What can we learn from a celebrity divorce like that of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard? Their divorce settled in August of 2016. While that may be old news in the fast paced celebrity news cycle, details are still emerging into 2017.
TMZ reported last summer that Heard agreed to drop her domestic violence allegations, and Depp agreed to pay her $7 million dollars for their 15-month marriage. On February 1st, 2017, the Telegraph.co.uk reported the following details:
- Depp’s business managers at The Management Group supposedly handled the actor’s finances from 1999 until early 2016– an especially lucrative period of his career.
- Depp sued his managers on January 13th, 2017 seeking more than $25 million that he contends was mismanaged. Among other things, his lawsuit alleged the company failed to file Depp’s taxes on time, costing him $5.7 million in penalties.
- Depp’s former business managers have alleged in a countersuit for unpaid management fees that Depp had a lavish lifestyle which cost more than $2 million per month to maintain.
- They also alleged that Depp paid more than $75 million to buy and maintain 14 homes, including a French chateau and a chain of islands in the Bahamas.
- Depp reportedly spend $3 million to blast Hunter Thompson’s ashes out of a cannon.
- Depp allegedly spent $30,000 per month on wine.
- Depp also reportedly spent $18 million to buy and renovate a 150-foot yacht.
- He reportedly collected and amassed fine art and Hollywood memorabilia requiring 12 storage facilities to maintain.
While most people cannot dream of these kinds of extravagances, there are some universal truths that be gleaned from these allegations:
- Domestic violence can be found in all relationships. It’s not a matter of physical beauty, wealth, or status. Anyone can be a victim of domestic violence, and conversely anyone can be accused of domestic violence.
- People tend to live far beyond their means– no matter how wealthy they are. Consider that a married couple with a combined income of $60,000 per year (approximately the current median income in the U.S.) might have $5,000, $10,000, or even $20,000 credit card debt. You’d think that the couple would have no money troubles if they were suddenly multi millionaires. But it seems that as you make more, you spend more.
- You can’t buy love or happiness. You’d think that with fourteen homes, a 150-foot yacht, and $30,000/mo. in wine that you’d be in paradise. But apparently this lifestyle wasn’t enough to keep this couple together.