Prenuptial agreements (aka prenups), those written contracts that two people who are in love and plan to be married draft prior to the big day are big business in Hollywood. As they should be, with millions at stake and the high rate of celebrity divorce so popular in celebrity news, it makes sense for celebs to have them. And while most prenups are pretty garden variety, even among celebs, and detail property, assets, debts, etc, as you can imagine some include some pretty very wacky clauses. Here are some of the wackiest:
Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones
Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones were married in 2000. Naturally these two high dollars celebs wanted to protect their assets–and themselves. The eyebrow raising clause in their prenuptial referenced Douglas’ infidelity issues. If Douglas, who is 25 years older than Zeta-Jones, has an affair which destroys the marriage then she receives $5 million. This would be in addition to $2.8 million for every year that they’re married. And it’s good thing that this prenup is in place as the couple has had their ups and downs, even separating for a year before reconciling in 2014. Now after 17 years of matrimony, if Douglas does have an marriage-ending affair, it’s going to cost him more $50 million. Not sure if he has that!
Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban
Actress Nicole Kidman (former wife of Tom Cruise) married country singer Keith Urban in 2006. Kidman is a high grossing A-Lister and Urban is well known to struggle with substance abuse. Bottom line: she earns more than he does and and she wants him to stay clean and the two of them to stay married. So, as part of their prenup, Urban will earn a fat wad of cash for every year they stay together–$640,000 per year, to be exact. The prenup stipulates that if he uses illegal drugs, he forfeits the money. Interestingly, in October of 2006 after the two were wed, Urban was admitted into the Betty Ford Center. So, although it seems as if right at the outset he may have violated the prenup, today, more than ten years later, the two remain married. And word on the street is that Urban is clean. I certainly hope so–for the both of them and their family.
Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan
This prenup, between the man behind Facebook and his wife, was more about quality time than money. It is referred to as a lifestyle clause, and it focuses on the same problem many of us have– the inability to stop checking Facebook. The prenup specifies that Zuckerberg must spend at least 100 minutes alone with Chan as well as one date night every week. During that one-on-one time, neither is allowed to check Facebook and their alone time cannot be at his office. No word on what the penalty is for breaching the agreement but I doubt that it requires Zuckerberg to shut his Facebook profile down. I don’t know about you, but I kind of like this lifestyle clause!
Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren
The prenup between the legendary golfer and his former Swedish model wife detailed that she would receive a lump sum of $20 million if they divorced. As we all know that day did in fact come. But, when Wood’s cheating scandal rocked the world and Nordegren did file, Woods agreed to pay her $110 million. However, even that was chump change compared to the $200 million he offered her in a new agreement if she agreed to stay married. As we all know, Nordegren declined. Good for her!
Lamar Odom and Khloe Kardashian
Basketball player Lamar Odom and Khloe Kardashian’s prenup included a clause that gave her $500,000 for every year the couple was married. The two only made it four years so that came to $2 million. This payout was is in addition to other great perks negotiated in the agreement which included courtside seats to Lakers games, a $5K monthly shopping “budget”, a new car at the end of every lease, $25K in monthly spousal support, the house, and $1K every month to pay for her beauty needs. Well done, Kardashian lawyers–it’s not as if Khloe doesn’t earn money or have the ability to do so. Her deal was pretty good! But, it should be pointed out that despite their short lived marital life, Khloe truly seems to care for Lamar. She postponed the divorce during his life and death struggle that resulted from his overdosing and for which he was in a coma so that she could make important medical decisions on his behalf. Though the two are still not together, Lamar did recover and the two appear to be on friendly terms.
Thanks to our friends and contributors from Proof with Jill Stanley for their insight into wacky celebrity prenups.
