If the reports of Madonna and Guy Ritchie splitting up are true, another big money divorce settlement could be in the offing.
A recording career spanning 25 years has made the Material Girl one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in music, and while some of Ritchie's recent films have not exactly been box office smashes, he was behind one of the most successful Britis
h movies of recent years – Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
They will doubtless be hoping for a more amicable – and less costly – split than Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills managed.
Seven months ago, their break-up reached an acrimonious conclusion in the High Court, with the former Beatle told to hand over £24.3 million of his fortune to Mills.
While this might seem like a huge sum, according to Forbes magazine it was small change compared with sums other stars have had to splash out.
US basketball star Michael Jordan and singer-songwriter Neil Diamond both walked away from their marital ties with dents in their fortunes estimated at 150 million dollars (£75.5m), Forbes said.
Plenty of other celebrities have also been through tough divorces.
In 1999, Texan model Jerry Hall split from Sir Mick Jagger after he fathered a child by a Brazilian model.
After 22 years with the Rolling Stone, Hall walked away with an estimated payoff of between £7.5 million and £12.5 million.
Ten years earlier, Steven Spielberg's wife Amy Irving successfully contested a prenuptial agreement with the director, and was granted a £50 million payout – roughly half of Spielberg's fortune at the time.
Arsenal and England footballer Ray Parlour's wife Karen won a landmark divorce ruling in 2004 when she was awarded £1.8 million of his future earnings after arguing she had played a vital role in shaping his career.
The former optician's assistant went to the Court of Appeal to challenge a settlement that included £250,000 a year and two houses worth a total of £1 million.
She argued she was entitled to more of his £1.2 million yearly earnings and the court agreed, awarding her £406,500 in support each year. It was agreed that sum would be reviewed as his playing days came to an end.
Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston – once Hollywood's favourite couple – stunned the world in 2005 with the announcement that they were to part.
Aniston and Pitt appeared to part on good terms and kept a dignified silence throughout the divorce, but their much-publicised break-up took a new twist when fellow actress Angelina Jolie was romantically linked with Pitt.
He has always denied she was the reason for the split, but the couple now have three adopted children and three biological children.
Game show host Chris Tarrant's 16-year marriage ended when it was disclosed he had enjoyed an affair with a teacher, and the break-up turned sour when he and ex-wife Ingrid traded insults and lurid revelations in newspaper interviews.
Ivana Trump, who divorced billionaire businessman Donald Trump in 1991, offered some advice to other wives who were about to become ex-wives.
In a cameo role in Hollywood film The First Wives Club she uttered the immortal line "Remember girls, don't get mad, get everything".
The full article contains 550 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
