In February 2000—still the early days of network reality TV—Conger beat out 49 other women to win the dubious reward of a quickie ceremony Rockwell on Fox’s Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire? The two-hour special, which drew on some of the ugliest gender stereotypes for its premise and still stands out for its crassness, drew more than 22 million pairs of eyes when it aired. Conger, who walked away with a $35,000 diamond ring, an Isuzu SUV, and other prizes courtesy of the network, had the marriage annulled after it came out that Rockwell had been accused of domestic violence by a former girlfriend, and Fox cancelled plans for a continuation of the series.
Courtesy of Fox
Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher
The Punk’d star and Ghost actress tied the knot in a Kabbalah-inspired ceremony in 2005 and shortly after earned a reported $3 million from OK! magazine for rights to their wedding photos. Rumors of infidelity on Kutcher’s part have dogged the couple of late, but the very profitable couple remain married in spite of celebrity-gossip magazines’ schadenfreude-tinged speculation.
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images.
Anna Nicole Smith and Howard K. Stern
After a high-profile battle over the estate of her late first husband, J. Howard Marshall, the Anna Nicole Show star exchanged vows with Stern, her attorney, in the Bahamas. The couple sold photos from their legally nonbinding ceremony to People for $1 million, but Smith didn’t live long enough to enjoy the profits; she died in Florida less than five months into her partnership with Stern.
Win McNamee/Getty Images.
Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt
The villains of The Hills married twice in 2009: once in a tiny ceremony in Mexico, then again in the company of their loved ones (and MTV crews) in Pasadena, California. Us Weekly and OK! reportedly each offered the couple $400,000 for exclusive rights to their wedding photos, which the couple reportedly rebuffed, preferring to grant non-exclusive rights to multiple publications. (They told The Daily Beast this year that at the height of their fame, they earned $3,000 per photo.) In 2010, the couple filed for divorce in an effort to drum up publicity (and money from celebrity magazines) but then publicly reconciled and renewed their wedding vows.
Kevin Winter/Getty Images.
Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom
The Kardashian sister married L.A. Lakers star Lamar Odom in front of cameras for the fourth season of E!’s Keeping Up with the Kardashians. OK! bought rights to the couple’s wedding photos for a reported $300,000.
Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images.
Bethenny Frankel and Jason Hoppy
After making Frankel a household name on The Real Housewives of New York City, Bravo aired Bethenny Getting Married?, whose ten episodes documented Frankel and Hoppy’s preparations for marriage and parenthood, in 2010. Women’s Wear Daily reported that the couple made either $10,000 or $25,000 from OK! for their wedding snapshots—a pittance in celebrity-wedding terms.
G. Gershoff/Getty Images for Tanger Outlets.
News that reality-television star Kim Kardashian had filed for divorce from her basketball-player husband of 72 days, Kris Humphries, came as little surprise to celebrity-culture aficionados: the discovery of irreconcilable differences mere weeks after fairy-tale weddings isn’t exactly uncommon in Hollywood. If there’s anything unusual about Kardashian’s two-and-a-half-month marriage, it’s how immensely profitable it was.
Celebrities have been selling photos of their most precious moments for years, but none as successfully as Kardashian and Humphries. Between free swag from vendors who wanted publicity for their wares, the sale of photo rights to People magazine, and the production of a reality special that aired on E! last month, Kardashian and Humphries reportedly netted around $8 million from their nuptials.
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Though Kris and Kim earned a staggering $10,358.80 for every hour of their brief union, they’re not the only ones who cashed in.
Darva Conger and Rick Rockwell
In February 2000—still the early days of network reality TV—Conger beat out 49 other women to win the dubious reward of a quickie ceremony Rockwell on Fox’s Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire? The two-hour special, which drew on some of the ugliest gender stereotypes for its premise and still stands out for its crassness, drew more than 22 million pairs of eyes when it aired. Conger, who walked away with a $35,000 diamond ring, an Isuzu SUV, and other prizes courtesy of the network, had the marriage annulled after it came out that Rockwell had been accused of domestic violence by a former girlfriend, and Fox cancelled plans for a continuation of the series.
Courtesy of Fox
Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher
The Punk’d star and Ghost actress tied the knot in a Kabbalah-inspired ceremony in 2005 and shortly after earned a reported $3 million from OK! magazine for rights to their wedding photos. Rumors of infidelity on Kutcher’s part have dogged the couple of late, but the very profitable couple remain married in spite of celebrity-gossip magazines’ schadenfreude-tinged speculation.
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images.
Anna Nicole Smith and Howard K. Stern
After a high-profile battle over the estate of her late first husband, J. Howard Marshall, the Anna Nicole Show star exchanged vows with Stern, her attorney, in the Bahamas. The couple sold photos from their legally nonbinding ceremony to People for $1 million, but Smith didn’t live long enough to enjoy the profits; she died in Florida less than five months into her partnership with Stern.
Win McNamee/Getty Images.
Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt
The villains of The Hills married twice in 2009: once in a tiny ceremony in Mexico, then again in the company of their loved ones (and MTV crews) in Pasadena, California. Us Weekly and OK! reportedly each offered the couple $400,000 for exclusive rights to their wedding photos, which the couple reportedly rebuffed, preferring to grant non-exclusive rights to multiple publications. (They told The Daily Beast this year that at the height of their fame, they earned $3,000 per photo.) In 2010, the couple filed for divorce in an effort to drum up publicity (and money from celebrity magazines) but then publicly reconciled and renewed their wedding vows.
Kevin Winter/Getty Images.
Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom
The Kardashian sister married L.A. Lakers star Lamar Odom in front of cameras for the fourth season of E!’s Keeping Up with the Kardashians. OK! bought rights to the couple’s wedding photos for a reported $300,000.
Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images.
Bethenny Frankel and Jason Hoppy
After making Frankel a household name on The Real Housewives of New York City, Bravo aired Bethenny Getting Married?, whose ten episodes documented Frankel and Hoppy’s preparations for marriage and parenthood, in 2010. Women’s Wear Daily reported that the couple made either $10,000 or $25,000 from OK! for their wedding snapshots—a pittance in celebrity-wedding terms.
