Cleese divorce payout 'worth it'

Updated 16.36 Wed May 14 2008

Keywords: John Cleese, Monty Python

John Cleese said his third divorce "will be worth every penny" after he was ordered to pay his ex-wife 75,000 a month in maintenance.

The Monty Python star separated from his psychotherapist wife Alyce Faye Eichelberger four months ago after 15 years of marriage.

"It's going to be very, very expensive, but it will be worth every penny" - John Cleese

A judge in California's Santa Barbara Superior Court ordered Cleese to pay 75,000 in a temporary arrangement until their divorce settlement is complete.

Speaking outside court, Cleese, said: "It's going to be very, very expensive, but it will be worth every penny."

The 68-year-old comedian, who was brought into court in a wheelchair after undergoing a knee operation this week, also joked that he had sent his wife's divorce claims to his former Monty Python colleagues and suggested they could find enough humour in them for a reality television programme.

Earlier, Jacqueline Misho, representing Ms Eichelberger, 63, told the court her client had "nothing, zero, because Mr Cleese has not seen fit to pay any support up to this point".

Cleese, who was wearing what appeared to be large brown slippers, said: "When Ms Misho said my wife has absolutely no money, it puzzled me how she could be staying at the Carlyle Hotel in New York in a room that costs 590 a night."

Cleese added that he has been forced to sell his 8.25 million Santa Barbara ranch because of the divorce.

Daniel Jaffee, representing Cleese, told the court that Ms Eichelberger's claim that the star earned 93,000-a-month was based on last year's income, when he enjoyed earnings from work on Shrek 3 and a property deal in which he made 750,000.

Cleese's actual monthly income was around 55,000, Mr Jaffee said.

Ms Eichelberger, who has not worked for several years, helped rugby star Will Carling when he was branded a "love rat" after he walked out his partner for a married woman in 1998.