There really hasn’t been a ton of gossip about Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green’s split since they announced it in August (in the heady days of the Summer of Splits). Sure, Team Fox made sure that everyone knew that she wanted the divorce and it was because she was so beautiful and work-oriented. But what surprises me is that Megan and BAG are actually still living together and making outings with their kids, like they’re working at having a “nice” divorce. Or maybe they’re taking a page out of the Affleck-Garner Playbook, who knows?
Anyway, we heard a month ago that BAG would likely be asking for financial support from Megan because he’s still messed up from a bad car accident last December. BAG still has medical issues, like a bad case of vertigo, and those issues affect how much he can work, etc. Well, yesterday, BAG filed for spousal support officially:
Brian Austin Green just put it in writing … he’s asking soon-to-be ex-wife Megan Fox for spousal support. In the docs filed Tuesday, Green checks the box for spousal support … a move we saw coming.
TMZ broke the story … Green has worked very little since last December when he and Megan were in a car wreck. Megan was not injured but Brian now has a serious medical condition … vertigo, affecting his balance and ability to work. Megan is still working on big time movies and has a steady income.
As we’ve reported this break-up is as amicable as can be — Brian and Megan are still living under the same roof and co-parenting their sons.
We’re often accused of taking the lady’s side in celebrity divorces, and if the genders were reversed, I’m sure this would be a total non-story. If anything, if the genders were reversed, we would be writing stories about how the douchebag male movie star dumped his wife with medical issues. I tend to think that in the case of a starter marriage with no kids – like Kaley Cuoco’s situation – the financial support/settlements should be pretty minimal. But BAG and Megan were together, off and on, for a decade. They have two kids together and she was step-mom to BAG’s son from a previous relationship. I tend to think it’s somewhat fair that Megan (as the breadwinner) give financial support to BAG. So, just prepare yourselves. I bet Megan is going to have to take more smaller gigs and modeling/commercial gigs to keep up with supporting her ex.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
If you are feminist we should support men getting alimony from rich ex wives.
Amen!
absolutely.
As we should support men having more equal custody of the children (and not just a couple weekend a month), event if they are toddlers.
On a personnal point of view, it drives me crazy when women act like they are feminist but refuse to share custody of their children because of a “natural” right.
The custody arrangement should be for the benefit of the children – not for the perceived equality of the parents… New arrangements for toddlers are often harder to make ‘equal’ because of the difference in emotional connection between the toddler and each parent… I think it is less a feminism issue than a ‘best case for the child’ issue.
Custody has nothing to do with the parents! It is about what is best for the child and if that is 50/50 in some situations great but if that is every other weekend then fine. child care has nothing to do with gender equality. And be real it’s not equal work it’s just not maybe in some cases but not most.
Now if a woman makes more and alamoniy is given then yep she pays that’s life. So get your money Brian. They should have gotten a pre-nup if she didn’t want to pay.
Totally
That is rather contingent on the circumstances. These circumstances show that he should get support at least until he can work. But he should also demonstrate that he is getting treatment for his condition.
Yes. I’m all for equal alimony rights but I want 1) proof of an actual medical condition so serious, the person at issue is unable to get a job – any job; and 2) proof the person is in therapy, in treatment, doing whatever they can to heal so they can get a job. I do not beleive any person, male or female, should have to pay an ex spouse who just doesn’t want to work.
Depends… Is the male the primary caregiver? Doubtful… When women are the primary bread winners.. They are still the primary caregivers to the children..
Preach Jellybean.
This!
Fair
Absolutey fair. If he were the breadwinner in the family, she would be entitled to spousal support and there wouldn’t even be a story.
No. She would only be ethically and morally entitled to spousal support if she had forfeited earning opportunities in the interest of the union or if she had materially contributed to his wealth. In this case, he didnt stop working in aid of the marriage. In fact, it was she that lost earnings at the peak of her career when she took time out to birth and nurture their baby. Furthermore, he is himself a millionaire and so hardly destitute.
So no to spousal support. We can have a different conversation on child support. Man or woman, this is greed mixed with vindictiveness.
Naya +1
Yup.
Megan doesn’t make that much more than BAG (so says the Google machine).
how is that possible though? she works, he hardly does.
That can’t be. What’s the last thing BAG has done? Fox has tmnt money.
BAG is worth $3m and Megan is worth $5m, so I was probably misleading when I said she doesn’t make ‘that much more’ than him. I assumed there would be a bigger gap. He does take small parts on middling tv shows like Anger Management. Maybe David Silver residuals?
yeah, probably syndication.
Working isn’t the only way to make money, he could have investments or other business ventures.
Megan may work more, but she not bring in any big pay checks.
And heres why I disagree that this is exactly like if the genders were reversed.
We know now that women in film dont make quite as much as people think they do. If Jennifer Lawrence made 3 million for American Hustle, I’m sure her TMNT paycheck will shock most people who assume that its a multi million prospect. Secondly, she is a sexpot type and therefore quickly heading into career sunset. She’ll be lucky if she can even score a fraction of the guesting roles BAG gets in five years.
If he were broke I would say a little support as he recovers is in order but he isnt broke. This shouldnt be treated as though she were a dentist or an accountant with foreseeable earning potential and not in one of the most sexist industries in the world. This girl should be saving every half penny she gets, if not for her future then for her kids.
@Naya
That is really the issue in this situation. Megan has had a career slump. She was the “hot girl of the moment” then that faded. Her assets are small for Hollywood. That is why she is doing “New Girl”. And that might be the best route for her now. Sign onto an established tv show and make the money that she can.
I wonder how long he will be able to claim Vertigo for not working. Does anyone know the average length of the condition? I agree the breadwinner should support the ex with some alimony, regardless of gender, just curious if he will still be able to take advantage of the financial support a year or 5 years from now just from Vertigo.
Even before the accident he didn’t work much and am sure any residuals from Beverly Hills 90201 dried up long ago. Vertigo can affect people to a degree for years but it depends on the treatment you get and am sure he’ll get a payout from the other drivers insurance.
Alimony works both ways. Now, wonder if he’ll go for custody of the children for child support. He was a douche to his ex (Vanessa Marcil) about money so am sure he will be the same with Megan.
It depends on the cause of the vertigo. We don’t know what specific injury caused BAG’s vertigo, so there is no way to say.
And I agree with Pri. I once had a viral inner ear infection — no pain, but woke up one morning with such bad vertigo that I thought I was going to fall off the middle of a double bed. I couldn’t stand or walk or even sit up straight, and was constantly nauseated. The anti-vertigo meds from the doctor helped a bit, but not completely, until the virus was over.
I also have a couple of friends with Miniere’s Disease, which causes vertigo — and it severely impacted there lives and ability to work until they were able to get it under control.
Vertigo can be a lifetime affliction. My mother was in a car accident in her forties and up until she passed away last November at 92 was still having issues.
I, too, was wondering how long he’ll be able to claim it as a serious affliction. I know firsthand how terrible vertigo is – I suffer from it as a result as Multiple Sclerosis. BAG on the other hand . . . he’s sitting on a huge pile of cash. Her future earnings are limited at best, despite being far and way more than the average person will earn in a lifetime she makes her living based on being “the sexy girl.” There’s only so long she’s going to continue to be cast in that role. BAG still pulls gigs on crappy cable shows and for guest spots.
Why can’t their actual holdings be taken into consideration – like they would be in any court case downtown – before we come out swinging either way for spousal support? I tend to think it’s ridiculous no matter the genders if both people held jobs – unless kids are involved and the earnings are extremely outweighed, like with Gabriel Aubrey and Halle Berry, or when one spouse has long been unemployed and is likely to face difficulty in obtaining work, like so very many – Hollywood or not. Neither seems to be the case here. Let them pay for themselves and share the cost of supporting their children.
I like this. Upthread it was reported that although she probably gets paid more NOW because she’s doing movies and has a regular stint on T.V., he’s still actually worth $5 and she’s worth $2 or $3. How many millions does one need to live comfortably? He’s saying he can’t have a nice life with the $5 million he already has? They make it sound like he can’t live on his measly $5 million already in the bank. Just because she currently makes more, does that mean a rich ex should get paid so they are equal? I don’t think so. And I feel that way if the genders were reversed. When is enough money ever enough? It’s not like once she leaves, he’s penniless and doesn’t know where his next meal will come from. I think alimony guidelines should take into consideration, money already banked and available…period.
I had vertigo from a car accident and recovered in full just under a decade.
How that keeps him from working makes little sense. Voiceover work? Customer service calls working from home? He could still do it.
And i’m wondering if some here are confusing Spousal support with child support. He can get by on his own for some time and maybe should have some support for a little, but not long.
Wasn’t he still suing his ex for old debts that were in questioned to have been paid off before not too long ago? He needs money always it seems.
And Megan’s career suffered because of him. If the rumors are true he pressured her to keep getting plastic surgery ruining her face. Restricting the roles she took and who she worked for.
No matter who was divorcing who in terms of this case i’d say neither deserve it or should have to pay.
He can get support from her now but she can refile a petition every single year with their W-2s and in the future if his situation changes financially and is making more than her, then he will be paying spousal support. Same goes for Child Support.
Guys, vertigo is horrible, you feel nauseous, terrible headaches, it is no joke. And let us not make it a feminist vs non-feminist issue, there seems to be no response from Megan’s side, and if they live together, I think it will be handled quietly.
I question vertigo. He’s been seen out and about looking fine. Running up and down stairs. exercising. It reminds me of “soft tissue damage”. Something that can be very painful, but very tough to prove.
He really snatched her up at a young age though(like 18, when he was in his thirties), so I hope he’s fair to her with a settlement, I think that should factor into things. Just from what’s been said about their volatile relationship though, he probably won’t be fair.
Not every TV actor gets royalties and you don’t get those checks for ever and there not a lot big checks.
what they get is usually based on what they made at that time, but once your show goes into syndication, and 90210 had a great run with syndication, you make some great money as a main character. If he saved up those continuous flow of checks that came his way, all the better.
If he has legit medical issues and no insurance covering his bills, she should support him at least for a while. But hopefully he is getting treatment and will be able to go to work and not rely on his ex forever. Unlike a woman (sorry, parent) who stayed home for ten years to raise the kids, I think a partner who worked before should make efforts to get back to work and being self reliant. Once he is, I assume the support payments would be reduced.
If he’s still working, he could use his medical benefits from SAG-AFTRA.
Like CB says role reversal, of course he should get alimony if he is ill. I’ve never been a fan of alimony in the first place. If the union is broken and each party is able to earn their own living, they should, in my opinion anyway. Long gone are the days when mom would stay home and dad would go out and work every day and if they divorced, she was set for life or until she remarried. Hello 2015.
She was with him since she was a teen. He was supposedly controlling and jealous. It took a long time for her to get away. So paying him some money may be worth it.
Is there any proof to your claims or are you just going by gossip.
there’s been a number of documented calls to their house for domestic situations, where neighbors call when they hear fights get out of hand. He has a reputation for being somewhat controlling and possessive with her in public, especially in a public capacity where she is promoting.
Good God! I hope that’s not true, but sadly, I tend to believe it because….she’s divorcing him. Nothing like putting her on a pedestal and then berating and punishing her for the very things that attracted him to her in the first place. Sounds like such an insecure macho cliche`. He’s made it onto my douche list.
Alimony is typically given to women because they gave up their earning potential to raise the children.
In this case, I would be curious to see how custody shakes out. If she has primary custody AND has to pay alimony, then he’s a con artist. Otherwise, meh.
I’m just trying to figure out did he sue the other party in the accident? I wonder who was at fault? If the vertigo resulted from the accident then he should certainly have sued.
I see nothing wrong with getting support from the more wealthy spouse in a marriage.
I survived a horrible car accident 10 years ago. The effect was that I have permanent vertigo spells that come and go many times a week. It has affected my quality of life and I can barely work part time. Good luck to BAG, these spells are real and horrible.
That’s awful, so sorry to hear it.
Her career has been circling the drain for a while now. Perhaps she feels that getting divorced will make her more marketable. Who knows?
Yes, she should pay him spousal support.
No problem at all with paying of support to BAG.
Is he looking for disability pay from her? I don’t agree if he’s already being compensated as a result of his injuries. I don’t know how that works in Hollywood or what his case is, though. I just think he is an experienced actor who would not need to re-train for a new career if he is well. That sets him apart from a spouse who stayed at home for a decade raising a family and does not have any current, marketable skills that would provide for a reasonable living. (But even under that scenario, I don’t believe alimony should be forever.)
If it were up to me, he would receive alimony for 5 years tops, and it would decline yearly by 20%. I would divide assets down the middle, provide health insurance for him for six months, and call it a day. All of which will never happen.
He will only receive alimony for half the duration of their marriage. I am a divorced female who was the breadwinner and had to pay out to my ex hubby. The upside is every year I was able to refile and get the amount reduced as he made more money.
i think i read here that she gave up certain jobs because he was controlling/jealous. if that is the case, im less sympathetic to him.
Yep! And if that is the case, is the alimony really necessary or just a way to punish her for divorcing him? If it’s true that she really did give up gigs due to his jealousy or even just to placate him, I certainly hope she’s open and honest about that in court, because it should definitely weigh into what he should or should not get from her.
Not to mention she took time off while pregnant and during the years after the children were born.
im not sure her earning potential for the next 30 yrs is the same as his
now it’s acting, both could never work again
but she’s a hot girl, when that fades what does she do? old dudes have better chances
also, im not sure millionaires should be paying other millionaires (although im sure much of that isnt liquid)
She is very pretty, but I never noticed her strong jaw.
I think spousal support is a crazy thing when there’s more then enough money on both sides.
I don’t know why she had to mess with her face, she was so beautiful. Not that she isn’t now, she just looks a bit more “artificial” than she did before.
sort of like a mask – too smooth. Didn’t think there was such a thing as too smooth until some these ladies had their faces pulled so tight and filled with injections, they lose looking human.
I thought it was Courtney Cox on the thumbnail.
The bigger question is how much and for how long can she afford to pay him? Her own work is limited. There is a reason she had to sign on to “New Girl”. She is not getting the paychecks that some of her peers are getting. And her issues with some directors and producers in the past hurt her career.
Craniosacral therapy, osteopathic medicine and acupuncture are all extremely helpful for vertigo and menieres. Sometimes full recovery and at the very least reduction of symptoms. Sharing bc I know how terrible those conditions are. And seeing people suffering with no sense of hope bums me out. Be open minded and try strategies that are low risk and may well help significantly.
Craniosacral therapy is totally fascinating.
Truly all of these integrative health measures would help in recovery!!
No, I find it absolutely stupid that a man who has 3 MILLION in the bank is asking his ex wife to pay him a salary, because he can’t work. Nothing to do with feminist non- feminist. You don’t have to be accept idiocy to be a true feminist. 3 MILLION. Really.
The sad thing is I think she’ll pay gladly, just to get out of there without feeling guilty. But she can be assured, he’ll make her feel guilty for as ling as he can, AND will take the money from her at the same time.
You know what I don’t understand? I don’t get why a husband or a wife has to “support” their ex-spouse after a divorce. Yes, I gave you a rich lifestyle while married, but you’re no longer my spouse, so why should I have to support you still? This support can go on for the rest of the person’s life. Yet, when you have a child, you are only responsible for the child until 18 years of age. A child YOU brought into this world, a child who didn’t ask to be born. But, oh you’re 18 so get the hell out of my house and find your own way. I find the world very odd…sorry.
Fair points, but usually there are children involved. The continued support is more for their continued expected lifestyle (including school fees, doctor stuff, etc). Also quite often, is the adultery connection, though that doesn’t apply here I don’t think. As for the 18 year old thing, nobody I know adheres to that. I moved ‘back home’ to work as a rich kids’ tutor after college, my sister just moved ‘back home’ after finishing her MFA thesis. We were both 23 at the time, oddly. We DID have jobs from the age of 15, though, just so we were clear what we were doing later, lol.
Nope alimony laws have been modified, now the other spouse can only receive alimony for half the duration of their marriage and that can cease as soon as they move in with a bf or gf, note just a bf or gf not a wife or husband.
That is only partially true. In the US, it varies by state.
Because in many cases one spouse (usually the woman) gave up their career to raise a family. The reality is that jobs with living wages are not waiting for people who haven’t had a job in years. The work a stay at home parent does has been estimated to be worth a six figure salary if there was a fair wage. The laws exist for a reason. Frequently there are provisions for how long the support will continue. Sometimes it is for a set number of years and sometimes it is one large settlement. It depends.
It is odd to compare an 18 year old who is at the beginning of their career to someone would have been in the middle. An 18 year old would be going off to college or starting a job. The two places in life are not on the same level.
It’s usually the partner that makes MORE money that has to pay alimony. Brian Austin Green would probably still seek alimony even if it wasn’t for his injury, since he makes less than his wife. Laws vary depending on where you live. My point about the 18 year old is that it’s odd there is nothing stating you have to support YOUR children passed the age of 18, yet some ex-wives, ex-husbands live off of spousal support for the rest of their lives (as they never re-marry or purposely don’t try to make their own income). A rich person may have given their child the most lavish lifestyle but as soon as the child turns 18, the parent can literally throw them out. Yet if you divorce someone the law expects you to keep up THEIR lavish lifestyle.
Fair, and I’m sure she’s fine with it. I wish she had her old face 🙁
I miss the old face, too. She was lovely beyond words.
Maybe they just want a judge to figure out what’s fair. It doesn’t sound as though they hate each other.
Totally fair.
Fair. Even though I think he’s a douche.