Seven celebrities who pay an enormous amount in child support

By Bella Fowler

news.com.au·

13 Dec, 2019 07:35 PM5 mins to read

In 2007, Britney Spears was ordered to pay Federline $36,600 a month for each of her sons until they turn 18. Photo / Getty Images

Last week, actor Owen Wilson's personal life became a surprisingly buzzy conversation topic after his enormous child support payments were made public.

The Zoolander star has a daughter with a woman he dated on-and-off for five years, and pays a sum of $36,560 per month towards her expenses.

Wilson – worth around $100 million – has never met his one-year-old daughter, Lyla Aranya Wilson, despite her sharing his last name.

The actor reportedly demanded a DNA test when his ex, Varunie Vongsvirates, claimed the child was his.

He already has two sons with two other women.

Wilson's not the only cashed-up celebrity parent making a hefty monthly payments to their exes.

Here are seven of the most expensive celebrity child support arrangements.

BRAD PITT

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's split was the Hollywood divorce that shook the entire world, and the drama surrounding it seemed never-ending with one of the largest points of contention being Pitt's child support payments to his six children.

In June 2018, documents filed in Los Angeles Superior Court claimed Pitt had not paid "meaningful" child support to estranged wife Angelina Jolie in over a year.

Pitt later claimed he had given Jolie over $12 million since their 2016 separation, which she then argued "didn't count", according to the Daily Mail.

A two-page document filed in Los Angeles Superior Court stated that Pitt loaned Jolie $10.7 million to buy her current home, and had paid over $1.7 million in bills relating to their children since 2016.

Jolie's net worth is an estimated at $234.2 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth, and in 2014, she was ranked 74th highest-earning celebrity by Forbes. The same site puts Pitt's net worth at $351.3 million.

Pitt and Jolie eventually reached an agreement, setting up a payment arrangement which has not been made public.

CHARLIE SHEEN

Troubled actor Charlie Sheen may have a net worth of a reported $220 million, but at one point he was cutting two child support checks totalling about $161,000 a month.

He paid around $80,000 to ex-wife Denise Richards for their daughters Lola and Sam, and the same to ex Brooke Mueller for their twin sons Bob and Max.

According to TMZ in 2016, both Richards and Mueller accepted a reduction to $40,000 each, meaning Sheen shells out $80,000 a month in costs to his estranged wives and children.

EDDIE MURPHY

The funnyman has 10 children from various exes – so it's safe to say he forks out a fair bit in child support each month.

The only known sum, however, is what he pays to former Spice Girl Mel B, who he dated for nine months in 2006.

A DNA test proved that Eddie Murphy was indeed the father of her daughter, Angel, and the Shrek star was ordered to pay $73,000 a month.

He will continue to pay that amount until Angel turns 18, meaning the total payment over the years comes to more than $15 million.

As for his other nine children, he has two with his current partner, Australian model Paige Butcher, five with his ex-wife Nicole Mitchell, a son with Paulette McNeely, and another son with Tamara Hood Johnson.

It is not known how much the star – worth $175.7 million – pays for the children of his two other exes.

BRITNEY SPEARS

Britney may have only been married to backup dancer Kevin Federline for three years, but she'll be dishing out enormous checks for their two children for much longer.

In the couple's highly publicised 2007 divorce settlement, Spears was ordered to pay Federline $36,600 a month for each of the couple's two sons, Sean and Jayden, until they turn 18.

E! News crunched the numbers in 2010 and reported that Spears "shelled out $444,432 for child support and care" that year.

But according to reports last year, that amount has since gone up.

In 2018,The Blast reported the Toxic singer had agreed to pay her ex-husband "thousands more a month in child support" in a confidential new arrangement.

It had previously been reported Federline had asked for "three times" more than $36,600. Spears also paid thousands towards Federline's legal costs and fees during the bitter court battle.

Spears is worth an estimated $315 million.

MEL GIBSON

Mel Gibson, whose net worth is an estimated $622 million, was ordered to pay ex-wife Oksana Grigorieva child support in the amount of $44,000 a month.

That's an annual sum of $528,000 for daughter Lucia.

His Russian pianist ex had originally asked for $100,000 a month instalments, reported the Daily Mail, but the deal was apparently hinged on her promising to keep recordings of him using racist language in a blind rage secret.

She didn't, and the recordings were released in 2010.

So in the end, the judge's decision actually saved the Braveheart star some dough.

BRENDAN FRASER

The former Mummy star tops the bunch, having reportedly paid a whopping $1.3 million a year in child support since 2009.

In 2013, he attempted to reduce the enormous payments to his ex-wife Afton Smith, insisting he could no longer afford them, the New York Post reported.

However, his ex-wife then argued that he had been "hiding" earnings from films, and falsely claiming that he hadn't been able to secure work.

The star has appeared in significantly less films since he first rose to fame in the '90s.

Fraser has three young sons — Griffin, 10, Holden, 8, and Leland, 6 — with his former wife of nine years, who he met in 1993 at a barbecue thrown by Winona Ryder.

The actor's net worth as of 2019 is an estimated $37 million.

TOM CRUISE