Celebrity divorces are rarely cheap, but Steven Spielberg and Amy Irving turned theirs into a cautionary tale with a price tag that still makes people blink. Yes, this is the one with the napkin prenup. Yes, it went about how you think.
The napkin prenup that cost a fortune
Spielberg and Irving were married from 1985 to 1989. When they split, a judge awarded Irving roughly $100 million — close to half of Spielberg's fortune at the time. They did have a prenuptial agreement, but it was literally scribbled on a napkin. The court tossed it as invalid, and the settlement instantly landed on the shortlist of the most expensive celebrity divorces of that era.
They share a son, Max, and by all accounts handled co-parenting without turning it into a tabloid war.
How they got together, split, and circled back
- Mid-1970s: They start dating around 1976.
- 1979: They break up. Around this time, Irving says her split from Spielberg effectively cost her a shot at playing Marion in Raiders of the Lost Ark — the role that went to Karen Allen.
- Years later: They reconnect on a work trip to India and get back together.
- 1985: They marry.
- 1989: They divorce, and the napkin prenup gets tossed, leading to that $100 million payout.
"I don't think we ever got to that point of conversation. I moved out, and I think you walk out — you don't get the part," Irving told The Hollywood Reporter, looking back on Raiders.
Where everyone landed
For all the drama around the settlement, the postscript is surprisingly healthy. Irving has said she and Spielberg stayed close and figured out co-parenting without the usual Hollywood theatrics. She even described the current vibe as downright friendly:
"We've always communicated and been close. He and Kate and my husband and I, we try to double-date now and then," she told THR's It Happened in Hollywood podcast.
Spielberg, who directed Disclosure Day, has been married to actress Kate Capshaw since 1991. Irving married Brazilian filmmaker Bruno Barreto in 1996; they divorced in 2005. She later married Kenneth Bowser Jr. in 2007, and they are still together.
The bottom line
As far as Hollywood breakup lore goes, this one is famous for a reason: a four-year marriage, a $100 million settlement, and a prenuptial agreement written on a napkin that could not survive a courtroom. The odd part is how normal it all looks decades later — everyone moved on, everyone seems fine, and they even grab dinner together. Go figure.