From Song Joong-ki and Song Hye-kyo to Hrithik Roshan and Sussanne Khan – Asia’s most expensive celebrity divorces
It’s not just Amazon’s Jeff Bezos who stomached an eye-wateringly expensive divorce – from South Korean drama stars and India’s Bollywood greats to Chinese business tycoons, here are some of Asia’s most expensive marital splits
Weddings are expensive – and as these celebrities have realised to their detriment – divorces can be even more so.
When your marriage is on the rocks, it must be even more painful to know that not only is your heart going to be split in two, but so could your fortune.
Here are some former couples in Asia who would probably be better off financially if they didn’t get married in the first place. Get this – the most expensive divorce on this list cost US$3.2 billion and created a new billionaire.
Song Joong-ki and Song Hye-kyo
After a 20-month whirlwind romance that took the K-drama world by storm, Song Joong-ki and Song Hye-kyo filed for divorce last year, because of “differences in their personalities”.
The couple, who met when they starred in hit 2017 drama Descendants of the Sun, would divide US$85 million worth of assets mostly in the form of luxury property, of which Song Hye-kyo, 38, holds the majority share. Besides holiday homes across the globe, the actress owns three properties valued at US$12.3 million in Samseong-dong, one of the most expensive districts in Seoul.
Du Weimin and Yuan Liping
The wife of Chinese biotech billionaire Du Weimin joined the ranks of the world’s billionaires when her wealth skyrocketed following the couple’s divorce. Yuan Liping, 49, gained half the wealth of her former husband when he transferred an even split of his company’s shares – worth US$3.2 billion – to her, making their nuptial split one of the most expensive in the world.
Du Weimin, 56, is the president of Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products, a company that produces Hepatitis B vaccines in China. Yuan Liping served as an executive director in the same company from 2011 to 2018. She currently manages Kangtai’s subsidiary company Beijing Minhai Biotechnology.