The Shocking Amount of Money Michael Douglas’ Divorce From First Wife Diandra Luker Cost

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Michael Douglas’ divorce from Diandra Luker has gone down in history as being one of the world’s most expensive celebrity splits. The eye-watering sum is truly astounding, and amounts to significantly over the entire fortune left by Michael’s late famous father Kirk Douglas after his passing.

How Much Did The Split Cost?

Michael and Diandra decided to go their separate ways back in 1995 after dating one another for 23 years, and being married for just shy of two decades. The duo dated for just eight weeks before tying the knot, and got engaged two weeks after they met.

However, the divorce certainly cost a pretty penny – which would only be an even larger sum of money today due to the rate of inflation! The divorce cost an estimated $45 million at the time, which today would inflate to nearer $92 million to $95 million – far exceeding Kirk’s fortune of $61 million.

In addition to receiving $45 million at the time as a settlement from Michael, Diandra also received a number of properties including homes in Majorca, Spain and Beverly Hills, California. She further received rights to profit from royalties from certain projects that Michael created during their marriage.

More About Michael and Diandra

When Michael met Diandra, she was just a 19 year old student studying at Georgetown’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. He was 32 years old but utterly smitten, and just one year after the pair said “I do ” they welcomed their son Cameron into the world.

After the divorce was finalized in 2000 – five years after it was first initiated – Michael bought Diandra out to retain the rights to owning the entire of the building she was left in Majorca. Though tables continued to turn as in 2011, Diandra attempted to sue him for a portion of his earning from “Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps”.

The court case was highly documented back in 2011, with Michael battling cancer at the time. Michael noted at Diandra “should be ashamed of herself” for putting him through a legal dispute while he was undergoing such a difficult health battle.

Diandra attempted to ask for more money, namely earnings from “Wall Street 2”, because she was with Michael when the original “Wall Street” was created. The team defending Michael in court argued that the divorce agreement wouldn’t apply to “Wall Street 2” as its creation wasn’t even on the horizon at the time when Michael and Diandra called time on their romance. It grossed more than $100 million worldwide, making it a huge hit.

The ruling of the case ultimately sided with Michael, with the main reason being that the judge in New York said that the dispute belonged in California as that’s where the original divorce agreement was being handled.

Michael is now happily married to Catherine Zeta-Jones, who he met back in 1998. The pair began dating the following year and got engaged on New Year’s Eve of 1999. Then in the year 2000, the loved-up couple tied the knot.