Celebs Accused Of Pursuing Marriage For Money

We ain't sayin' these stars are gold diggers, but ... well, you know the rest.

The rich just love getting richer. While it's great to see our favorite celebs settling down or exchanging vows, sometimes there may be ulterior motives at work behind their desire to tie the knot: more fame, more money, more visibility. Even when some celebrities are extremely wealthy in their own right, they may still hunger for more.

These stars certainly may have made commitments for love, but others say their devotion to cash is what truly attracted them to matrimony. That may or may not be true, but let's be real — for some of these couples, their booming bank accounts likely upped the magnetism.

Here's hoping at least some of them followed rapper Kanye West's advice: "If you ain't no punk, holla 'We want prenup!'"

When Kevin Federline first hooked up with Britney Spears in 2004, he was a backup dancer who dumped his baby mama, Shar Jackson, while she was pregnant with their second son. Federline and Spears married within months, had two sons of their own, and split in 2006. Spears later called Federline her "biggest mistake," but thanked him for her babies.

Meanwhile, the fertile Federline, who's fathered two more kids with current wife Victoria Prince—for a total of six (at the time of this writing)—was reportedly receiving $20,000 a month in spousal support from Spears until he remarried in 2013. (That was on top of a reported $15,000 monthly in child support.)

Now, Federline allegedly wants more. The Blast reported in February 2018 that Federline thinks Spears should pay even more than her already-increased $20,000 child support payments because she made so much bank from her Las Vegas residency. It's believed he wanted to double his current payments to the tune of roughly $40,000. 

That didn't sit well with Spears and her father, Jamie, who runs her conservatorship. Instead of upping his payments, they actually proposed he make a budget plan to better manage his money. We'd like to think papa Spears played this song in the courtroom. 

Heather Mills was a quasi-famous model in Britain before marrying Sir Paul McCartney in 2002. While the former Beatle certainly seemed to adore Mills during their marriage, their bitter breakup implied she had other motives. 

When they divorced after four years, Mills made it very clear that she was unhappy about the financial settlement. According to People, she asked for $250 million, but received only a lump sum of $33 million, $15 million in real estate, and $70,000 a year to support their daughter Beatrice, plus money for a nanny and private school tuition.

Mills had this to say about the ruling: "Everybody knows he is worth more than [$1.6 billion]," she told People, adding that their daughter "is obviously meant to travel B class while her father travels A class."

It seems like most of Halle Berry's breakups are pretty brutal, but her split from longtime partner and model Gabriel Aubry was uglier than most. After their breakup, a judge ordered Berry to pay Aubry $16,000 (yes, that's three zeroes) a month in child support for their daughter Nahla. In November 2014, TMZ reported that Berry requested her payments be cut to $3,800 per month, claiming Aubry was using her money not just for Nahla's needs, but also for his own, negating his need to work.

Aubry reportedly said he had trouble getting modeling work after Berry's then-fiancé, Olivier Martinez, busted his face up in a Thanksgiving brawl in 2012. However, TMZ reports that despite Aubry's claim that it took him six months to heal from his injuries, a mere six weeks later he looked fine. TMZ also noted various expenses Berry covered for Aubry: $740 a month for gym bills, $940 a month for clothing, $700 a month for health insurance, $1,975 for car expenses, $1,100 a month for furniture and electronics. Nahla's expenses are listed separately!

"She does feel that he is abusing the system and taking advantage of her," a source told People. "Halle does work hard for her money, and it's not easy for her to juggle the two kids with her work schedule. It's understandable that she feels Gabriel should be able to make enough money to support Nahla."

Then-25-year-old Crystal Harris was supposed to marry then-84-year-old Playboy founder Hugh Hefner in June 2011, but she reportedly got cold feet just days before the ceremony. Something must have changed the runaway bride's mind because despite signing an "ironclad" prenuptial agreement," Harris and Hefner exchanged vows on New Year's Eve 2012. 

When Huff Post Live asked Harris why she married Hefner, even though it meant sharing her hubby with his other "girlfriends" in the Playboy Mansion, she said, "Well, for me it meant more security..." That and her very own house in the Hollywood Hills. According to TMZ, Hefner put the $5 million property in a trust "to make sure Crystal has a roof over her head when he's gone." 

When Hefner passed in September 2017, Harris' home was reportedly worth $7 million, and the Daily Mail reported that he also left her $5 million cash. Hef left the bulk of his fortune to his kids, charities, and the University of California film school, reported Us Weekly.

Usher's ex-wife, Tameka Foster, was a hair and wardrobe stylist once upon a time. Then she met the living R&B legend, and, well, he's loaded. They married in 2007, had two adorable sons, then divorced in 2009. Though details of their divorce agreement were kept pretty private, an interesting tidbit emerged: Foster was living in Usher's sprawling, 12,000-foot, $3 million Georgia mansion even though he legally had the right to sell the property whenever he wanted as long as he gave her 60 days notice.

In 2012, TMZ reported that Usher finally pulled the plug on Foster essentially squatting in his pad. Sources told the tab that Foster didn't take the news too well because she'd been financially dependent on Usher (and his $8,000 a month child support payments) since the split and hadn't bothered working since they tied the knot.

Lauren Silverman is known as Simon Cowell's leading lady, but their relationship had a pretty ugly beginning: Silverman was married to Cowell's best friend, Andrew Silverman when she and Cowell hooked up and conceived their son, Eric. As if that wasn't bad enough, Lauren allegedly waited to reveal the affair and her pregnancy to her then-husband until after their marriage hit the decade mark, thus securing her estimated $4 million prenuptial payday.

"This is just another example of her going for the money," a source close to the Silvermans told the New York Post. Unfortunately for Lauren, the prenup amount was reduced to about $2 million because, well, she cuckolded her husband.

Sources also told the Daily Mail that Lauren was hungry for fame as well as money and real estate. "Lauren is now going around telling people that she will be in charge of all his [Cowell's] properties around the world and has demanded a country home in the Cotswolds," an insider said, adding, "Lauren has also started to push Simon to turn her into a reality TV star. She wants her own show like the Kardashians..." Oh boy.

Mel Gibson was married to his wife, Robyn, for nearly 30 years without a prenuptial agreement — so when he left her in 2009 for Russian musician Oksana Grigorieva, Robyn took home nearly half of the Oscar winner's estimated $850 million fortune.

Unfortunately for Gibson, his marriage to Grigorieva was both brief and terrible. She accused him of domestic abuse, and the acrimonious exes had really long custody battles over their daughter, Lucia. In 2011, Grigorieva was awarded a $750,000 settlement from Gibson (which also came with a house to live in until Lucia, then 3, turns 18), having previously rejected a potential $15 million payout. In January 2013, Grigorieva sued her attorneys for advising her to take the $750K deal. (See what happens when you get too greedy?)

Despite Grigorieva's payout, she reportedly still struggles with money. According to People, she filed for bankruptcy in 2015, and in December 2017, The Blast reported that the forensic accounting firm she hired to investigate Gibson's finances during their child support battle sued her for $108,000 in unpaid fees.

After her divorce from Nick Lachey, songstress Jessica Simpson dated a slew of men who had their own money — Adam Levine, John Mayer, and Tony Romo to name a few. Then she met Eric Johnson, a former NFL player who currently does ... well, nothing. That may have made the starlet-turned-fashion designer's estimated $150 million net worth almost as appealing as her gams in her infamous Daisy Dukes. They had two kids before they married in 2014.

A source told the National Enquirer, "Eric has been unemployed the entire time they've known each other, and he doesn't seem to have any plans to get a J-O-B. Let's face it, his job is being Mr. Jessica Simpson ... Jessica's number one pri­ority is her children and their financial future — not Eric. She's the family breadwinner with the most at stake if they split."

Thankfully, her dumb blonde schtick was just that — a schtick — because sources say she had a sweet prenup drafted before they walked down the aisle. An insider claimed, "Jessica's business empire is ex­panding, and when she had kids, it became even more important to get an iron-clad prenuptial agreement in place."

Ironically, Simpson told CNBC's Closing Bell (via the New York Daily News) that her biggest money mistake was her first marriage to former boy band star Nick Lachey. 

These days, Amber Rose and ex-husband Wiz Khalifa get along well as friends and co-parents to son Sebastian. However, shortly after their breakup, the ganja-loving rapper hinted that Rose's intentions may not have been so innocent when they first got together. In a guest verse on Juicy J's song "For Everybody," Khalifa gripes, "I fell in love with a stripper, funny thing is I fell out of love quicker...you all about that money, that s**t that I throw, just make sure you clean off that pole...Trust me, don't save them, anything goes with these h**s." Of course, Khalifa's attitude is pretty rich considering he and Rose split after she supposedly caught him cheating on her with a set of twins.

Still, Rose's former publicist hints that the talk show host is a bit of a hustler in the music biz, alleging Rose once plotted to steal from former flame Kanye West. Ex-publicist Janero Marchand tweeted (via Madame Noire), "...Amber & her brother Antonio were going to Hawaii plotting & stealing money from Kanye. I didn't want anything to do with it so YES I told Ye...That is the real reason they broke up."

Since Rose's splits from Khalifa and West, she's been linked to rapper Machine Gun Kelly, New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., and NBA star Terrence Ross. Just sayin'.

Jeremy Meeks, best known as the "Hot Felon," ditched his wife of eight years for billionaire TopShop heiress Chloe Green in spring 2017. In March 2018, Us Weekly reported that Meeks and Green are expecting their first child. Months earlier, a source told the site, "Chloe and Jeremy are very much in love and she thinks they will get engaged at some point. Chloe will not have a kid with Jeremy until they are married."

That would be easier for Green to accomplish if Meeks wasn't still legally married to his ex, who's skeptical of the troubled hunk's motives. Meeks' estranged wife, Melissa, told the Daily Mail, "I was in shock, but at the same time I knew it was coming. To me, starting a family with a billionaire's daughter is the golden ticket, right? ... I don't know what it is, but do I think my husband would have left me for her if she'd been a cashier at McDonald's? Absolutely not. Do I think the lifestyle they live is what attracts him? One hundred percent I do. The yachts, the private jets, the designer clothes, the expensive cars add to the whole package ... For somebody like Jeremy, who never had anything growing up and spent most of his adult life incarcerated, it does ... I earn decent money as a nurse but I'm no billionaire."

Elle "The Body" Macpherson has a type — billionaires. After a tumultuous relationship run full of breakups and makeups, Macpherson tied the knot with billionaire Miami real estate mogul Jeffrey Soffer in 2013. Prior to marrying Soffer, Macpherson had two kids with billionaire Arpad Busson.

According to the Mirror, "cynics and cod-psychologists" cast doubts on the love match, "suggesting that Elle is marrying for money and repeating the mistakes of past relationships. Since her early 20s she has dated or wed a string of multi-millionaires, ­entrepreneurs and financiers but never found lasting happiness."

According to Woman's Day Australia (via the Daily Mail), Macpherson and Soffer split in 2017; and she was reportedly set to receive $53 million from her former beau, as well as a $27 million home.

When Tiger Woods' family man image came crashing down amid a slew of cheating allegations in 2010, occasional model Elin Nordegren walked away with $110 million. One can't blame a victimized wife for wanting some recompense, but her empathetic tale took a turn for the opportunistic when Nordegren reportedly considered reconciling with Woods if the price was right. 

According to the National Enquirer (via The Sun), she contemplated standing by her man if their prenuptial agreement included a no-cheating clause that would net Nordegren an additional $350 million if Woods strayed again. That arrangement apparently didn't pan out, but don't cry for Nordegren. After Woods, she dated a billionaire's son before bagging actual billionaire coal magnate Chris Cline.

After splitting from Cline, she almost moved on to a rich rocker: Bush frontman and Gwen Stefani's ex-husband, Gavin Rossdale. Alas, that wasn't meant to be. Rossdale told The Sun in March 2017, "A friend was, like, 'You have to meet Elin. She's amazing.' He was trying to connect us. So I texted her a couple of times to say hello. She lives in Florida. She's a really great girl. But I've never met her."

Tila Tequila's reality show only lasted one season, so she allegedly needed something or someone to keep her relevant and rich. Enter Casey Johnson, heiress to the Johnson & Johnson fortune—worth billions. Page Six reported in 2009 that Johnson was in rehab and cut off from her family's money after a series of petty crimes and psychological issues. That December, Johnson began dating Tequila. Despite having only been together a month, Tequila boasted about the 17-carat engagement ring Johnson gave her.

In early January 2010, Johnson succumbed to her demons and died. According to the Daily Mail, she spent her final days in squalor and may have been dead for a week before the body was found, which gave those close to her reason to question Tequila's devotion. Why would a doting fiancée not check in after a day or two of radio silence? Tequila promptly launched a press tour to gush about their relationship.

Johnson's one-time best friend and rumored ex, Yahoo heiress Courtenay Semel, told People, "The thing I find the most sickening is that the media is giving [Tequila] the one thing she craves: attention..." Johnson's other close friend, model Jasmine Lennard, unleashed on Twitter (via the Daily Mail), "You NEVER even knew her ... you took advantage of someone in her weakest moment. You enabled her death and prevented her getting the help she SO DESPERATELY needed for YOUR OWN selfish purposes ... Let her pass with dignity now not attached to ur smutty name... Disgusting little girl."

Indeed, the cheery paparazzi photos of Tequila outside Johnson's home after her death don't help her case.

Since being crowned Miss USA in 1995, Shanna Moakler's career path has been somewhat checkered. She dated Billy Idol in 1997, then moved on to boxer Oscar De La Hoya less than a year later. She and De La Hoya had a daughter together before their split in 2000, and though they never married, she sued the "Golden Boy" for $62.5 million in palimony.

A press release about the lawsuit calls Moakler "a successful actress and model who was persuaded by De La Hoya to give up a burgeoning film and TV career in order to devote herself full-time to him and their daughter Atiana," though her IMDb page suggests her primary acting work at the time was a small recurring role on Pacific Blue. Moakler claimed in the suit that she and De La Hoya "had an agreement under which he promised to give her half of the income and property acquired during their relationship as well as financial support sufficient to maintain the standard of living they enjoyed during their relationship." They eventually settled out of court.

 The former pageant queen then attached herself to Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker. They had a son named Landon in 2003, married in 2004, had a daughter named Alabama in 2005, then embarked on a reality show together called Meet the Barkers, which lasted two seasons on MTV. The pair went through a messy divorce in 2008, and Barker accused Moakler of using his monthly $18,000 child support payments on herself; not their kids. 

Moakler, who dabbled in little more than pageant judging and reality TV after the split, claimed reducing child support payments to Barker's requested $2,900 per month would "financially destroy her."

Rob Kardashian and Blac Chyna didn't even make it down the aisle, but while they were together, Chyna flaunted her giant diamond engagement ring and stacks of cash. It wasn't until after they split that Kardashian revealed just how much cash he supposedly dropped on the former stripper.

While the couple was fighting, Kardashian took to Instagram to claim in a since-deleted post (via Entertainment Tonight) that he "prob spent a million alone in the past two months. 90K necklaces. 70K watch. The Ferrari that you pretend you got yourself."

In another post, Kardashian wrote that he spent $400,000 on jewelry and $16,000 in rent for Chyna. In a video he posted of Chyna in a hospital, he wrote (via the Daily Mail), "Everyone wonders how Chyna lost all that weight after the baby ... I paid 100K to do this surgery to get all everything fixed as much as they could. And then guess what she did after she was all healed when I was by her side the entire time. She left me and my baby which she had out of spite to get back at her other baby daddy."

When Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith was 26, she married 89-year-old oil magnate J. Howard Marshall. They were together from 1994 until his death in 1995. 

In an effort to obtain some of Marshall's vast fortune, despite not being named in his will, Smith worked the court system for nearly a decade until her own death in 2007, and then her estate battled over his millions for about another 10 years. The case made it to the Supreme Court not once, but twice. When the dust settled, Smith's estate did not receive the hundreds of millions it had wrangled for.

Still, during her lifetime, Smith had insisted she loved Marshall. "I loved him for so much for what he did for me and my son," Smith told Larry King (via CNN) in 2002. "I've never had love like that before. No one has ever loved me, and done things for me, and respected me and didn't care about what people said about me."

We're not about to argue that Kim Kardashian married Kanye West for his money, but she did cash in on their union and off her previous 72-day marriage to NBA player Kris Humphries.

According to court documents obtained by Radar Online, Kardashian made more than $2 million off her relationship with Humphries, including $1.1 million for People's exclusive photos of the wedding, $90,000 for hosting her bachelorette party in a Las Vegas club, and another $1 million for her televised E! wedding special.

As for her wedding to West, some say Kardashian used her experience from her first wedding to plan her second—and pay for as little as possible. InTouch claims Kardashian may have made close to $21 million. A source told the tab, "Everything was paid for or sponsored by brands that wanted exposure" from her reality TV show, and "E! picked up the rest." Now, we ain't sayin' she a gold digger...

Miranda Kerr seemed genuinely smitten with actor Orlando Bloom when they were together, but her pattern post-divorce suggests that her true love may have been his franchise money (between Pirates of the Caribbean and Lord of the Rings, he's got a ton of dough).

Following their divorce announcement, Kerr, who has an estimated net worth of $45 million, was rumored to be hooking up with billionaire James Packer. After the Packer affair fizzled, Kerr reportedly dated Malaysian billionaire Jho Low for a year and accepted more than $8 million in jewelry from him. The Wall Street Journal reported that Kerr hand to turn her gems in to government agents in an investigation into Low's allegedly shady business dealings.

She moved on to Snapchat founder and CEO Evan Spiegel, an ordinary looking guy ... who Forbes estimated is worth $2.1 billion. They announced their engagement in July 2016 after just a year of dating. According to Star (via Celebitchy), Spiegel got a "Draconian" prenup to protect his fortune before he and Kerr tied the knot in May 2017. In November 2017, the couple revealed they were expecting their first child together, but their fortune is growing as fast as their family. In February 2018, an SEC filing (via TechCrunch) revealed that Spiegel took home $636 million for the year. 

However, in March 2018, after an offensive ad mocked Rihanna and Chris Brown's domestic violence case, Snapchat's stock plummeted, so we'll wait and see if this union holds its value.