Alimony can be sought by any spouse who would otherwise suffer a significant drop in their standard of living or cannot become financially independent immediately after divorce. This indicates that alimony is not gender-specific. However, traditionally, cases of women asking for child and spousal support from husbands in a divorce settlement are more common.
Breaking the stereotype, several American female celebrities have paid alimony to their male or same-sex partners. Here is the roundup.
Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor is among the first few celebrity women to have paid an allowance to their husbands after their divorce. In 1997, the actress known for her mesmerizing violet eyes paid $1.2 million to her eighth husband, Larry Fortensky.
The couple had met at a drug and alcohol addiction center, and their romance took off despite their 20-year age difference. They called it quits after five years of marriage.
Madonna
After eight years of marriage, the legendary singer divorced Guy Ritchie, her ex-husband and British director. In the settlement, she paid him up to $92 million, including their English country estate, Ashcombe. The alimony put her on the list of the ten most expensive celebrity divorces ever.
Janet Jackson
After nine years of a secret marriage, singer Janet Jackson and her music producer husband René Elizondo headed for splitsville. Their breakup took an ugly turn when he claimed $25 million in settlement. Three years later, he reportedly received over $10 million from Janet.
Martina Navratilova
One of the all-time great female tennis players, Martina Navratilova, faced a nasty legal battle with her wife, Toni Layton. They later claimed that Martina persuaded her to part ways with a $200,000 settlement and warned them to leak her secrets to the public. They settled the matter out of court, with Martina paying Toni $3 million.
Jennifer Lopez
J.Lo, the famous Latino-American singer, dancer, and actress, met her second husband, Cris Judd, on the sets of her music video ‘Love Don’t Cost a Thing,’ which he directed. Unfortunately, this love affair cost Jennifer Lopez a hefty amount after their short marriage lasted for nine months.
She coughed up $14 million in the settlement.
Anna Faris
The actress Anna Faris’s marriage to fellow actor Ben Indra lasted only four years. She began to climb the ladder of success in her film career while her husband had no such luck. The differences that arose in their relationship were beyond repair, and they decided to separate.
Since Anna was the primary income earner in the marriage, she paid Ben $900,000 in a divorce settlement.
Roseanne Barr
The comedy superstar married actor-comedian Tom Arnold but had a rollercoaster relationship. Four years into their marriage, they filed for a divorce. He reportedly walked away with $50 million in alimony but denies taking the settlement.
Britney Spears
The personal and professional life of the ‘Princess of Pop’ has always kept her in the limelight. Her child custody battle with Kevin Federline (her second husband), her former backup dancer, became a media sensation.
She had to pay him $20,000 monthly for child support for their two sons and shoulder tuition fees, school costs, and extracurricular activities. He also received a check for $1.3 million and spousal support for several years.
According to reports, she also paid $10,000 monthly for a high-end apartment after she and model-actor Sam Asghari (her third husband) filed for divorce.
Brittney Griner
Brittney Griner, who clinched two gold medals in the FIBA Women’s World Cups, married her fellow basketball player, Glory Johnson, only to separate legally a few weeks later. Meanwhile, Glory announced that she was pregnant with twins through an IVF treatment. Brittney denied a biological relationship with the twins but later agreed to pay for child support.
The court ordered the six-time WNBA All-Star to pay Glory $8,505 in child support arrears. She also agreed to bear 90% of childcare costs with two nannies and a monthly expense of $2,835.
Candace Parker
Former basketball forward Candace Parker was married to former NBA player Sheldon Williams for eight years. When they decided to divorce, Candace reportedly paid $400,000 in alimony to her husband with an agreement that she wouldn’t extend any spousal support.
Halle Berry
The Oscar-winner Halle Berry had an unsuccessful marriage with the French actor Olivier Martinez. After filing for divorce two years after their marriage, the alimony war continued for around eight years.
Last year, in 2023, the court ruling directed Halley Berry to pay her ex-husband a monthly sum of $8000 in child support for joint custody of their son. Apart from child support, she will also bear the cost of her son’s private school tuition, extracurricular activities, school supplies, and uniforms with effect from the 2023-2024 school year. She must also pay Olivier Martinez 4.3% of any income above $2 million.
Before this, the ‘Monster’s Ball’ actress also paid her former husband and fashion model Gabriel Aubry nearly $200,000 a year in child support for their daughter. He also received retroactive payments of $115,000 and $300,000 for his attorneys towards the cost of the custody dispute.
Rachel Lindsay
The attorney and podcaster Rachel Lindsay met Bryan Abasolo during her debut season of ‘The Bachelorette’ 2017. They fell in love, got married, and divorced within a span of six years. Her husband requested spousal support to maintain his marital standard of living.
After to and fro allegations from both parties, the court ordered Rachel to pay $13000 monthly as temporary spousal support. She also has to pay $20,000 for Bryan’s legal fees.