Jennifer Tilly opened up about her divorce from her late ex-husband, Sam Simon, on this week’s episode of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, sharing that she was granted “a piece of The Simpsons,” which Sam created, when they divorced in 1993.
Days later, details of Jennifer’s settlement have been revealed, confirming she was awarded a large percentage of Sam’s royalties from The Simpsons, a six-figure lump sum, and more.
According to court documents obtained by In Touch Weekly on December 4, Jennifer, 66, who is starring in a “friend” role on the 14th season of RHOBH, finalized her divorce from Sam in December 1993, just four years after The Simpsons made its debut on FOX.
Jennifer had filed for divorce from Sam in August 1992, citing “irreconcilable differences.”
As part of their settlement, Jennifer and Sam were allowed to keep their clothing, jewelry, and other personal items, and Sam was given properties in San Luis Obispo, Santa Monica, and Pacific Palisades, California.
Sam was also able to retain $50,000 of his pension, his pre-marriage earnings, and a number of bank accounts as Jennifer received the other half of Sam’s pension and kept her salary, her own pension, acting rights garnered before the marriage, and other bank accounts.
Additionally, Sam agreed to pay Jennifer half of his residuals and other production and writing salaries he received during their marriage. And a judge declared that Jennifer should be given interest in Sam’s “Fox Payments” for the work he did on The Simpsons, securing her at least 25 percent of what he made for each episode and any films created about the series, as well as compensation for syndicated airings.
While Jennifer and Sam were ordered to split some of their belongings, including their furniture and a couple of Mercedes Benz vehicles, Jennifer was paid a lump sum of $400,000 as Sam agreed to pay off several of their credit cards and home loans.
After Sam’s death in 2015 at the age of 59, Jennifer filed documents to ensure she would continue to be paid for The Simpsons and noted that Sam had created a plan to take care of her after his death before he passed.
“He executed a beneficiary designation directing that I receive the same percentage of the Net Proceeds that I had been receiving during his lifetime. He executed another beneficiary designation, directing that the Sam Simon Charitable Giving Foundation receive the remainder of the Net proceeds,” she wrote.
On Tuesday’s episode of RHOBH, Jennifer dished on the split.
“My ex-husband was Sam Simon, who created The Simpsons. I was married to him for seven years and we were together for about 10 years. And then, when we got divorced, I got a piece of The Simpsons in the divorce settlement, and nobody knew that The Simpsons was going to go on for trillions of years,” she revealed. “So every day, honestly, every day I’m like, ‘Thank you, Sam!'”
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills season 14 airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on Bravo.