Divorce

Divorce was recognized in Rome in 234 BC.

Turkish law stated in the 15th century that it was legal for a woman to divorce her husband if he does not provide her with the daily quota of coffee.

In the 318 years between 1539 and 1857, there were only 317 divorces, in England.

Wife selling at inns, markets or fairs was a way of ending an unhappy marriage in England when divorce was a practical impossibility for all but the very wealthiest. The earliest definite case is recorded by London tailor Henry Machyn, November, 24, 1553. Before marriage laws were reformed in 1857, ‘selling’ a spouse was technically legal.

In 1820, a husband in Canterbury, England auctioned his wife at the local cattle market for 25p (five shillings). 

Between 1840 and 1880, there were 55 cases recorded in Britain of men selling their wives to end an unsatisfactory marriage. Cases of wife selling were still reported in the early 20th century. .

In the late 1800s, you could buy legal divorce papers from a vending machine in Corinne, Utah, for $2.50.

American socialite Wallis Simpson was granted a divorce from her second husband on October 27, 1936, allowing her to marry Edward VIII, triggering his abdication.

Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson on their Mediterranean holiday, 1936

In 1955 the Queen’s sister, Princess Margaret called off plans to marry divorced Group Captain Peter Townsend after consulting the Archbishop of Canterbury. She decided decided not to proceed because she was "mindful of the Church’s teaching that Christian marriage is indissoluble."

A distraught Shah of Iran went on television and radio on March 21, 1958 to announce that he was divorcing his wife of seven years, Queen Soraya, because she was unable to supply an heir to the so-called ‘Peacock Throne’. The Queen, known as Princess Soraya, later moved to Paris and became an actress.

Shah lighting cigarette for his wife Soraya

In the 1960s, getting a divorce in Mexico was easier, faster, and less expensive than in most US states. Mexican divorces did not require spouses to be present at a hearing, so a number of Americans took advantage of the "fast-track" process available there frequently sending a lawyer to represent them. Celebrities who obtained a Mexican divorce included Johnny Carson, Katharine Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe.

The first divorce in Ireland’s history was granted on January 17, 1997, a year after residents of the Roman Catholic country held a referendum on changing the law.

In 1980 Harry Bidwen of Brighton divorced his wife at the age of 101, having waited until all their children were dead.

Neil Diamond was forced to pay $150 million to former wife Marcia Murphey in their 1995 divorce settlement. This broke the record for  the most expensive divorce in history.

Glynn ‘Scotty’ Wolfe (1908-1997), a former Baptist minister who resided in Blythe, California holds the record for the most monogamous marriages having been divorced 28 times. His shortest marriage lasted 19 days, and his longest lasted seven years. His youngest wife, Daisy, was just 14.

Scotty Wolfe's last wife, Linda Essex, is the most divorced woman (23 times) and they married as a stunt for a TV documentary.

Robert Johnson, the co-founder of BET and America’s first African-American billionaire, paid out a massive $400 million to his wife Sheila in a 2002 divorce. The massive settlement was decided by Judge William Newman, Jr., who three years later married Johnson's ex-wife

When basketball star Michael Jordan’s 17-year-old marriage to Juanita ended in 2006, it became the most expensive settlement ever costing him nearly £168 million.

In 2007, a Bosnian couple divorced after discovering both had an online affair with each other under fake names.

In Egypt, around 17,000 divorce cases in 2018 cited the puzzle game Candy Crush as the cause of divorce.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's divorce from MacKenzie Bezos was announced on April 4, 2019 after 25 years of marriage. It was at the time the most expensive divorces in legal history with MacKenzie Bezos getting $35 billion dollars.

The title of most expensive divorce goes to Bill and Melinda Gates' divorce finalized in 2021. While the exact amount isn't public, estimates place Melinda Gates' settlement at a staggering $76 billion.  

Ronald Reagan is the only US president to have been divorced.

There is an inverse correlation between the amount of money spent on a wedding, and how long the marriage lasts. The more people spend on the ceremony, the more likely the couple will get divorced.

Worldwide, approximately 6% of divorced couples remarry the same person.

Children from divorced families dies five years earlier on average.

A man can divorce his wife in Islam simply by saying 'Talaq' ('I divorce you') three times to his wife.

Divorce is legal in every nation in the world except in the Philippines and in Vatican City. The rule does not apply to Muslims in the Philippines.

The US state of Florida does not allow married couples to divorce while one of the partners is pregnant.

The popular honeymoon destination of the Maldives has the highest divorce rate in the world at 10.2 per 1,000 population in 2016.

Here is a list of songs about marital problems or divorce

Source Daily Mail, Songfacts.com