Most of the people in this world live on their paycheck and struggle to pay the expenses as the calendar reaches 30th every month, and then there are people like Christina Estrada.
Estrada, 54, a former international super model, is demanding one of the biggest ever divorce payments in British legal history. She is suing her ex-husband for a whooping £196 million.
According to Daily Mail, aside from the 62 million pounds that she needs to purchase a home, this is her list of itemized money demands, per annum –
Former Pirelli girl, Christina Estrada, got married to Dr. Walid Juffali, a Saudi billionaire, in 2001, in a Muslim ceremony in Dubai. Juffali, who was already married to Al-Sulaiman when he met Estrada, had to pay £40 million following the end of their 24-year marriage.
From a waterfront palazzo in Venice to a £100 million Bishopsgate House in Surrey, where she based herself and her daughter, Estrada was certainly living the dream until Juffali embarked on an affair with Lebanese model and TV presenter Loujain Adada, who is 35-years his junior and less than half Estrada’s age, and married her in a lavish ceremony in Venice. All this occurred, allegedly, without Estrada’s knowledge, leaving her ‘shocked, shattered and devastated’ upon making the discovery. She launched a divorce proceedings in 2013, but Juffali divorced her himself by triple talaq which requires a man only to say ‘I divorce you’ three times, even before the papers were served.
Here’s the breakdown of her claims –
In December 2014, High Court gave her a leave to sue Juffali for a share of his fortune. However, a legal set back occurred when Juffali was suddenly appointed as the permanent representative of St. Lucia to the International Maritime Organisation, a post which conveniently carries diplomatic immunity from civil action in British courts, but the UK court ruled that as Juffali was a permanent UK resident, he was indeed liable to action in Britain.
Juffali, who is receiving treatment for cancer in a Swiss clinic, has described Estrada’s application for ‘financial relief’ as ‘excessive’.
During proceedings, Estrada broke down in tears and said, ‘I am very exhausted, very tired’, quite visible through her constant banging on the court room table, which was pretty dramatic as well. More so when, at one point, she announced –
“I am Christina Estrada. I was a top international model. I have lived this life. This is what I am accustomed to.”
According to The Star, Estrada, when asked under crossed-examination, what she intended to do with the billions, replied –
“Well, I have given it a lot of thought. I want to keep it safe, and I want to do good work. I have always been interested in charity, philanthropy – and I love humanitarian causes. But first I must establish a base so my daughter and I can be happy.’’
That daughter, however, is not so happy with her. Estrada sobbed when relating the phone call she’d received from her daughter the previous evening, where she complained –
“Mummy, you are going to make me a poor girl.”