to provoke the dissolution of their marriage, Lopez would be entitled to half of his net worth. In any other case, their assets would remain separate. The couple were together for 18 months in total and never ended up taking that trip down the aisle.
6 Khoe Kardashian Remained The Beneficiary Of Lamar's Life Insurance
The marriage between Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom was another that played out before the eyes of the world on the family's reality TV show. Kardashian filed for divorce from her basketballer husband when he refused to enter rehabilitation.
At the time Odom was worth $100 million, but Radar Online reported that Kardashian still decided to protect herself with a prenup.
After the divorce, Kardashian got to keep their home, worth $4 million, her engagement ring, worth $1 million, plus all the gifts that Odom gave her while they were together. In addition to that, she remained as the beneficiary of his $10 million life insurance policy.
5 Michael Douglas Has To Pay Catherine Zeta-Jones If He Breaks His Vows
Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones are another of Hollywood's golden couples. Their prenup states that whatever happens, Zeta-Jones receives $2.8 million every year she stays married to Douglas. In addition to that, she put in a clause that puts a lot of pressure on her husband to keep the vows he made when they were married. If he doesn't, he has to pay her. It looks like none of those issues have come up, though. In November, the couple celebrated their 18th wedding anniversary. That's like a century in Hollywood, so maybe those extra clauses were worth putting in!
4 Larry Fortensky Left Elizabeth Taylor Just After He Earned $1 Mil From Their Marriage
By the time he married Elizabeth Taylor, construction worker Larry Fortensky had been a husband three times over. He knew what he was doing when it came to financial planning for the future and making sure he was getting the best deal, romantically and business-wise!
The prenup the two shared stated that as soon as they'd been married for five years, Fortensky would be entitled to $1 million.
Guess how long they stayed married? According to Forbes, five years later they called it quits. Fortensky, who signed a prenup before the wedding, apparently received $1 million from Taylor.
3 Mark Zuckerberg And Priscilla Chan Must Have One Date Night A Week
The guidelines in Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan's prenup are more concerned with lifestyle arrangements than huge payouts of money. The agreement that Chan outlined before they wed stated that the couple needs to have at least one date night a week, and at least 100 minutes of alone time, away from his company and their apartment. That's not asking for too much, right? And what about the financial side? Chan isn't entitled to half of his billion-dollar company, but she is entitled to half of the new company profits earned since the two have been married.
2 Brooke Mueller Received Her First Pay Out 180 Days After Her Wedding To Charlie Sheen
Actors Charlie Sheen and Brooke Mueller divorced in 2011, and there was a pretty extensive and detailed prenup to consider before they could part ways for good.
The contract stated that Mueller should receive $500,000 within 180 days of the marriage ceremony, just for marrying Sheen.
For the first 10 years of their marriage, she also received an anniversary payment of $300,000. If Sheen neglected to pay her for whatever reason, interest would be added onto that amount. The prenup also said Mueller was entitled to a $100,000 relocation fee, and would also be given whichever of Sheen's cars that she drove.
1 Keith Urban Gets $600k For Every Year He's With Nicole
Nicole Kidman's split from Tom Cruise probably inspired her to always demand a prenup from any future husbands. The agreement she has with Keith Urban reportedly states that, for every year the couple stays together, Urban receives $600,000. Of course, that's only a small amount when you consider the actress's $150 million net worth. Lifestyle clauses were also included in the agreement, stating that if Urban drinks too much, Kidman doesn't have to give him any money. In the event of a divorce, the couple will also have joint custody of their kids, though Urban won't be able to take them out of the country Kidman is living in at the time.