Monty Python alum John Cleese was granted a slight reprieve on his hefty divorce payout. The actor, who had been ordered to pay his third wife £1.3 million per year, successfully argued in court that the amount should be half that number. It’s the latest installment in the Cleese divorce drama, and one that finally seems to be working out in his favor.

John Cleese has successfully halved the £1.3million-a-year divorce settlement he had described as ‘feeding the beast’.

A judge in the U.S. agreed with the Fawlty Towers and Monty Python star that the maintenance he had been ordered to pay to his third wife, American Alyce Faye Eichelberger, 64, was excessive.

Cleese, 69, will still have to pay around £57,000 a month to Miss Eichelberger, to whom he was married for 15 years.

A source close to the star said: ‘The settlement has been cut back because it was unrealistic. The lawyers had been wrangling for some time.

‘They are still fighting it out, but I think a final decision is expected in the next two weeks.’

Cleese’s divorce from psychotherapist Miss Eichelberger has been one of the most acrimonious in showbusiness.

He said recently: ‘In my 70th year I will still be spending two months a year doing work that is of no interest to me and which is probably slightly spiritually depleting in order to feed the beast.’

Comparing the split with the break-up from his previous wives, Connie Booth and Barbara Trentham, he added: ‘My two other divorces were very peaceful affairs.’

As well as the maintenance, Miss Eichelberger had demanded two houses and half of Cleese’s earnings during the marriage.

She had been living in a third-floor London council flat with her two sons from her marriage to an American golfer when she first met Cleese 18 years ago.

She claimed that while married to a ‘world renowned celebrity’, she had become used to be ‘being entertained by royalty and dignitaries in castles’.

Her lawyers said Cleese earned £93,000 a month and had a property portfolio worth tens of millions.

But the star’s lawyers argued that the calculation was based on his income in 2007, when he enjoyed bumper earnings from the movie Shrek 3 and made a £750,000 profit on a property deal.

They say Cleese had a lean year in 2008 and his monthly income is actually £76,363.

Last year he sold his beloved ranch in California to help pay for the divorce.

The dire financial climate meant he had to knock the price down from £14million to £8.25million to make the sale.

In a recent interview, before the divorce settlement was revised, Cleese said: ‘I feel angry sometimes.

‘But my anger is not so much about sharing the property but having to go on working hard to provide alimony for someone who’s already going to have at least $10 million worth of property, and who’s getting £1million this year. The system is insane.’

[From The Daily Mail]

I have to agree with John Cleese – Britain really needs to catch up with the times and allow court-supported prenuptial agreements. I don’t believe that Cleese’s wife is necessarily a gold digger, like Heather Mills was. She was with him for 15 years. But it’s very easy for someone who feels wronged by their partner when a marriage breaks up to become vindictive and “hit them where it hurts” – their wallet. In a country where divorce automatically means a 50/50 split of assets, regardless of who owned what in the beginning, exploiting those vindictive emotions is all too easy. As for Cleese- maybe he should avoid marriage in the future. It doesn’t seem to work out too well for him, does it?
Here’s John Cleese attending the opening of Brit Week, solo, and Cleese with his ex wife, Alyce Faye, in happier times at the 2002 Emmy awards. Photos: Fame.