Some people marry for love, while a small percentage tie the knot to inherit a large family fortune. In this article, we uncover Hollywood’s most well-known gold diggers.
While celebrities mainly protect their assets with prenups, it hasn’t always been the case. There have been countless celebrity scandals and messy divorces that filled the pages of the tabloids for money reasons.
We have compiled a list of the 10 most famous gold diggers who married more for money and status rather than for love.
1. Anna Nicole Smith
Net worth: $475 million (£343 million)
Anna was just 24 years old and working as a stripper when she met 87-year-old oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall. After just a few short years, the pair were married in a speedy wedding. When Howard passed away 13 months later, leaving nothing to Anna in his will, she went to court against his son and managed to earn a whopping $465 million. That said, Anna never managed to use a large part of her inheritance as she died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs at 39. Her estate was left to her daughter, Dannielynn, who is currently one of the richest kids in America.
2. Amy Irving
Net worth: $120 million (£87 million)
Amy Irving began dating Steven Spielberg in 1976 when she first started out in Hollywood. After four years, she cheated on him with a fellow actor, Willie Nelson, whom she worked with on the film Honeysuckle Rose. Around the same time that her career began to subside, she rekindled her relationship with Spielberg and eventually got married in 1985. However, their marriage ended four short years later. Despite Spielberg writing a prenup on the back of a napkin, Amy still managed to attain a $100 million settlement from the divorce.
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3. Courtney Love
Net worth: $100 million (£72 million)
This destructive romance between Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain started in 1989, and after a few short months of knowing each other, the pair decided to tie the knot. Courtney allegedly introduced Kurt to heroin, and although Kurt attempted to get clean, his attempts were futile, leading to him taking his own life in 1994. His widowed wife then inherited all his fortunes. Although Courtney loved Kurt, many blame her for his road to self-destruction since she is the one who introduced him to the deadliest drug of all.
4. Oksana Grigorieva
Net worth: $25 million (£18 million)
Shortly after Oksana had met Mel Gibson, the pair got married and welcomed their daughter into the world, but it all went downhill from there. Oksana ended up filing for a restraining order in 2010 after Mel assaulted her, causing her a concussion. They then entered into a nasty battle where Grigorieva was due a hefty $750,000 plus child support settlement with the terms that she wouldn’t discuss their divorce on air. But when she openly spoke about it on The Howard Stern Show, Mel was released from this financial obligation leading to her only received $250,000.
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5. Heather Mills
Net worth: $50 million (£36 million)
Heather Mills, the former British model, was known for her collision with a police officer, which lead to her leg being amputated and receiving £200,000 in compensation. She then made the headlines again in 2002 when she married Paul McCartney. The pair stayed together for six years before things began to get nasty. During the settlement, Heather was aiming to get $250 million but only walked out with $50 million, to which she was incredibly disappointed - she even threw a glass of water at Paul’s lawyer once the judge’s ruling had been made.
6. Kimora Lee Simons
Net worth: $190 million (£137 million)
Kimora isn’t your typical gold digger. She didn’t marry Russel Simmons purely for his money, but she did take over his fashion empire and made it her own. After dating for six years, the pair married and had two children before splitting six years later. Although she didn’t go for money in their settlement, she did take over one of his businesses, Phat Farm, made a reality show of it and launched her own career.
7. Kevin Federline
Net worth: $1.5 million (£1.1 million)
After knowing each other for just a few months, Kevin Federline and Britney Spears got married and had two children together. However, when they split a few years later, Kevin gained legal custody of their children and a $20,000 monthly child support. He now has five children from three different women.
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8. Amber Rose
Net worth: $12 million (£8.7 million)
Amber Rose is widely known for dating rich rappers and made the news when she was linked to Kanye West; people even assume that his song ‘Gold Digger’ was written about Amber. Following her split from Ye, she met and married another famous rapper Wiz Khalifa and got pregnant shortly after, which made people question her genuineness. Despite the speculation, Amber and Wiz seem to be happy together, but she can’t seem to shake the title of being a gold digger.
9. Ivana Trump
Net worth: $100 million (£72 million)
Ivana was a former model who truly became famous when she married Donald Trump, gaining access to his empire. Following their split, she got $20,000 from their settlement and a $14 million family estate in Connecticut.
10. Blac Chyna
Net worth: $1.6 million (£1.2 million)
Former stripper Blac Chyna was first linked to the famous rapper Tyga with whom she ended up having a child with. However, she didn’t request child support. While her ex, Tyga, was dating Kylie Jenner, she got into a relationship with Kylie’s brother Rob Kardashian, which raised plenty of eyebrows. This relationship ended in a speedy engagement and a child, but only six months after their daughter, Dream, was born their relationship ended in a nasty break-up with Chyna taking Rob to court for a $20,000 monthly child support payment.
Final thoughts
While drama and Hollywood go hand-in-hand, you’d think these celebrities would be able to spot a gold digger from a mile away. However, love is blinding, and many forget to lock in their assets before getting entangled with the wrong person.
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Which celebrity are you most shocked about? Let us know by leaving a comment in the section below and mentioning any other famous gold-digging celebrities that we may have missed out!
This article is an updated version of an earlier article published on 17 August 2015.