John Cleese has said he’s “surprisingly poor” despite being in showbusiness for five-decades, blaming his $20million divorce for him having to work into his eighties.
Cleese has been rather busy of late, with stage adaptations of both the Monty Python film Life Of Brian as well as Fawlty Towers in the works. He is also working on a musical version of A Fish Called Wanda, and recently hosted a programme on GB News called The Dinosaur Hour.
In a forthcoming interview with SagaMagazine, Cleese puts the costly end to his third marriage to Alyce Faye Eichelberger, an American psychotherapist, as one of the main reasons he is working so hard late in his life.
The couple split in 2008 after 16 years of marriage. Cleese travelled the world on ‘The Alimony Tour’ to raise the necessary money – $20million (£16million) – in the divorce settlement.
“Can you believe when I met her, I had a beautiful house in Holland Park and no mortgage and when I broke up with her, I had a flat in Sloane Square and a full mortgage? How they figured out she was worth $20m, I have no idea.”
However, he said he was past the negativity he had towards the situation. “I had to let go of the anger and what helped me was that it was so ridiculous, so absurd.”
Cleese doesn’t own a car or property, having handed over the short lease of his flat to his current wife, Jennifer Wade, which made a “huge difference” to her.
“I never thought it was necessary to own a great deal,” he said. “The most important thing is to have enough money to have some really good food, buy clothes twice a year and have nice holidays.”
In February, Cleese responded to comments made by fellow former Monty Python member, Eric Idle, which have prompted an online dispute between the two.
Last week, Idle made comments on social media which criticised manager Holly Gilliam – also the daughter of Python co-founder Terry Gilliam – for the decreasing finances of the comedy troupe, formed in 1969.
Cleese has made it clear where he stands, posting on X: “I have worked with Holly for the last ten years, and I find her very efficient, clear-minded, hard-working, and pleasant to have dealings with”.
He continued: “Michael Palin has asked me to make it clear that he shares this opinion. Terry Gilliam is also in agreement with this.”
The online disagreement continued, with Idle and Cleese commenting about one another. When asked by an X user if the two remain close, Idle replied: “I haven’t seen Cleese for seven years.” A reply from a user expressing sadness over this prompted the actor to reply: “Why. It makes me happy.”
Now, Cleese has responded to the questions about their closeness saying: “We always loathed and despised each other, but it’s only recently that the truth has begun to emerge”.
