At 84 years young, John Cleese shows no signs of slowing down, driven by his ‘surprising poverty’ stemming from his £20,000,000 divorce settlement. The legendary Fawlty Towers actor has been vocal about his ‘absurd’ divorce settlement with ex-wife Alyce Faye Eichelberger in 2008, which left him feeling shortchanged. Subsequently, he embarked on his Alimony Tour, but 16 years later, the Monty Python icon remains ‘surprisingly poor,’ as he candidly revealed in a recent interview.
Discussing his decision to continue working into his 80s and beyond, Cleese told SagaMagazine, “There’s only one person responsible for that.” He elaborated, “Can you believe when I met her, I had a beautiful house in Holland Park with no mortgage, and when I broke up with her, I had a flat in Sloane Square with a full mortgage? How they figured out she was worth $20m, I have no idea.”
Despite the significant payout, Cleese maintains that he has moved on from the anger associated with the divorce, acknowledging the ‘absurdity’ and ‘ridiculousness’ of the amount. The pair had tied the knot in 1992, two years after Cleese’s divorce from his second wife of 10 years, Barbara Trentham.
In 2012, Cleese found love again with his current wife, Jennifer Wade, to whom he transferred the short lease on his flat. He reportedly does not own a car or property despite his estimated net worth of around £20 million. “I’m surprisingly poor, never thought it was necessary to own a great deal,” Cleese remarked. “The most important thing is to have enough money to have some really good food, buy clothes twice a year, and have nice holidays.”
Cleese’s wealth largely stems from his founding membership in Monty Python since 1969, alongside Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. He is also spearheading a revival of the classic BBC comedy, Fawlty Towers, in which he played the iconic role of rude and eccentric hotelier Basil Fawlty. While there has been speculation about a TV series, the reboot is materializing in the form of a West End stage show, with Cleese’s daughter, Camilla, contributing to the script.
However, controversy arose when ex-wife Connie Booth, 82, claimed she was not informed about the project despite her involvement in the original series. Booth and Cleese were married from 1968 to 1975, welcoming daughter Cynthia together. Their split occurred before the completion of Fawlty Towers’ second season.
