NEWS: HEIDI AND SEAL DIVORCE...HOW MUCH IS AT STAKE?

Just in case you didn’t hear, Heidi Klum and Seal have headed to Splitsville. In an exclusive statement to People magazine, the celebrity duo, who even renewed their vows each year on their anniversary (May 10), said:
“While we have enjoyed seven very loving, loyal and happy years of marriage, after much soul-searching we have decided to separate. We have had the deepest respect for one another throughout our relationship and continue to love each other very much, but we have grown apart. This is an amicable process and protecting the well-being of our children remains our top priority, especially during this time of transition.”
 Whilst the gossip magazines ponder on what may have caused their separation — according to TMZ, Klum will cite ‘irreconcilable differences’ as the cause of her split from the singer — we will try to dive headfirst into the mathematics of it.

Seal, Heidi and their 4 Kids

Klum and Seal married in 2005, and they have 3 children together: Henry, 6, Johan, 5, and Lou, 2. The supermodel also has a daughter from a previous relationship with the infamous Italian businessman Flavio Briatore. The 7-year-old girl, named Helene, was legally adopted by the singer in 2009, after Briatore’s permission.
There’s no official word about whether a prenuptial agreement was ever signed, but it’s highly likely that their expensive lawyers and advisers made them sign one. Also, the fact that they make a lot of money, especially Klum, probably forecloses the need for any spousal support, although Seal could still get a substantial amount of money through child support.
Since Klum first appeared on Forbes’ Celebrity 100 list, in 2002, her estimated earnings over the past 10 years totaled $108.7 million. Klum didn’t renew her contract with Victoria’s Secret in 2010, but she still makes big bucks thanks to her TV projects, fashion lines and endorsements. Last year, she struck a deal with activewear company New Balance to create a line of tops, dresses and athletic apparel, dubbed HKNB, that are sold exclusively on Amazon.com.


Seal's SYSTEM album cover



Heidi on cover of  "Good HouseKeeping" Magazine

 Seal hasn’t had the same luck. Two years after marrying Klum, he released his 5th album, System, which included a duet with the supermodel. The album sold only 155,000 copies in the first year of its release in the US, according to Nielsen SoundScan, the British singer’s lowest-selling album to date. His following albums, Soul (2008), Hits (2009), and Commitment (2010), were not commercially well received either. During his entire career, Seal sold 20 million albums worldwide. A respectable income, but not anything like Klum’s.
Considering that neither Klum nor Seal don’t appear to have a lavish lifestyle, it’s fair to say that the supermodel is worth something between $50 million and $70 million, while Seal’s net worth is probably in the neighbourhood of $10 million to $15 million.
Seal’s latest album, Soul 2, debuted this past Tuesday, just a day after the announcement of his split form Klum. Full of tracks with love songs about failed relationships, the album left critics wondering if the timing of the release was carefully planned to match the news on the singer’s divorce, consequently giving him more press time to promote his work. Coincidentally or not, Seal is doing the talk-show circuit lately and often talking about his personal life only, while Klum remains mum about the divorce.

“Personal lives can affect an artist’s career,” Billboard editor Bill Werde told E! News. “In certain kinds of ways, this might only be good for the release of his album. There are certain platforms in this celebrity-driven world where booking an appearance for Seal becomes more interesting now because there’s a celebrity divorce to discuss and not just a new Seal album.”
Whatever the future has in store for them, it seems like Klum is very aware of the importance of having a good divorce attorney – the supermodel has reportedly interviewed a number of divorce lawyers in L.A. over the last two weeks.