Forbes has recently published their list of the top-earning celebrity couples in Hollywood, and unsurprisingly, the star power of Beyonce and Jay-Z could not be beat. For the second year in a row, the musical power couple has topped the list, though this year their recession-hit income dropped a noticeable amount from $162 million in 2008 to $122 million in 2009.
But despite the drop in income (honestly, they have no reason to be complaining), Beyonce and Jay have almost doubled the income of the second place couple. This year it's Harrison Ford and girlfriend Calista Flockhart, who earned a combined $69 million (due largely to his $65 million intake from "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull"), but last year B and J did double Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith's income of $85 million.
Maybe what the other celebrity couples should take note of is not letting one side of the relationship do all the heavy lifting to bring in the moolah. This year Beyonce earned a bit more than Jay-Z (she brought in $87 million to his $35 million) but last year they both brought in around $80 million a piece. By contrast, Harrison and Will both brought in the big bucks in their second place runs, with their ladies trailing far behind.
While Will and Jada have fallen back to the fourth highest paid couple in Hollywood ($48 million) behind Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie ($55 million), the big bucks are still coming from Will's side of the table. Brad and Angelina seem to be raking in the money on a more even keel, with his success with "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and her success with "Wanted" and the upcoming "Salt." The number five power couple — David and Victoria Beckham ($46 million) — reverts back to the one-sided formula.
It's nice to see Ellen Degeneres and Portia de Rossi are the number six couple on the list with an income of $36 million. With Ellen's popular day time show and her new move to "American Idol," and Portia's woefully underappreciated new stint on "Better Off Ted" (which get's the Terri Schwartz Stamp of Approval), it's great to see both hard-working women get their due.
In the end, whether any of these couples salaries went up or down from 2008 to 2009, they should all be extremely appreciative of the money they are making, because in a time when too many Americans don't have a job at all, those eight or nine digit incomes really hit home.
Here's the full list of the 15 top-earning celeb couples:
1. Jay-Z and Beyonce- $122 million
2. Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart - $69 million
3. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie -$55 million
4. Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith - $48 million
5. David and Victoria Beckham - $46 million
6. Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi - $36 million
7. Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson - $35.5 million
8. Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy - $34 million
9. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes - $33.5 million
10. Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow - $33 million
11. Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick - $29 million
12. Tim McGraw and Faith Hill - $28 million
13. Eva Longoria and Tony Parker - $22 million
14. Katherine Heigl and Josh Kelley - $20 million
15. Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban - $17 million
Did anyone on this list surprise you?
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