Inside Monty Python star John Cleese' money problems
Monty Python star John Cleese has been delighting audiences around the world for more than 60 years.
But while the comedy legend has starred in – and created – some of our most iconic shows and films, in later years his financial fortunes have a been a box office flop.
The 84-year-old Fawlty Towers star is believed to be worth £8million but has admitted that if were not for a succession of costly divorces, his fortunes could have been even greater.
It is believed Cleese has spent up to £25million on break ups from ex-wives.
While he recently admitted to spending £17k every year on stem cell treatment to look younger.
The star, who currently works for GB News presenting an opinion show called The Dinosaur Hour, has been vocal in the past about his inability to rationalise or curb his spending and confessed that he is financially illiterate.
Speaking to the ‘ShowTALK’ podcast in 2022, the comedian revealed that his lack of interest in cold hard cash has ‘cost him a lot.’
National treasure John Cleese, 84, is reportedly worth a cool £8million
He shot to fame in the 1960s with comedy sketch troupe Monty Python (Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, John Cleese, Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam Monty Python’s and Now For Something Completely Different in 1971
He’s racked up a hefty fortune but has lost £25million in three divorces (Pictured with his third ex-wife Alyce Eichelberger in 2002)
He said: ‘I never understand money and I don’t find it very interesting, which is a real disadvantage in the world that we live in. I advise anybody who is a bit vague about it to become less vague because it has cost me a lot.
‘I never knew how much money I had. I remember in America someone asked me where my investments were and I said, ‘I have no idea at all.’
‘I have just relied on people and in one or two cases that has been very good, but in one or two others, it has been disastrous.’
Aside from his lack of business acumen, Cleese’ three divorces have also seen his finances dwindle.
READ MORE: John Cleese reveals he is spending £17,000 a YEAR in his battle to stay young after forking out for stem cell therapy: ‘That’s why I don’t look bad for 84’
The star is currently married to 51-year-old Jennifer Wade, but prior to this he divorced three times to ex-wives Connie Booth, who starred alongside him in Fawlty Towers, Barbara Trentham and Alyce Eichelberger in a string of settlements that is thought to have cost him £25million.
Last summer, Cleese admitted he was still paying off his £15.5million divorce settlement to his third wife Alyce Faye Eichelberger 15 years after the split.
The Oscar-nominee opened his July one-man show in Singapore by telling his 1,200-strong audience that he had been forced to take the stage.
The actor said: ‘I know what you’re thinking: “What is an elderly English comedian doing here in Singapore when he should be back in his old oxygen tent in London, resting”. Well, I’ll tell you the reason. I’ll show it to you.’
The comedian then projected a picture of his ex-wife on a giant screen as he made pointed comments about the hefty fee: ‘This is my ex-wife on her regular morning stroll, going to collect her alimony.
‘Do you know I had to pay her $20 million? Can you believe that? Twenty! No children. Twenty million. The awful thing about that is that you give them ten, then you’ve still got another ten to go.
‘Look at it like this. If only she’d been satisfied with a mere $15 million, I’d be going to bed in half an hour. Instead, I am forced to go on being a huge international megastar, a comedy icon, a national institution, a living legend.’
Cleese was married to Fawlty Towers co-star Booth from 1968 to 1978 and then married American actress Barbara Trentham from 1981 to 1990.
He married Ms Eichelberger, a psychotherapist and author, in 1992 and they divorced in 2008.
The Oscar nominee now lives on the Caribbean island of Nevis with his fourth wife Jennifer Wade who he married in Mustique in 2012.
In total he is thought to have forked out £25million on divorce settlements over the years. On his blog he previously admitted that he ‘goes wherever the work is’ before warning his fans ‘Don’t get divorced in California’.
In 2011, he went on the road with his ‘Alimony Tour’ and said that his need to fund annual settlements to his former wife was also a motivating reason for the Monty Python reunion shows in 2014.
Cleeves was first married to Connie Booth for ten years between 1968 to 1978 (pictured at the theatre in London in 1975)
John Cleese has been married four times (pictured with his second ex-wife Barbara Trentham and their daughter Camilla in 1989)
Cleeve’s third wife Alyce was awarded £15.5 million in a settlement in 2008, which he paid off until 2015
Cleeves is now married to Jennifer Wade, 51, and the couple have been married since 2012 (pictured together in August 2022 celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary)
Cleese has previously said that his final payment to Ms Eichelberger would be in 2015, telling a magazine in that year: ‘The past seven years I’ve been earning to pay off the alimony. But now I’m free to do things that interest me.’
READ MORE: And now for something completely different… How Monty Python stars’ DAUGHTERS have joined feud over cast’s vanishing fortune – after years of ‘financial disaster’ from royalty battles to John Cleese’s £15m divorce
Despite the hefty divorce settlement the Fawlty Towers star still is said to have a net worth of around £8million.
During his time on the sitcom Fawlty Towers, Cleeves said he earned around £6,000 but did not receive any royalties.
‘I only did three series of Python and a couple of series, just 12 programmes, of Fawlty Towers, and I used to say I did a lot of work for charity, most of it for the BBC,’ he previously told ShowTALK podcast.
‘People say, ‘Oh, you were in James Bond’. Yes, I did four days filming in four years, that was my contribution.’
However, the Basil Fawlty star could finally cash in after bringing Fawlty Towers to London’s West End nearly 50 years after it became one of Britain’s best-loved sitcoms.
The original series, which ran from 1975 to 1979, followed inept hotel manager Basil, played by Cleese, as he tried to keep his hotel and marriage afloat.
The writer and creator has used material from three episodes of the series – The Hotel Inspectors, The Germans and Communication Problems.
Cleese shared a hilarious promo video for the stage show this week where he was seen arriving at London’s Apollo Theatre to pick up two complimentary tickets for Fawlty Towers: The Play and is greeted by Basil, played by actor Adam Jackson-Smith.
But while his West End show may improve his finances, in his twilight years, Cleese’ outgoings are no longer as extravagant as in the past.
However, he has revealed he has one considerable lump sum that still leaves his account.
He recently revealed he is forking out up to £17,000 a year to pay for stem cell therapy to combat the side-effects of ageing.
The James Bond actor admitted the fee was hefty was claimed it’s ‘worth it if you’re buying yourself a few extra years’.
Cleese, who has been having the treatment for more than 20 years, is ensuring he doesn’t ‘look bad’ for his age by getting the ‘highest quality’ cells from Switzerland.
He told Saga magazine: ‘These cells travel around the body and when they discover a place that needs repair, they’ll then change into the cells that you want for repair, so they might become cartilage cells or liver cells.
‘So I think that’s why I don’t look bad for 84.’
John Cleese has revealed he is forking out up to £17,000 a year to pay for stem cell therapy to combat the side-effects of ageing
The 84 year old Fawlty Towers star said admitted the fee was hefty was claimed it’s ‘worth it if you’re buying yourself a few extra years’ (pictured as a younger man in 1976)
He admitted he was paying around £17,000 every 12-18 months, adding: ‘But if you’re buying yourself a few extra years, I think it’s worth it.
‘You must get the highest quality stem cells – the ones I have are from a place in Montreux, Switzerland, called La Prairie.’
Cleese also credited his fourth wife, Jennifer Wade – who is more than 30 years his junior – for the spring in his step, but admitted it was ‘sad’ he would die ‘some time’ before her.
He added: ‘A lot of people comment and then the moment they actually see us together for two minutes they say ‘oh, I get it’ and it never arises again.
‘What I love is that she’s 30 years younger than I am, but she keeps me young. I mean, it is sad to think I shall die some time before she will, but I’m in pretty good health.
‘I’m not fit, but the way I put it is the doctors don’t yet know what I’m going to die of.’
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