While breakups (even celebrity breakups) are never easy, we often don't talk enough about how expensive they can be. Besides the legal fees and potential spousal support payments, divorces and breakups can also come with child support payments — and when you're in the entertainment industry making bank, those payments can really add up.
Most recently, Kelly Clarkson made headlines for the giant sum she'll be paying ex Brandon Blackstock in child support every month. But she's hardly the first to end up with a payment that's beyond what most of us can comprehend spending on anything in a month — if we even make that much to begin with!
Read on for the most outrageous child support payments in Hollywood. Of course, if it's for the kids, it's money well spent, and parents should contribute financially to their child's upbringing, whether they have physical custody or not. Still, it's hard to really wrap our heads around some of these astronomical numbers.
Kelly Clarkson
Aside from her alimony payments and other money she has to pay to her ex, Kelly Clarkson came away with a pretty hefty child support bill following her divorce from Brandon Blackstock. Though she has primary custody of daughter River Rose and son Remington Alexander, the kids will spend one weekend a month with their father as Kelly pays him child support to the tune of $45,601 each month.
Nick Cannon
Nick Cannon has seven children and doesn't seem to currently be in a relationship with any of their mothers (including his ex-wife, Mariah Carey), so that means that a lot of his paycheck is leaving his bank account in the form of child support payments. According to a report from The Sun, Nick pays more than $1.2 million each year in support, and that number will likely be growing larger soon as he has his eighth child on the way with Brie Tesi.
Britney Spears
Since ex Kevin Federline is the one with primary custody of Britney Spears' sons, Sean Preston and Jayden James, it's no surprise to hear that she forks over thousands every month in child support. As TMZ reported in 2018, Britney's arrangement is to pay Kevin $20,000 a month, in addition to paying for the kids' school tuition, clothing, and extracurriculars, which brings that figure to closer to $35,000.
Eddie Murphy
Eddie Murphy is a father of 10, and one of those children is his daughter, Angel, with former Spice Girl Mel B. After he was determined to be Angel's father, Eddie paid $25,000 a month to Mel and was also ordered to cover their daughter's health insurance and educational expenses. In 2020, Mel went back to court, asking for more money as her financial situation had changed.
Tom Cruise
After his divorce from Katie Holmes, Tom Cruise was ordered to make pretty hefty payments to help support daughter Suri Cruise. As TMZ revealed in 2012, Tom will pay $400,000 a year in child support for Suri until she's 18 — and that's before he also foots the bill for her medical and dental expenses and her education, including college.
Owen Wilson
After a paternity test determined that Owen Wilson is, in fact, the father of ex-girlfriend Varunie Vongsvirates' daughter, Lyla, the child support payments came due. As Radar Online reported in 2019, Owen was then ordered to pay $25,000 a month for Lyla's care, along with $35,000 in court fees and $35,000 for her childbirth expenses.
Brendan Fraser
As the New York Post reported, Brendan Fraser was required to pay $900,000 a year to ex Afton Smith in a combined alimony and child support payment for the three kids they share together. But in 2013, she returned to court to ask for more money, which Brendan said he wouldn't be able to afford at the time due to his acting work drying up.
Marc Anthony
Though his children with ex Dayanara Torres have both since turned 18, while they were still minors, Marc Anthony was forking over quite a bit of money each month. According to Us Weekly, Marc was ordered to pay $26,800 per month to Dayanara in 2014, up from the $13,400 he was paying originally.
Halle Berry
After Halle Berry split from ex Gabriel Aubry, the father of her teen daughter, Nahla, she was first ordered to pay $16,000 a month in child support. But in March 2021, she was able to cut that amount in half, according to The Blast.
Alex Rodriguez
Former Major League Baseball star Alex Rodriguez found himself with some pretty big child support payments after splitting from ex-wife Cynthia Scurtis. He was ordered to pay her $115,000 a month in a combination of child support and spousal support, and though in 2018, TMZ reported that he tried to get that amount lowered, it's not clear if he ever won that battle.
Sean Combs
Back in 2001, Sean Combs — who you may know as Diddy — settled his split from Kim Porter by agreeing to a big monthly child support payment. According to the New York Post, Sean was ordered to pay a $150,000 lump sum to Kim, along with $20,000 a month until their son, Christian, turned 21.
Charlie Sheen
Though Charlie Sheen has since been cleared of his child support duties to Denise Richards, he still owes ex Brooke Mueller, who is the mother of two of his kids, Bob and Max. According to E! News, he was ordered to pay Brooke $55,000 a month in 2016.
Madonna
According to Business Insider, after Madonna's split from Guy Ritchie, she was thought to pay $15,000 a month to her ex for the care of their son, Rocco, though that number was never officially confirmed. Now that Rocco's an adult, though, she's likely not making those payments these days.
Nas
According to Metro, when Kelis and Nas first split, his child support payments to the singer were pretty big. Originally, they cost around $55,000 a month in a combination of child support and spousal support, an order that was granted the same month Kelis gave birth to the child in question.
50 Cent
In a 2020 interview with Van Lathan about his estranged relationship with son Marquise Jackson, 50 Cent (whose real name is Curtis Jackson) revealed how much he'd paid out in child support over the years: more than $1.36 million in total.
"His mom developed an entitlement that cannot be met, filtering that energy through his actual personal interests," he said about Marquise's mother, Shaniqua Thompson.
