You know those actors who say they didn’t take anything from their movie sets? Yeah, well Russell Crowe is not one of them. Apparently, Russell takes anything that’s not nailed down. And we know this because he just sold it all to settle his divorce with Danielle Spencer. On the occasion of their 15th wedding anniversary and his 54th birthday, Russell held a Sotheby’s auction in Sydney called The Art of Divorce, in which he unloaded costumes, props and other memorabilia to the tune of $3.7 million. While some big items, like his rare Leandro Bisiach violin from Master and Commander sold for $150,000, the big surprise of his night was a jockstrap he’d worn for Cinderella Man that fetched $7,500.
Crowe told Good Morning Britain on Friday that the jock strap surprisingly turned out to be “one of the most popular items” leading up to the event.
“It was my jock strap when I won the heavyweight championship of the world as the character James J. Braddock in the film Cinderella Man,” he said. “I put it in the collection as a piece of whimsy and a bit of a gag. Funny enough, it’s garnered a lot of attention.”
Among the high-ticket items was the death armor worn by Crowe for his Oscar-winning performance in Gladiator, which was sold for $125,000. Other pieces from the Ridley Scott-directed movie also earned big bucks, including an aluminum prop sword and spare blade combo ($70,000), a Roman chariot replica ($65,000), a pair of black leather wrist cuffs ($32,000), a wooden training sword ($20,0000), and two life-size prop horses ($5,500 each).
Costumes pieces from 2003’s Master and Commander ($115,000), 2012’s Les Misérables ($16,000 and $12,000), and 2010’s Robin Hood ($12,000 and $11,000) also attracted buyers.
Crowe said the most sentimental item was an 1890 Leandro Bisiach violin Crowe used in Master and Commander. Pre-auction, it was estimated to be worth between $110,000 and $140,000. It ended up selling for $150,000. “Even though my intentions were kind of grand, the reality is I haven’t picked up this violin with any seriousness since that film ended in 2002,” Crowe told Good Morning Britain. “It just sits in my office, staring accusingly at me from across the room, gathering dust. And it shouldn’t… It should be played by somebody fabulous.”
When asked by Good Morning Britain why he wanted to name the sale “The Art of Divorce,” Crowe said he saw it as an opportunity to let go of the past.
“Getting to this point with the divorce, and no matter how amicable a split is, you’ve still got to unwind things at a deep level,” he explained.
“I’ve never been somebody who deconstructs things, I’ve always been somebody who builds things. So it was quite a big lesson in life to become somebody who can deconstruct things,” he added. “And I thought to myself, ‘While I’m in the middle of doing that, how else can I do that? How else can I apply that?’ And this is what I came up with.”
Uhm – hello! Gladiator spoiler – sheesh! I keep going back to the violin and think why? Why would you give that up? But I understand the purging angle of getting rid of the past. Sometimes you need to physically let go of something to truly let go of it emotionally. He even made an appearance at the auction and by all accounts was positively chipper about selling his past. In addition to what’s listed above, Russell unloaded some art, including Charles Blackman’s The Suitor for $360,000, jewelry (including Danielle’s), a bunch of cricket stuff and a Mercedes S class that was one of the wedding cars the day he married Danielle. Gawd, this is such Russell Crowe event. Not only were the items unique to him and his career but the entire thing from the name of the auction to final bid was steeped in pettiness and bitchiness. But at least he has a sense of humor about it, right?
The Art of Divorce
In case anyone is interested … $3.7m at the coal face and around $350k of conversations ongoing … and a bunch of stuff I didn’t really want to sell coming home … not a bad hourly rate for a 5 hour shift . Hope you are happy and busy
— Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe) April 7, 2018
Photo credit: WENN Photos and Twitter
So…..the point of selling these items was they couldn’t decide who would get them? Or he just needed money for his divorce?
I took it as he was ‘divorcing’ himself of these possessions, not that he was literally going through a divorce.
Something seems so weird about this event. Like, why have it? Is he broke? Does he need money to pay his divorce settlement? (This feels very Depp-esque in that way). Is this stuff he accumulated during their marriage and therefore it’s community property they want to sell off? It’s just kinda bizarre.
I think this exercise in tack-headedness and pettiness was so he wouldn’t have to pay his ex-wife directly from his liquid assets (cashola in his bankola). A clue was that the auction featured a LOT of women’s jewelry, presumably what he had given her over the years. I’m sure she had to agree to it, he probably was convincing and she may have even thought such a stunt would net her the most money, but at the end of the day it looks class-less and like he’s desperate to not pay her in a normal fashion. Naming it ‘The Art of Divorce,’ is gross on a few levels, it brings to mind Trumpian narcissistic douchebaggery, and also seems to be a blatant way of flippantly dismissing his ex, Danielle Spencer. Most of all it tries to fraudently sound ‘jokey,’ to falsely get people to think he was just having fun and isn’t actually broke and a big cheap-o.
I used to think he was EVERYTHING…and over the years…he’s physically turned into John Goodman’s little brother…and emotionally/psychologically comes off as an entitled a–hole to the NTH degree…
Sigh….
I feel this is a insult….to John Goodman ;).
I recently saw John Goodman in person, and he looks amazing compared to Russell Crowe.
apparently Crowe gained all the weight that Goodman lost.
This 😀^^^^^^^^. Can you imagine a woman in Hollywood being ALLOWED to gain this much weight without a barrage of articles and body shaming.
I know – what a horrible transformation. Although he doesn’t have the sense of humor or twinkle in his eye like John Goodman does. (That he didn’t win an Oscar (or even get nominated) for The Big Lebowski is a crime.)
Sigh, I can just barely remember when Crowe was really hot.
Gladiator. Always Gladiator.
This minx…and I’ll ashamedly admit to still finding him rather hot (skulks to corner and hides)😉
me too, spicecake….don’t hide. I like him fat or thin, and even cranky. (I have an expression when I’m annoyed with something like the printer or laptop, “I’m going to Crowe you”).
So are they divorcing?
An upscale storage unit cleanout..
So what was this for? Is he broke, though over the years it has become clear that very few actors make as much as people think.
Delusional and narcissistic. “It was my jock strap when I won the heavyweight championship of the world as the character James J. Braddock in the film Cinderella Man”. Mate, you didn’t win the heavyweight championship of the world as yourself or in character. You played a role in a film.
Bwahahaha good catch!
Am I the only one who sees this as typical of a REALLY Australian sense of humor? I think that the whole thing is very bloke-ish and quite funny. My husband has no sentimentality about possessions at all, and I could absolutely see him doing this. Crowe’s divorce seems to be rancor-free, so I think we take this at face value.
Did he sell the phone he threw at some poor bloke’s head or is he keeping it for sentimental reasons?
HA!Good one!
Russel Crow is literally one of the worst people on Earth. Everyone I’ve met from waitstaff, hotel staff, production assistants, production staff, florists, hair and makeup etc. hate this dude. It’s quite hilarious.
he filmed a movie in my hometown and he was a total jerk to the residents and the students from the college campus on which the movie was partially filmed.
A relative of mine was an extra in one of his first films back in the late 80s/early 90s and he was a dick even then. It takes balls to be a jerk before you even have the fame to back it up.
The part about the violin is pretty much the only thing about this that makes sense. It’s a crime to let such an instrument gather dust as a narcisstic prop. He’s right, someone should be using it for what it is intended.
I can’t believe he just got to keep it. On top of his no doubt huge salary he just gets to keep valuable antiques apparently.