Are old fools exclusively male? It seems that way, doesn't it?
Cal Worthington, the legendary Southern California car dealer, is 91 and battling his 43 year-old ex-wife. Cal says she signed a pre-nup, which entitles her to $4 grand per month for six months and nothing else. But Anna, his bride of nine months and a Los Angeles-based Icelandic Jazz singer (no, I didn't make that up) wants a smidge more... his $3.25 million dollar Beverly Hills home, which she claims Cal gave her as a wedding gift. Additionally, Cal had Anna's Bentley (Bentley? Cal sells Fords and Dodges!) repossessed. Before the smoke clears on this divorce, air bags will surely be deployed.
Cal's not the only automotive titan making divorce court headlines. Heirs of the recently dead (at age 89, May 2012) racing design legend Carroll Shelby are battling his much younger ex-wife, Cleo, (the last of 7 Mrs. Shelbys) not only for his estate, but for Carroll's corpse. So, Carroll's remains remain on ice at the Dallas County morgue until the dispute is settled.
You have to wonder... what is it about rich old men marrying much younger women? The list is endless. Even Hefner's done a lap in that pool. Do we ever read about 30-something women marrying poor old men?
And what about rich old women? Seems they have more common sense. They don't marry younger men. They just take on younger male "companions," usually a valet or hairdresser who morphs from servant/employee to employee/escort/spokesman. Since there is never a marriage contract, there is never a fight for an estate.
Now Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman, the couple long touted as proof that marriage can last in Hollywood, are divorcing. Might shape up to be the real War of the Roses. DeVito, at 67, is no spring chicken. Is there a leggy, lithesome vixen somewhere in the fray?
The list of rich old guys with young, avaricious wives is endless. Some things will never change.
