This countdown of the top ten most expensive things insured by celebrities was created using the ultra-scientific process of Googling stuff.
10 – Gene Simmons’ tongue
Kiss frontman Gene Simmons’ tongue is insured for $1 million. Perhaps he should insure his brain. Simmons speaks English, Hebrew, German, and Hungarian, and used to manage the careers of Liza Minelli and Pee Wee Herman.
9 – Kieth Richards middle finger
Keith Richards’ middle finger is insured for $1.6 million. The Rolling Stones guitarist is now of retirement age – 65 – and doesn’t look a day over 90.
8 – Heidi Klum’s legs
Heidi Klum’s legs are insured for $2.2 million, with one leg insured for $1,000,000 and the other is insured for $1,200,000 because of a scar on the less expensive leg.
7 – Bruce Springsteen’s voice
Bruce Springsteen’s voice is insured for $6 million.
6 – Rod Stewarts voice
So is Rod Stewart’s voice. So if he wakes up with the silky voice of, say, the late Barry White, he’ll be disappointed, but $6 million richer.
5 – America Ferrera’s smile
America Ferrera’s gorgeous smile is insured for $10 million. Turns out, “Ugly Betty” is actually very beautiful.
4 – Jennifer Lopez’s bottom
Jennifer Lopez can rest easy is she suffers some sort of debilitating butt injury. Hers is insured for $27 million.
3 – Michael Flatley’s legs
Remember Lord of the Dance? Michael Flatley, a first generation American who grew up in Chicago, headlined that tour, along with subsequent Feet of Flames and Celtic Tiger tours. He plans to open a Las Vegas hotel and casino. Flatley’s legs were insured for $47 million.
2 – David Beckham’s legs
David Beckham’s high-earning legs and feet are insured for $70 million. The unprecedented policy in Britain is so huge that the costs have been divided among several companies. No one is saying what his total premium is, but the cost over and above his previous policy is reckoned to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
1 – Mariah Carey’s legs
And at the top, the legs of soul singer Mariah Carey are insured for an amazing $1 billion. With insured body parts, celebrities are making an investment, but not necessarily in insurance. The buzz generated by the notion that a celebrity’s body parts are worth a fortune can boost a career that’s threatening to stop ascending. It doesn’t just work for celebrities, either. In 2004, a supermarket insured the taste buds of its senior wine buyer for $10 million to generate publicity. The resulting media coverage helped the company’s wine sales increase by 19%.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Yea Maria Careys legs are def worth that…. But Beckham is the man.
This is retarded. Celebrities are just too greedy. They already have millions, They dip out of taxes, and can get out of any trouble they get into, they could get away with murder if they wanted to. And I did read the part of the wine taster getting his taste buds insured and I think that it is stupid and pointless to waste that money when it could go to something worthwhile.
Yes, but the filthy rich donating to worthwhile causes isn’t nearly as newsworthy as insuring your butt for $27 mil. And it’s not that I don’t think J Lo’s rear end is worth it, especially to her. I had never even seen a photo of J Lo before I heard she had her butt insured. At first, I thought it was a little ridiculous to insure things like legs, fingers and voices, but these are after all the things that make these performers unique. These are just people insuring the things that make them money, no different from Evel Knievel insuring his motorcycle or Liberace insuring his piano (his hands were insured, too).
Of course there is a limit – some celebrities are so successful – and so rich – that they are beyond insurance. Golfer Tiger Woods makes so much money that to insure himself against injury would cost him $10-$20 million a year, more than he made in 2002 from golf. Most of his money – around $69 million a year – comes from endorsements.
But to really make this list accurate, we should take into account the rate of inflation. Betty Grable, for example, had her legs insured for $1 million (inspiring the term “Million Dollar Legs”). In today’s money, that would put her just below Mariah Carey with about $650 million. And Marlene Dietrich’s million dollar policy on her trademark voice would put her way out front with roughly $1.4 billion. Personally, I’d be happy to have my voicebox removed just for the premiums these celebrities have to pay for their insurance.
And I promise I’d never utter a word about it