Brendan Fraser, famously known for his roles in films like George of the Jungle (1997) and The Mummy (1999), had to reach out to the court in 2013 to settle things with his ex-wife.
Fraser married his George of the Jungle co-star Afton Smith in 1998, according to Fox News, and the couple share three children. Their marriage, however, didn’t last as long.
The duo announced their divorce in 2007, and Smith looked to have a big piece out of Fraser’s life. The legal troubles started mounting and he wasn’t appearing in as many films by that time either.
The court had ordered him to pay $9 million in child and spousal support to Smith which, at the time, Fraser wasn’t comfortable with. Smith, on the other hand, complicated the case even further accusing him of “fraud.”
Brendan Fraser Couldn’t Pay $75,000 A Month In Child Support
According to the New York Post, Brendan Fraser opened up about his reasons for not being able to pay $75,000 a month or $9 million a year in child support.
Fraser has worked in a wide range of films and TV series throughout the late ‘90s to mid-2000s and created a $45 million net worth during the period.
His divorce from Afton Smith cost him a lot of that fortune as the New York Post reported in 2013; he claimed in a Connecticut court that he expected to make $0 from his film career.
It was the same year that Brendan Fraser starred in Gimme Shelter alongside Vanessa Hudgens, Rosario Dawson, and James Earl Jones. He told the court that he had no future deals after that.
Afton Smith Accused Brendan Fraser Of Hiding $9M
Afton Smith, living with Fraser for 9 years, knew all about his personal and professional life. When Fraser sought to reduce the $75,000-a-month figure citing he couldn’t afford it, she accused him of deceitful testimony.
The divorce had settled in 2009 and Smith testified that Fraser was hiding $9 million worth of film deals from that year. Fraser denied the allegations.
He once told GQ that his career decline was also due to accidents while filming The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor in 2008.
“By the time I did the third Mummy picture in China, I was put together with tape and ice. The lumbar didn’t take, so they had to do it again a year later.”
After disappearing from films a decade ago, he has started to re-emerge with projects like The Whale (2022) and this year’s Killers of the Flower Moon by Martin Scorsese.
Killers of the Flower Moon stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, and Jesse Plemons. It is set to open in cinemas worldwide on October 20.
Source: New York Post
