McCartney deal small change in celebrity divorces

Ex-Beatle escapes split with his huge fortune relatively intact, write Helen William and Damon Wake.

WHEN it comes to big money divorces, most people would think they could not get much bigger than this.

Paul McCartney was yesterday told he will have to hand over £24.3m (€30.9m) of his fortune to estranged wife Heather Mills.

But, according to Forbes magazine, the amount of money the former Beatle has been forced to part with is small change compared with sums other stars have had to dole out.

Basketball star Michael Jordan and singer-songwriter Neil Diamond both walked away from their marital ties with dents in their fortunes estimated at $150m (€95m), Forbes said.

Yesterday’s settlement marks the end of a bitter dispute between McCartney and Mills that has been played out internationally in the media spotlight.

This is despite the couple insisting their parting would be amicable when they first split.

But plenty of other celebrities have also been through tough divorces.

In 1999, Texan model Jerry Hall split from Mick Jagger after he fathered a child by a Brazilian model.

After 22 years with the Rolling Stone, Hall walked away with an estimated payoff of between £7.5m (€9.5m) and £12.5m (€15.9m).

Ten years earlier, Steven Spielberg’s wife Amy Irving successfully contested a prenuptial agreement with the director, and was granted a £50m (€64m) payout — roughly half of Spielberg’s fortune at the time.

Arsenal and England footballer Ray Parlour’s wife Karen won a landmark divorce ruling in 2004 when she was awarded £1.8m (€2.3m) of his future earnings after arguing she had played a vital role in shaping his career.

The former optician’s assistant went to the Court of Appeal to challenge a settlement that included £250,000 (€318,000) a year and two houses worth a total of £1m (€1.27m).

She argued she was entitled to more of his £1.2m (€1.5m) yearly earnings and the court agreed, awarding her £406,500 (€517,242) in support each year.

It was agreed that sum would be reviewed as his playing days came to an end.

Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston stunned the world in 2005 with the announcement that they were to part.

Aniston and Pitt appeared to part on good terms and kept a dignified silence throughout the divorce, but their much-publicised break-up took a new twist when fellow actress Angelina Jolie was romantically linked with Pitt.

He has always denied she was the reason for the split, but the couple have three adopted children and one biological child.

Game show host Chris Tarrant’s 16-year marriage ended when it was revealed he had enjoyed an affair with a teacher, and the break-up turned sour when he and ex-wife Ingrid traded insults and lurid revelations in newspaper interviews.

Ivana Trump, who divorced billionaire businessman Donald Trump in 1991, offered some advice to other wives who were about to become ex-wives.

In a cameo role in Hollywood film The First Wives Club she uttered the immortal line: “Remember girls, don’t get mad, get everything.”