Though it is said that, marriages are made in heaven, all marriages do not end happily. Especially, when celebrity marriages go badly, they naturally tend to capture headlines and huge settlements. Sometimes out of court settlements prevent nasty court battles, while sometimes it becomes a dangerous game with millions of dollars at stake.
The relationship between actor Harrison Ford and his second wife, screenwriter Melissa Mathison lasted for 17 years. They were married on 14 March 1983, separated in 2000 due to alleged unfaithfulness on the part of Harrison Ford and after a long and heated court battle, they were eventually divorced on 6 January 2004 on the plea of irreconcilable differences.
Melissa ended up receiving a minimum of $85 million, including a percentage of royalties from Harrison’s most well-known movies, like the Star Wars and the Indiana Jones series.
Steven Spielberg, the creator of many wonderful films, first met actress Amy Irving in 1976, while he was looking for an actress to play in ‘Close Encounters’. Though she was too young for the role, Amy and Spielberg began dating and eventually moved into what she described as his ‘bachelor funky’ house. For four years, they lived together, but the stresses of their professional careers took a toll on their relationship.
Amy had an identity crisis, as she wanted to prove her worth as an actress, but not under the shadow of Spielberg. They broke up in 1979 to renew their romance in 1984 and in November 1985, they married, already having had a son, Max Samuel. However, the same competing stresses of their careers eventually caused them to divorce in 1989. Irving was awarded a reported $100 million dollars, half of Spielberg's fortune, which was recorded as the third most costly celebrity divorce in history.
Kevin Costner, the protagonist of the famous films like Dances with Wolves, The Bodyguard, A Perfect World and others, started dating his fellow student Cindy Silva in March 1975 and after his graduation with a business degree in 1978, Costner married his college sweetheart on 11 February 1978, long before he became a big Hollywood hot shot. However, his old passion did not live long and their marriage ended after 16 years. Cindy sincerely wanted to maintain the relationship and even after Costner’s numerous rumoured affairs came to light, she tried multiple times to reconcile. Finally, they were divorced on 12 December 1994 and Cindy ended up going home with $80 million dollars.
Mel Gibson of ‘Braveheart’ fame met Robyn Denise Moore in the late 1970s. At the time, Mel was an unknown actor and Robyn was a dental nurse. They were married on 7 June 1980 and after 26 years of marriage, separated on July 29, 2006. Robyn filed for divorce on April 13, 2009, citing irreconcilable difference, which followed the March 2009 release of photographs appearing to show Mel on a beach embracing Russian pianist Oksana Grigorieva. Later, in an interview in 2011 Mel Gibson asserted that the separation began the day following his arrest for drunk driving in Malibu. The divorce was finalized on 23 December 2011, two years after news broke that Gibson had fathered a daughter with his then-girlfriend, Okasana. The settlement was said to be the highest in Hollywood history at over $400 million. However, according to TMZ, a tabloid news website, Moore will be receiving a good portion of Gibson’s retirement money resulting around an $800 million settlement.