The Most Expensive Celebrity Divorces: Kevin Costner, Madonna and More
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Sometimes, love does cost a thing.
While a lot of wedding ceremonies end with a vow to have and hold from that day forward 'til death do they part, some couples decide it's best to split far before then.
Although the full details of Melinda French Gates and Bill Gates'2021 divorce proceedings weren't publicly disclosed, the former received a multi-billion dollar settlement, including $12.5 billion for her philanthropy efforts.
"On the day I got married, I never thought I'd be divorced, never," she said of their breakup after 27 years onCBS Mornings. "It wasn't one moment or one specific thing that happened. There just came a point in time where there was enough there that I just wasn't healthy and I couldn't trust what we had."
Since her and Bill's divorce, Melinda has been focusing on her own healing while launching her nonprofit Pivotal Ventures. (She resigned from the former couple's co-founded Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2024.)
"I think I've probably gotten through the hardest times," Melinda—who shares kids Jennifer, 28, Rory, 25, and Phoebe, 22, with Bill—added. "I'm in a really good place and I'm really excited about my life and the work ahead."
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Other stars like Kevin Costner learned some tough lessons following his divorce from Cindy Silva—with whom he shares kids Annie, 40, Lily, 38, and Joe, 36—in 1994 after 16 years of marriage. After dishing out a whopping $80 million to his ex, he and now ex-wife Christine Baumgartner—who share kids Cayden, 17, Hayes, 15, and Grace, 14—had signed a pre-nuptial agreement.
Christine filed for divorce after 18 years of marriage in May 2023, citing "irreconcilable differences, leading to a very contentious proceeding. As the pair navigated the split, in which Christine demanded $168,000 per month for child support, the Oscar winner's attorneys accused the mom of three of waging "relentless 'jihad' against Kevin's character." (A judge ultimately ordered the actor to pay $63,000 per month, according to February 2024 court records, per E! News.)
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And as the pair hammered out the future of their living arrangements, it was something he planned ahead for.
"I was married once before," the Yellowstone alum wrote in his June 2023 declaration, per NBC News, "and, upon separation, l found myself without a home base and unable to live in my own home. I never wanted this to happen again. Because of the nature of my work, I am frequently out of town; it is therefore particularly important to me that when I am home, I have a home to go to."
"Thus, when Christine and I began discussing marriage in 2003," he continued, "I made it clear to her that I would not marry again without clarity that my separate property residences would remain mine to live in no matter what happened in our marriage."
Now, read on for more very pricy celebrity divorces.