Celebrity Prenups

Prenups pretty much come as standard in tinsel town. Celebrity couples know better than to get caught up in the passion and bypass the all important legally binding contract. Britney’s pre-marriage claim to “just know” that she and K-Fed would never require a prenup could have landed her feeling seriously short changed had she not been wisely advised to get the former backing dancer to sign a prenup. Thanks to the shrewd advice K-Fed walked away with just $1million of Britney’s $65 million fortune, not bad for less than three years of marriage.

Charlie Sheen and Denise Richards’ divorce was finalised in 2006 after several failed attempts to make the four year marriage work and attending marriage counselling. The couple who were dating for two years before their engagement in 2002 parted ways on bad terms and six months before their divorce was even finalised Sheen was court ordered to stay 300 feet away from Denise and their two young daughters. Needless to say, had a prenup not been implemented a lengthy court battle would have ensued to divide the couples assets. The prenup protected the couples assets acquired during the marriage and perhaps, more bizarrely stated that should either of them cheat they would be required to give the other $4million.

Liz Taylor’s 7th marriage to construction worker Larry Fortensky ended after just five years in 1996 with a prenup. The prenup confirmed that should the marriage last five years or more Larry would be entitled to $1million.

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes were engaged after just two months, leaving them open to much scepticism from critics due to the hasty proposal. After Tom’s excitable Oprah appearance it seemed undeniable that the couple were crazy about each other but how long would the honeymoon period last? Tom and Katie could obviously see where the paparazzi were going with their thought trails and entered into a prenup before they married. The prenup seemed a great idea, until you looked at the small print. After 11 years on marriage the prenup becomes null and void and Katie becomes entitled to half of Tom Cruises awesome fortune. Leaves you wondering what the point was in the first plan.

Swansea born Catherine Zeta-Jones married Wall Street million Michael Douglas in 2000 with a prenup in place which she claims leaves her “very well looked after”. Being 25 years her senior critics have had their doubts about the Welsh beauty’s motivations on marrying Douglas but she has seemed totally unperturbed, openly discussing the prenup that entitles her to $2.8 million each year that the marriage is in effect.

Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman, who are currently eagerly anticipating the arrival of their first child, signed a prenuptial agreement when they married which entitles Urban to receive $640,000 every year that they are married. However, Nicole has wisely attached conditions to the agreement to prevent the former addict from meddling with any illegal drugs. Should Keith partake in drug taking he will not receive any of Nicole’s fortune, estimated to be a cool £150 million.

After the failure of Brad’s marriage to Jennifer Aniston he knew better than to enter into marriage to Angelina Jolie without a prenup. Angelina cannot be accused of foolishness either, as she has requested a clause which ensures that should brangelina split up, Ang would be given full custody of all of their expanding brood.

Prenups may have become commonplace in the world of celebrity but as with most celeb trends, they are quickly becoming popular amongst the Joe public. Some wacky clauses have been put in place here too: couples permitting their spouses to perform random drug tests, a cash bonus if the other spouse was unfaithful, husbands being disallowed to watch more than one football game on a Sunday and retaliating by setting it in stone that they will never have to go on holiday with their mother-in-law.

Joking aside, prenups can be a great savior if things are to ever go bottoms up. Famous cases where couples have not signed a prenup before marriage have left some celebrities eating their words: Roseanne Barr sacked her lawyer for suggesting a prenup but it wasn’t long before her ex-husband was walking off with half of her multi-million-dollar fortune. More recently Paul McCartney was publically swindled by Heather Mills leaving him £24.3 million out of pocket and her, the most hated woman in Britain.