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Aussie celebrities' most bitter, expensive divorces exposed
Like the rest of us, Australia's celebrities and billionaires aren't immune from bitter divorces and expensive payouts.
It seems like every second day, there's a fresh 'divorce shock'.
Aussie divorce settlements don't come close to the global record $US38bn ($55bn) that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos had to pay his ex, MacKenzie Scott, in 2019, including two Beverley Hills mansions — not surprisingly, the pre-nup signed by his latest bride, Lauren Sanchez, specifies a lump sum with no access to Amazon shares.
But readers still crave every detail, from commentary pieces about who's to blame through to paparazzi shots of each 'without wedding rings' and potential new flames.
Also of interest is the carve-up of their often huge property portfolios. Here are 10 Aussie bust-ups of the rich and famous:
1. Hugh Jackman and Deborah-Lee Furness
When Hollywood hearthrob Hugh Jackman and Deborah-Lee Furness announced their separation in 2023 after 27 years, it was all about 'journeys shifting' and 'gratitude, love and kindness', but by April this year they were 'embroiled in a bitter dispute over their $250m family fortune', according to Women's Day. And a month ago, Furness was talking 'betrayal' over her man taking up with Sutton Foster, his female co-star in The Music Man on Broadway.
Their New York penthouse, bought for $US21m in 2022, is reportedly for sale $US39m; but no sign yet of a listing for their Hamptons beach house; the North Bondi penthouse bought for $5.9m in 2015, now reportedly worth about $12m; or the Gwinganna Lifestyle Retreat near the Gold Coast that they co-own with entertainment guru Paul Dainty.
2. Holly Valance and Nick Candy
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Becoming equally bitter, is the split between Holly Valance and billionaire property developer Nick Candy, with the former Neighbours star vowing to 'take every penny'. Candy's mega £1.4bn ($2.93bn) fortune includes a two-storey penthouse in his family's $2.5bn One Hyde Park development. That's been for sale for four years for $366m.
There's also a $142m home in London's Chelsea; a $100m Los Angeles mansion; an $18m Oxfordshire estate; and a six-floor Mayfair office bought for $27m ... and then there's superyachts and a range of luxury cars as well ... clearly she's not going to need to line up for a Neighbours gig again anytime soon.
3. Isla Fisher and Sacha Baron Cohen
Also in the news recently is actor Isla Fisher all smiles' at Wimbledon having finalised her $120m divorce from comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. It's not clear what property assets are involved, since Fisher sold her Woollahra apartment for $930,000 last year but there's also a Los Angeles property, reportedly a Beverly Hills mansion that cost the couple $14m in 2010.
4. 'Aussie' John Symond and Amber McDonald
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You won't find any details of 'Aussie' John Symond and his ex-wife Amber McDonald's divorce settlement, just reports of the broken-hearted billionaire founder of Aussie Home Loans deciding to spend more time at his $22.4m retreat, Roc et Mer, on the Mediterranean at Eze-sur-Mer in the south of France.
The couple split in December, 2023, after an eight-year marriage, with Symond putting his Point Piper waterfront, Wingadal, on the market. There were reports he'd received 'multiple offers above $200m' but he's still holding out for his dream price of $240m. Amber, meanwhile, is slumming it in Denis Savill's Paddington art gallery, which she bought for $5.3m in 2021 and has since converted into a home.
5. Shane Warne and Simon Callaghan
The late cricket legend's divorce settlement, finalised with the sale of his Brighton mansion 'Melville' for $8.75m in 2007, reportedly cost him $10m.
He loved the single-level Victorian mansion, with pool, spa, tennis court and 3014 sqm of landscaped gardens, that he bought it back for $14.25m in 2016.
He sold it again for $18,888,888 two years later. Warne died from a heart attack in Bali in 2022, with the two most important women in his life, his ex and former fiance, Elizabeth Hurley, receiving nothing — most of his $20.7m fortune went to his three children, Brooke, Jackson and Summer.
6. Karl Stefanovic and Cassandra Thorburn
Channel 9's Today show host Karl Stefanovic split with his wife of 21 years, Cassandra Thorburn, in 2016 and his $6m divorce settled 10 months later. His ex got their $8m Cremorne waterfront, which she sold in 2019 for more than $9m, and she receives a payment of $35,000 a month. They have three children together. Stefanovic married designer Jasmine Yarbrough in a lavish ceremony in Mexico in 2018, and they live in Castlecrag in a home bought for $3.2m in 2021 that they renovated for $4.5m.
7. Mike Cannon-Brooks and Annie Cannon-Brookes
Billionaire Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon Brookes married his fashion designer wife Annie Todd in 2010, having met at the Sydney airport Qantas lounge three years earlier. He was flying to San Francisco and she was on her way home to Michigan.
'She thought I was someone else,' he said at a talk in 2017. 'More than a decade later, I'm incredibly happy that she is now my wife and we have four amazing children together.' They separated in July 2023 and it's still unclear how their $31bn+ fortune will be split, or if it needs to be. It includes $22bn in Atlassian shares and a $360m property portfolio.
That includes the Fairwater mansion in Point Piper, bought for a then record $100m in 2018 and numerous Southern Highland properties (his favourite location) and Dunk Island plus multimillion-dollar homes in Double Bay, Palm Beach and Newport (she prefers the beach).
8. Paul Hogan and Noelene Edwards and Linda Kozlowski
Actor and comedian Paul Hogan was only 19 when he met his first wife, Noelene Edwards, in 1958 at a Sydney swimming pool where he was a lifeguard. They soon married and had five kids. They got divorced in 1981, only to remarry a year later. But then he was bedazzled by his Crocodile Dundee co-star Linda Kozlowski — the star reportedly didn't speak to Edwards for 17 years after their second divorce. Hoges married Kozlowski, 20 years his junior, in 1990 and they had a son, Chance. But there was no second chance for their marriage, with the couple divorcing in 2014 after 23 years of marriage. She received a lump sum of $6.25m and was able to live in their Venice Beach home until 2018. Now she reportedly owns several of her own properties there.
9. Alan Bond and Eileen Bond
Last week's death of Eileen Bond, affectionately known as 'Red', brought to mind her 1992 divorce from controversial businessman Alan Bond after 37 years of marriage and four children. The terms were never made public. He went bankrupt in 1992 with debts totalling $1.8bn, but a report in 1993 described the Bond family as 'seriously rich', with gross assets of $24m in residential property, $15m in rural and commercial property, $20m in business assets and $21m in personal assets. Much of this was hidden in a network of trusts and trustee companies, and Eileen Bond sold one of their properties, a mansion in Perth's Peppermint Grove, in 1995. In August 2020, it reportedly sold for $27.5m. Alan Bond died in 2015.
10. Mel Gibson and Robyn Moore
The New York-born but Aussie-raised actor Mel Gibson is famous for his roles in Mad Max and Lethal Weapon, but perhaps also for losing $617m — half of his estimated $1.2bn fortune — in his divorce from his wife of 31 years, Robyn Moore. It was believed to be the biggest celebrity divorce payout in Hollywood history. Getting a prenup wasn't something he considered when he met his dental nurse wife in the late 1970s, when they were both tenants in a house in Adelaide. They had seven kids together. Gibson is known to have invested heavily in real estate, including an island in Fiji he bought for $15m in 2005. People reported reports that Moore was also entitled to half of any film residuals Gibson receives for the rest of his life. By way of comparison, director Steven Spielberg paid $US100m to Amy Irving in their 1989 divorce.
