Steven Spielberg had the most expensive celebrity divorce of its time when he handed over $100 million of his fortune after splitting from his ex-wife, Amy Irving, in 1989.
Despite being forced to give away half of his earnings accrued during their four-year marriage after a prenup written on a napkin was ruled invalid, Steven, 78, and Amy, 71, have forged an unconventional relationship.
While many exes cut ties with each other, Steven and Amy have become great friends and even double-date with their respective spouses.
© Getty ImagesSteven is married to actress Kate Capshaw, while Amy is now married to her third husband, Kenneth Bowser Jr.
Friendly exes
"We've always communicated and been close," Amy told THR's It Happened in Hollywood Podcast earlier this month. "He and Kate and my husband and I, we try to double-date now and then," she added.
Steven and Amy share one son, Max, 39, and she revealed that their closeness makes them a "good family" today.
"I love Steven. He loves me, and we make good family, you know," she explained. "We have a great son together, and we raised him together even though we weren't together. We've always communicated and been close."
© Getty ImagesExpert analysis
According to psychology professor Dr. Wendy Walsh, Ph.D. – a relationship expert with DatingAdvice.com – some people are fortunate enough to be able to maintain a friendship with their ex, but only under certain conditions.
Sharing those conditions, she told HELLO! "There is no hope by either partner that a romantic relationship will ever happen again. All conflict has been resolved, and there is no residual anger about the divorce. Neither is still sexually attracted to the other.
© WireImage"If there are children, the two have co-parented fairly and respect each other as parents. It also helps if both partners are in subsequent secure relationships where their current partner is not threatened by this friendship."
She added: "It appears that Amy and Steven check all these boxes. They were married for only four years and have one son who is now middle-aged. Why not share a meal from time to time? Probably the friendship has endured, though not the romance."
Steven and Amy began dating around 1976, around the same time she auditioned to portray Princess Leia in Star Wars.
© Getty ImagesThe director's fame appeared to cause tension in the relationship, with Amy telling Femme Fatales magazine in 1977: "I do not ever want to be known as 'Steven Spielberg's girlfriend.' First, I want to be Amy Irving."
They split a few years later in 1979, which lost Amy the role she was promised in Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark, which went to Karen Allen instead.
"I guess real life meant more to me than my career," she told THR. "I don't think we ever got to that point of conversation. I moved out, and I think you walk out – you don't get the part."
© Getty ImagesTheir romance didn't end there as a few years later, Amy and Steven reconnected in India, where she was shooting the three-part miniseries The Far Pavilions and he was scouting locations to film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
"He was in Sri Lanka, I believe, at the time. And somebody told him that I was in India, and he said, 'Oh, well, let's just stop there on our way back,'" she recalled.
"I remember I was on a palanquin… I was playing a half-Russian, half Indian princess. And as I got off the palanquin to go back to my dressing room, there was Steven, and it just kind of sparked up again. The romance continued."
© Getty ImagesThe couple tied the knot in 1985 in a private ceremony after Amy fell pregnant with Max.
Speaking of their marriage, she said: "I don't know how long I was married to him, but, yeah, we were together for 14 years with three years off for good behavior," she joked. "I ran away for a little while, and then we got back together."
Steven and Amy announced their split in 1989. "Our mutual decision, however difficult, has been made in a spirit of caring," they said in a joint statement. "And our friendship remains both personal and professional."
