As 2008 comes to an end, I thought we could take a look back at the celebrities who took trips to divorce court this year. As usual, the list is not short. Quite a few couples called their family law attorneys and dug out copies of their prenups since January. Let’s take a look:
January
- Comedian Tracy Morgan and Sabina Morgan – divorce papers re-filed in January after 22 years of marriage
February
- Singer Pink (real name: Alecia Moore) and motocross racer Carey Hart – separated in February after two years of
marriage - Rock drummer Travis Barker and former Miss USA Shanna Moakler – finalized divorce in February after 3 1/2 years of marriage
- Actress Anna Faris and Benjamin Indra – ended a four year marriage in February
March
- Model-actress Pamela Anderson and Rick Salomon – finalized annulment in March after a two month marriage
Actor Robin Williams and Marsha Garces Williams – split in March, ending a 19 year marriage- Jackass star/actor Johnny Knoxville and Melanie Clapp – divorced in March after 11 years of marriage. All other details of the split were finalized in September.
- Music icon Paul McCartney and Heather Mills – finalized their bitter divorce in March, ending their six year marriage
And that’s just the first quarter! Click below to see who split up during the rest of 2008.
April
- Comedian and TV personality Wayne Brady and Mandie Taketa – finalized their four-year long divorce in April
- Actor David Hasselhoff and actress Pamela Bach – finalized their two year long divorce in April, wrapping up their almost 20 year marriage
May
- Actor Gary Coleman and Shannon Price – appeared on the TV show Divorce Court in May, ending their eight month marriage
- Singer Shania Twain and music producer Robert “Mutt” Lange – separated in May after 14 years of marriage. No word on whether the divorce is final or not.
- Actress Liv Tyler and Royston Langdon – separated in May after four years of marriage (it’s not clear if this has been finalized yet)
- Actor Kiefer Sutherland and Elizabeth Kelly Winn – finalized their four-year long divorce in May, nine years after they separated. (Looks like they were together for about three years of their almost 12 year marriage.)
- Actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Dany Garcia Johnson – ended their 11 year marriage in May
June
- Actress Anne Heche and Coleman Laffoon – divorced in June
- Music mogul Russell Simmons and model/fashion designer Kimora Lee Simmons – divorce papers finally filed in June after a two year separation
- Actors Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe – wrapped up their divorce in June, after nine years of marriage
- Actor Bill Murray and Jennifer Butler Murray – quickly settled their divorce in June, ending their 11 year marriage
July
- Supermodel Christie Brinkley and Peter Cook – settled their divorce in July after a very public and very bitter
trial
August
- Dixie Chick Emily Robison and singer-songwriter Charlie Robison – finalized their divorce in August after nine years of marriage
- Actor/comedian Chris Kattan and model Sunshine Tutt – split after two months of marriage and a three-year relationship. He filed for legal separation in August. She responded with papers seeking divorce.
- Singer Phil Collins and Orianne Cevey – finalized their pricey divorce in August, after nine years of marriage
- Actor Tom Arnold and Shelby Roos – finalized their divorce after almost five years of marriage in August
- New Kid on the Block/actor Donnie Wahlberg and Kim Fey – filed for divorce in August after eight year marriage
- Actor Morgan Freeman and Myrna Colley-Lee – confirmed pending divorce in August, ending a 24 year marriage
- Actor George Lazenby and tennis player Pam Shriver – divorce paperwork filed in August after six years of marriage
- Actor Tate Donovan and Corinne Kingsbury – finalized their divorce in August, ending a two year marriage
September
- TV personality Star Jones and Al Reynolds – reportedly settled their divorce in September, ending their four year marriage
- Baseball player Alex Rodriguez and Cynthia Rodriguez – finalized their headline-making divorce in September
after nearly six years of marriage
November
- Former child actor Danny Bonaduce and Gretchen Bonaduce – finalized their divorce in November after 18 years of marriage
- TV personality Debbie Matenopoulos and music executive Jay Faires – officially split in November after five years of marriage
- Pop star Madonna and film director Guy Ritchie – finalized their divorce in November just a month shy of their eighth anniversary. A custody settlement is still in the works.
Former Full House star Jodie Sweetin and Cody Herpin – divorce papers filed in November after 16 months of marriage- Actress Kate Walsh and movie executive Alex Young – divorce papers filed in November after 14 months of marriage
December
- Actors Dylan McDermott and Shiva Rose – divorce finalized in December, ending their 13 year marriage
- Actors Marg Helgenberger and Alan Rosenberg – split announced in December after 19 years of marriage
We hope that you have had a better 2008 than these folks have! Happy New Year – we’ll be back with more on celebrity divorces, custody cases, paternity suits and child support fights in 2009!