Barkin auctions ex-husband's gifts

Ellen Barkin has auctioned off the jewels given to her by billionaire ex-husband Ron Perelman for more than $20m (€15.9m).

The Ocean’s Thirteen star put the gems up for sale at Christie’s in New York, including her wedding band, nine months after she was served with divorce papers by the Revlon tycoon.

The 52-year-old said she would never wear the glittering gifts with which her ex had showered her during their five-year marriage again, and could not think about them without thinking about him.

They ranged from a Cartier watch he gave her as a birthday present two weeks after they met in 1999 to an apricot diamond ring that he gave her just a month before their abrupt split.

“I was an accessory, being accessorised,” the actress has since said.