Denise Ritchie, Lionel Ritchie's wife, wants $300K/month support

[VeronicaGia]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,113384,00.html

LOS ANGELES — The estranged wife of singer Lionel Richie (search) wants $300,000 a month in child and spousal support, saying she had "no limit on what I could spend" during their nearly seven years of marriage.

The couple had "an extraordinary extravagant lifestyle," Diane Alexander Richie (search) said in an income declaration filed along with her support request in Superior Court.

Richie's attorney didn't immediately return a call for comment.
The singer "has never had a problem earning money. I know that he earns in excess of $300,000 per month because we have always comfortably spent at least that in any given month," Diane Richie said in the papers.

She cited the upkeep for their $40 million, 30-room Beverly Hills mansion, which the estranged couple still shares. That includes a $75,000 monthly mortgage and wages for a full-time staff of nine and additional people to "maintain our plants, detail our cars, care for our pool, groom our dog, maintain our aquarium and a painter for regular touch ups on the house," Diane. Richie said.

Diane Richie estimated that she spent $20,000 a year on plastic surgery and $50,000 a month on personal expenses, including $15,000 a month for clothing, shoes and accessories; $5,000 on jewelry; $3,000 on dermatology; $1,000 for laser hair removal and $600 on massages.
"We could comfortably afford to spend unlimited sums of money on everything and anything we chose. I had no limit on what I could spend," she wrote in the Feb. 26 filing.

The couple spent at least $1,000 a month for birthday presents when their 5-year-old daughter, Sofia, attended her friends' parties. They also donated $2,000 to $3,000 a month to charity and to their children's schools, Diane Richie stated.

The Colorado boarding school for their 9-year-old son, Miles, cost $125,000 a year. Their daughter's tuition was $15,000 a year.

Diane Richie, a former waitress, dancer and clothing designer, says she met the singer in 1984 while he was married to his first wife, Brenda, and they married in 1996. She filed for separation in October and divorce in January, citing irreconcilable differences.
 
 

[Peanutsdad]

Whats worse than asking for 300k a month,, is she'll probably GET it.

[StPaulieGirl]

I take it that Mrs. Ritchie doesn't clip coupons.  

How in the hell can anyone spend 300,000 a month on living expenses?  

[StPaulieGirl]

I hope she doesn't get it.  She's only been married to Mr. Richie for 7 years, therefore it is a short term marriage under CA law.  Technically she would receive alimony for 3.5 years.  

Okay, they're Lionel Ritchie's kids, so maybe those tuition fees are justified.  His lawyer should make it so that Mr. Ritchie pays those expenses directly to the schools, and not through Mrs. Ritchie.

I cannot comprehend those kinds of living expenses.  She sounds like a greedy gold digger.  15,000 a month on clothes?

[wendl]

it's just unbelievable. DH and I were in court and the ncp lived 4 houses from the cp, and his cs was 10K a month why in the world would it take 10k a month to raise a child. (and with this man it was only one child) dh and I about fell over.

[impressivedjq]

This is an outrage--and the lawmakers dont see nothing wrong with this to do something??  She needs to learn how to budget her funds like the ncp has to do.  That B**** is nothing but a golddigger in the flesh!!!!!!

[sweetnsad]

Unreal.  Then you wonder why there is so much poverty and hungry children in the world.  

[VeronicaGia]

Go to //www.thesmokinggun.com and look it up.  It's several pages and goes on and on about how much they spend together and on the kids.  One thing she forgets is that between the two of them and the kids, they spend about $300k/month (if that is accurate.)  She wants the entire $300K/month for her and the kids.  She also goes on about how they would never have bought that big house if it wasn't for her.  He didn't want to live in it and of course, she supervised the entire remodeling all by herself (she wants the house).

It's insane.

[StPaulieGirl]

This is absolute insanity!  Oh yeah, she could spend whatever she wanted to.  $15,000 a month on clothes????  

Want to bet that Lionel put her on a budget, so she filed for divorce?

If I was a judge....