Jesse Williams’ divorce war with his estranged wife Aryn Drake Lee has been going on for more than a year. Jesse left Aryn for Minka Kelly, then Minka and Jesse were done at some point and he started dating other women. The whole time, Aryn and Jesse have been going to court on what feels like a monthly basis to fight over money. Jesse wants to pay as little as possible in child support and spousal support, even putting it in legal documents that he believes Aryn should be shopping at IKEA (and IKEA alone!). Well, here’s some interesting news: the family-court judge just upped the figure which Jesse has to pay Aryn every month:
Jesse Williams’ divorce just got WAY more expensive, because a judge has just doubled his monthly nut. Jesse has been ordered to pay $50,000 a month in child support to estranged wife Aryn Drake-Lee. He had previously been ordered to pay over $50k a month in spousal … that was upped from $33k.
Jesse and Aryn have 2 kids, and the boom was inevitably going to be lowered on Jesse in the child support department. His lawyers had argued the $50,000 a month in spousal support should cover child support expenses, but that’s not the law. Courts separate child from spousal support. According to court docs, Jesse pulls in $521,000 a month. The support orders are temporary until the couple either reaches a final settlement or the court imposes a final order.
Jesse has to pay Aryn about $100,000 a month in spousal and child support, which averages to about $1.2 million a year. I’m absolutely shocked that Jesse makes $521,000 a month though – how? Is being on TV really that lucrative? What kind of side-projects does he have? Anyway, if he really does make more than $500K a month, then writing a check for $100K every month really doesn’t sound that bad? That’s 20% of his income going to support his ex-wife and children. Sounds fair to me. Sounds more fair than the $33K he was sending her in spousal support previously. Jesse also has to pay for Aryn’s legal bills, which are now up to $160K. LOL.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
Das a lot of cash.
I think his “lawyer” even suggesting that spousal cover the kids probably pissed off the court enough for the judge to rule on the high side just to make an example. Like, come on! How a lawyer thought that was a sound argument is beyond me.
This was probably because spousal support is tax-deductible but child support is not.
That’s fine but the lawyer should have known that the judge wasn’t going to go for that. They’re there to enforce the law not circumvent it.
You didn’t have a problem making those kids, so you shouldn’t have a problem paying for those kids. 😑
Exactly!
Yes and in a manner they’re used to before the split.
He’s on Grey’s, still one of the biggest shows on TV. He’s probably making at least 150k/per episode for 22 episodes. That adds up.
It doesn’t add up to half a million dollars every month, though, does it? That’s an insane amount of money for a character on a soap opera!
He has 4+ mill followers on insta. Obviously he’s not just earning money from the show. Had a quick look at his page and apparently he’s an AmEx ambassador and stars in a new Play Station game.
I think she put in her filing that he makes $250,000 an episode. If he’s in 24 episodes a season, that’s $6M a year or $500K a month.
She should be socking that alimony away though, The $50K in alimony is only going to be coming for 2 1/2 years since they were only married for 5. And you can bet when GA ends, he’s going to be heading to court to get that child support reduced.
Yes, I think that’s maybe why she wanted more. Save it now and be able to use it later on.
Greys will never end. Its been on forever. Like a soap.
He must make twice that because that doesn’t add up to 500k a month. He could also have side projects, I thought they had an app they were producing? He also did a video game.
Aryn needs to get money while she can because who knows how long Jesse’s career will be hot?
Are the 500k before tax/agent fees etc.? Because if he has to pay 100k from his net income 100k would be way more than 20% of what he can actually spend himself.
or does his ex wife have to pay tax on those payments too? Sorry, I’m not from the USA, not sure how it works.
Aside from everything else (what a duck he is or how much he should be paying) if he is making $500k a month, you can bet that’s gross, not net. He’s probably taking home closer to $350– still an enormous amount. So his support obligations are about 30% of his income. He’s in Britney-land and I fully expect him to require detailed accounts of her spending. Ugh- it’s gonna get more bitchy soon.
Well, she gave up her career to stay home with the kids while he pursued acting so I think it’s fair. I don’t know her field but it can be next to impossible for a woman to get back into her career after taking time off to be home with her kids so it was a massive sacrifice for her to do that.
I really hope they stop airing their dirty laundry and act like adults now though. I absolutely think Aryn deserves the money but I think they both need to stop leaking stuff to the press and focus on their kids.
By all accounts, she was a successful real estate broker in NY/NJ while he was a high school teacher prior to GA. The CA real estate market is very lucrative. She should use this time to get her groove back. By the time her alimony stops (or his GA checks stop coming), she could be doing better than he is financially.
I would love to see that happen for her.
I’m with you, Sherry, I hope she’s able to get back into the market and does well for herself.
I just checked out some pictures of them and they looked really happy. Now they are toxic enemies. Ugly divorce bums me out and is bad for those cute kids. Hope they can figure out how to be civil.
That may be true but their kids are still very young, it’s not like she’s given up 20 years of her life to raise their kids. She shouldn’t have many issues getting back into it really, especially if she was as successful as people say and how she “supported him” while he was a struggling actor. I’m not saying she doesn’t deserve the money though, just enjoy it while she can and save up!
well, she is still raising them and they will need to be raised one way or another for a long time.
Yes, that’s what chilld support is for. But she also gets a ton of cash for being his former spose.
It’s always been amazing to me that so often the women who saw these guys through all the lean times, believed in them, and supported them are the first ones to get sh*t on and left behind when fame, glory, and the dollars start flowing. Maybe that’s not the case here, but we’ve all seen it time and time again in other cases. Still floors me, tho.
Well if he is making that much he should pay up. I’m sure she won’t get alimony forever so hopefully she stashes it away.
She does seem bitter AF though. Hope she gives herself a make over with that money cuz she needs it. If she isn’t careful with the revenge she will wake up one day realizing she wasted a good chunk of her life feeding her bitterness.
She supported him for years while he struggled to have an acting career. By the time he booked Grey’s, she worked for a few more years and then became a stay at home mum. He then decides to leave his wife and children, a toddler and a few months old baby, for MINKA KELLY.
She’s bitter because he betrayed her.
She is definitely bitter cuz he dropped her like a hot potato. What did she ever see in him? He is such a douche. I feel for her having to deal with him for 18 years. Just saying that in the end, the bitterness is ugly and she strikes me as someone who will spend a lifetime being bitter about their divorce
Jessy was the one leaking gossip for the media, using jackets with messages and giving interviews talking about the divorce and acting as if he was a vicitm. At some point there was even anon comments on TMZ questioning his ex sanity. He was the bitter one, probably because he thought he would get away easily and without spending money after years of her supporting him financially while he was trying to be an actor.
She doesn’t need a makeover. She was good enough when he was taking her money to support his career so she is good enough as is. Plenty of people like a fuller body sans makeup and fakery so I am sure she won’t be lonely.
“needs a makeover”. I think that’s a cruel thing to say.
Seriously. Women, we need to have each other’s backs. Not everyone looks like a plastic doll.
Yikes, so she’s bitter and needs to get a makeover? I wish we would stop talking about women this way. “Bitter” is a misogynistic way of marginalizing women who express feelings about being treated unfairly by men. She is angry. And she has every right to be! I trust that she will move on when she is good and ready.
I’m just going to side-eye that bit about her needing a makeover. I don’t have that kind of time on my hands.
I agree. Geesh.
Right before they announced the divorce we saw him and the family in Cabo at the Pedregal Resort. Didn’t look particularly estranged, but maybe that was because he hadn’t dropped the bomb on her yet.
Apropos of nothing, I think it’s funny (hypocritical) that Ellen Pompeo and Shonda Rhimes are still fine with him, even though what he did to Aryn is by far and away worse than what Patrick Dempsey did.
They have issues with people who bring their toxicity to set. If he’s not doing that, then why should he be fired? Dempsey was an ass, just like Isaiah Washington.
Shonda Rimes actually fought really hard to keep Washington. One of the reasons she started giving Katherine Heigl such terrible material was because Heigl was the one who kept speaking up about Washington’s terrible behaviour when Rimes and ABC were trying to pretend that everything was fine and it was water under the bridge.
As for Dempsey, he wanted out. Rimes just gave him a really poor last season and ending because she was angry he was leaving the way he was, on his terms.
Yep. Ellen said she approached him (repeatedly iirc ) to join forces and ask for a raise and he was not interested. WHY would she support him?
Jussie – I’m rewatching Grey’s and my God, Izzie is terrible. Her whole affair with George, then Denny, THEN Alex. Thanks for your input – now I understand why Izzy was such a terrible character.
Washington was very homophobic, which is a pity because his character was amazing. But he had to be fired, no doubt about it.
What are Shonda and Ellen supposed to do about Jesse’s personal life? It’s not like he was abusing his wife and/or kids. His marital problems have nothing to do with the show.
Patrick was difficult to work with, that is a business issue, and actually affects the show.
I hope they keep him on so that he can keep paying her. Christ, network TV really PAYS.
What did Dempsey do?? I thought he just wanted off the show, I didn’t know there was drama!
I mean, his behavior was shitty, but if it’s something kept outside the workplace, it’s not like she has much reason to fire him. Doesn’t mean Shonda can’t personally consider him a douche, but if it’s not affecting the show, it may not be worth writing him out story-wise. If the affair had included a coworker that caused on-set drama, that would be a different issue altogether.
Men, take note-when in divorce proceedings with wife #1, sit with your lawyer & accountant and be as generous as you can during round one. You spend less time in court and can get on with your life a whole lot faster.
Hilarious when these dudes moan on to the judge about how much they have to pay only for the judge to look at the numbers and decide they should actually be spending more. It’s just a bit of karma, IMO.
Loved. He was trying to smear her reputation and putting her as the bitter ex while he was leaking anything that could put himself as a victim on TMZ. I don’t believe in any man that use that site for PR.
Me neither. Levin loathes women and is cozy friends with 45 so take anything on that site as probably pay for play MRA style.
The child support amount makes sense but the spousal support amount is excessive.
No it’s not. She has to rebuild her career from scratch and she should do so in comfort. Just like she supported Jesse so he could get to where he is now in comfort.
Spousal only lasts half the length of the marriage, and it’s taxed as income. Aryn needs to rebuild her career, she’s the custodial parent, and right now she isn’t making any money. Jesse didn’t make himself look very good fighting her on support when he pulls in more than 500k a month.
He’s actually lucky because the way child support works here in CA is 20% of the gross income of the non custodial parent, she’s getting that 20%, but half is taxable. She could be getting that 100k as child support, plus whatever the judge wanted to give her for spousal.
Dayum, girl got herself a hell of a good lawyer, that’s for sure. Let this be a hard-learned lesson for him on what happens when you screw over the wrong person, I guess. The court clearly wasn’t having his PR nonsense.
I’m interested to see what Kevin gets from britney now. She makes way more than this guy and Kevin has full custody vs shared in this situation.
The dynamics are significantly different, though. Kevin is married with a spouse who is capable of working and simply isn’t. I wouldn’t be surprised if the support goes up, but Kevin’s case isn’t anywhere near as strong as hers given the infidelity, her income loss from giving up her lucrative career, and the fact that he’s not under conservatorship.
Exactly. Kevin’s case is completely different. He is responsible for child support for two children from a previous relationship, is married to and has two children with a woman who does not work, Kevin does not work and Britney is taking care of all the boys’ expenses besides paying him $20K a month.
That’s a far cry from a spouse who cheated with a starlet and decided he wanted to be the eligible movie star so he dropped his wife and mother of his two children. Aryn thought she had a happy family and suddenly found herself a single mother through no fault of her own.
Wow, that’s a lot of money. I hope to see you all support Kfed just the same seeing that Britney made a lot more money than Jesse did. Or maybe tell Aryn to get a job too. I know it’s not the same situation but it proves the hypocrisy of women sometimes. Jump all over him to pay, but if it is reversed the man does not deserve the same.
Kfed should hope he gets that judge and Britney and her father should take note of this.
Whether he deserves it or not she should have paid because like in this case it could be worse if they fight it.
Aryn had a job and likely will again in the future. She used that job to support them after he quit teaching to get his acting start, and then she gave it up a few years in to raise their children. Spousal support, in this case, recognizes a significant loss in income from her not only giving up her position but having to work her way back into the market now.
I suspect Kfed’s child support will go up, but that case is not even remotely equivalent to what happened here. Hugely different dynamics, especially with the primary money-maker being under a conservatorship and Kfed being remarried with other children he’s supporting. Kfed was never the financially supportive partner. That was Britney from the start of their marriage well into the years after their divorce.
Wow! That’s a lot of money for shared custody, but seems fair when considering how much he gets paid and how he left her!
What happens when he’s not making that much anymore?
Her support will drop in tandem with his income. That’s how it works for everyone. Albeit, can and should eventually go back to work, even if she waits until the kids are older, simply because of how unpredictable acting income can be.
Damn, I don’t even know who this is and he can pay her 100,000 a month?! Crazy amount of money but if he makes it he should pay it.
Minka Kelly has a bad picker.
Yep. Aryn too. That dude looks like a sociopath!
Hop the show lasts another 15 years lol. Seriously though, this is totally fair.
I just remember that headline making speech he made at the BET awards about supporting the black women in the community that nurtures everyone but themselves. It’s so ugly to hear that now, since he told that exact woman in his life that he’s leaving her for a side piece and set her standards at Ikea from now on.
I wish Shonda would, do as Shonda does, and take Avery out cold, Grey Sloan style… but I want Aryn to get her money so it’s a real Catch-22