Sir Paul to Shell Out $108 Million to Heather Mills

Heather Mills was all smiles as she walked out of the courtroom in London’s High Court yesterday. And she had over 108 million reasons to be happy, for that is the sum iconic Beatle Sir Paul McCartney is paying her for their divorce settlement - $108 million, which works out to a cool $27 million for each year of their marriage, according to the Daily Mail in London.

At the end of two years from the time the couple announced their divorce plans, the 40-year old former model will get a lump sum of $40 million, along with annual payments of $5 million till the time Beatrice, the couple’s 4-year old daughter, became 18. For the $108 million she is getting, Mills had to agree never to speak in public or write about the details of how their marriage fell apart, the Daily Mail further reported.

Mills would have custody of Beatrice, but Paul would have equal visitation rights. She plans to live with her daughter in England and Poland or the Czech Republic. The 65-year old Paul also agreed to start a trust fund of $2 million for his daughter. She would be given access to it only after she was 18 years old.

The two sides reached an understanding a little before lunch yesterday, after they had fought it out in court for five long days last week. A source close to the case said the two had reached an understanding on all points. While there was a deal in place at the beginning of the week, there were complications involved.

The deal the two sides have reached currently contain some adjustments that Mills had requested for, the source said. There is another hearing scheduled for Monday, which would possibly be the final one in this case.

While this is a huge settlement, it is nothing compared to the settlement that U.S. media mogul Sumner Redstone had to make with his wife when she found him with a young model. Redstone had to cough up almost $1.5 billion, which is more than McCartney’s wealth of approximately $1.2 billion.

There have been other enormous divorce settlements in the past as well. Some of the biggest are the ones involving Michael Polsky, the energy bigwig from Chicago ($184 million), basketball icon Michael Jordan ($168 million), legendary singer Neil Diamond ($150 million), ace golfer Greg Norman ($100 million) and super-director Steven Spielberg ($100 million).