justlunacy

Celebrity divorces, prenups and who pays whom

[justlunacy @justlunacy]

Cher sang on every Sonny & Cher hit. When she left, she found out who owned Cher Enterprises: Sonny 95%, his lawyer 5%. Cher 0%.

She says she sat him down, asked him why and reminded him: "I was there with you every day for 12 years. I was by your side. I was there when we crashed."

His answer, she says: "I always knew you'd leave me."

The divorce was finalized in 1975. In her 2024 memoir, she writes the contracts were designed to strip her of her income. Sonny died in 1998.

"I left with a car and my clothes," she told Howard Stern. By her count, the money was worth more than $170 million in today's dollars.

The case for Cher: her voice, 12 years of her life. Half the work, half the money.

The case for Sonny: he wrote and produced "I Got You Babe," built the act and ran the business back when they were borrowing money from their own chauffeur. She signed the contracts.

In the video below, Cher explains what she thinks he meant.

If one partner builds the act and the other is the star, should the money be split 50/50?

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@Wealthoran Nobody signs a friendship for life” is the coldest line in this whole story. Was Jay wrong, or just honest?

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@Alzelrd Whatever the exact number, $50K each next to it is the part nobody can explain away.

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CrazySexyCool made $75 million, and T-Boz says each member of TLC got $50,000. So they marched into Clive Davis's office at Arista, where a friend told Puff Daddy his meeting was over.

Chilli says another friend stood at the door: nobody in, nobody out. Others stripped TLC plaques off the walls. Someone called the NYPD.

Then Chilli broke down crying: "We're selling all these records and we don't have anything to show for it."

The facts: TLC signed in 1991, aged 19 and 20, for a reported 7%. In July 1995 they filed for bankruptcy, owing about $3.5 million. Reports say part of it came from the fire Left Eye set at Andre Rison's house.

The case for TLC: they signed at 19 and 20. Their voices sold every copy. The money went to everyone but them.
The case for the label: it paid for the studio, the videos and the risk. Part of the debt was their own. TLC, the labels said, just wanted more money.

In the video below, Chilli tells what happened next.

If you sign a deal at 19 and it makes millions for someone else, should you be allowed to break it?

[justlunacy @justlunacy]

@iamkhairuddin That’s how most deals worked back then. The artists sold the records, the labels kept the masters.

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@semibuttnoid Taste aside, the bargaining power part is real. When you can’t walk away, you sign whatever’s in front of you.

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@MsFayeBishop Great breakdown. “It’s a loan, not a lottery ticket” should be the first thing every young artist hears before signing anything.

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@5thPoet Plenty of artists learned that lesson the hard way. TLC just learned it in front of the whole world.

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@Bullmindes The Smoking Gun line is the real twist. Half the story is the crime, the other half is whether it ever happened.

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@Wealthoran Fair, the costs were real. The part people can’t get past is $50K each when their voices were the product.

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@Duskrave Hard to argue with how that looks. The label’s side is that most of that $75M went into making the album happen before anyone got paid.

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@Duskrave 22 years of “almost” and then one phone call changes everything. That’s the part of Hollywood nobody shows you.

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@quazinov Can’t blame them. Though the label would say the studio, videos and promo all came out of that $75M first.

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@Bullmindes Honestly, most of us would have. That’s the hard part of this story.

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@jameslee898 Fair point on the bid. The sting for Paul was probably more about the friendship than the money.

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Michael Jackson paid $47.5 million for the Beatles songs. In 2016, his half of the catalog that held them sold for $750 million. Paul McCartney, who co-wrote them, says: "I wrote them for nothing."

It started with a phone call on Christmas Day, Paul says. A soft voice: "Hello?" He thought an American fan had found his home number. It was Michael.

They made hits together. Then Paul took him aside with some advice: get into music publishing. Michael's reply: "I'm gonna get yours." Paul thought it was a joke.

In 1985, Michael outbid him for the catalog. Paul says he later wrote asking for a raise after 30 years of hits. The reply, according to Paul: "That's just business."

The case for Paul: he wrote the songs. Paying phenomenal sums to buy back his own work, he says, rubs him the wrong way.

The case for Michael: the catalog was for sale. He took the risk and paid more than anyone else offered.

In the video below, Paul tells Howard Stern how one tip cost him his own songs.

If you give a friend the best tip of your life, should he stay away from your deal?

[justlunacy @justlunacy]

@HeyRay28259397 That’s exactly why the case for Michael is in there. Everyone tells the version where they look best, Paul included

[justlunacy @justlunacy]

@helinhandbasket That’s the other side of it. He reportedly tried to buy them with Yoko years earlier and they thought the price was too high. Michael didn’t.

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@Bullmindes She was right to ask for money. They were right that the Oscar would pay off. Nobody budged, and both sides lost.

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Mo'Nique says she was paid $50,000 for Precious, the role that won her an Oscar. Then they asked her to fly to Cannes and promote it. For free.

Lionsgate kept calling, she says. Another week in France. A better room. Her husband, also her manager, asked one question: is there a dollar amount? The answer, she says: "We will never pay anyone to promote a film."

Then Tyler Perry, one of the film's backers with Oprah Winfrey, called her into his room. His pitch, in her words: get nominated and your next movie pays $3 to $5 million. Win, and it's $6 to $8 million.

Her reply: "I'm not in the habit of working for free."

She says the "difficult" label followed her for years.

The case for Mo'Nique: $50,000 paid for the role, not a world tour. She says she did every bit of promotion her contract required.

The case for the studio: promotion is part of the job, and an Oscar campaign is exactly what turns a $50,000 actress into a $5 million one.

In the video below, she tells what happened in Tyler Perry's room.

Would you work for free today for a bigger paycheck later?

[justlunacy @justlunacy]

@kardinall His mom finding out the house wasn't even his is the saddest part of this whole story.