With Katie Holmes filing for divorce from Tom Cruise over reported reasons of seeking freedom from her "controlling" husband and sole custody of their daughter Suri, the celebrity divorce circus has officially begun. With pre-nups and alimony negotiations set to go on for weeks now, speculations will be rife. The trend of separating and coming into a lot of money is nothing more than a multi-million business. No marriage, seemingly, lasts forever in Hollywood.
One of the major reasons that drove Tom-Katie apart was parenting styles. Katie wants Suri to go to school with other children and have a grounded routine whereas Tom wants her schooled in the same manner as his adopted children Connor and Isabella were. Tom is nowhere near as strict as Katie is and doesn't believe in disciplining Suri, whereas Katie believes that discipline is important. Tom treats Suri as a little adult, but Katie treats her like a six-year-old child, and that caused some major clashes over parenting styles.
Katie also wants primary custody of Suri. The other was Cruise's strong ties to Scientology. This is Tom's third divorce. He first split from Mimi Rogers, then Nicole Kidman.
The Settlement: According to the pre-nup, Katie gets $15 million and the couple's $35 million Beverly Hills Mansion. Also at stake: The family's estate worth $275 million, post negotiations.
Hollywood couples and their settlements:
Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore: $145 mn
Seal and Heidi Klum: $35 mn
Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries: $7 mn
Biggest payout for an unmarried couple: Johnny Depp is paying former lover Vanessa Paradis up to 100 million pounds, in one of the biggest pay-offs involving an unmarried couple. Depp, 49, who is worth more than $156.8 million, and French singer and actress Paradis, 39, announced they were splitting after months of denials. They have been together for 14 years but never tied the knot.
