12 Crazy Celebrity Prenups
11) Sunsets can be ugly
Even a titan of industry can be laid low by a woman scorned. Jack Welch and Jane Beasley Welch’s divorce cost the former Chairman of General Electric a staggering $150 million, which, though he was worth at least $450 million, still stung. The reason behind the massive settlement was the Sunset Clause in the couple’s prenuptial agreement, which nulled the couple’s prenups after 10 years and paved the way to the large settlement for the 13-year old marriage.
Though Jack did well in the corporate world, he ended up being handed his hat in divorce court and became a textbook example of what not to do. The Wall Street Journal said the misfires started with an affair with former Harvard Business Review editor Suzy Wetlaufer. When Mrs. Welch, herself a prominent corporate attorney before their marriage, was considering ending things, he handed her a list of divorce lawyers he liked, hoping for a quick, amicable settlement. Instead, she hired William Zabel, who had handled other high-profile divorces, while he stuck with the guy who handled a previous divorce 15 years prior.
Further mistakes happened when he refused several settlement offers, accused her of infidelity and drew out the process on little things.