Most of us worry about fairly mundane insurance concerns: auto, home, health, life. What does the coverage cost? How do I compare rates? Can I keep it inexpensive? Sometimes, it’s just nice to go whacky with the insurance, and look at how the other half lives, and what they think is worth covering with an extreme insurance policy. The craziest of the crazy? Famous people who insure their body parts . . . or by-products.
You Insured Your WHAT?
Some of the insured assets completely redefine the concept of risk management. For instance, in the 1980s when rocker David Lee Roth was at the top of his game, he ensured his sperm through Lloyd’s of London for a million dollars. Basically, if his activities with ardent fans resulted in a paternity suit, the policy would pay out enough money to cover the costs.
Of course, not to be outdone — though arguably more circumspect — Mariah Carey insured her legs for a billion dollars after she was tapped for Gillette’s “Legs of a Goddess” award. (Poor Mary Hart from Entertainment Tonight had to make do with a million in coverage on her gams.)
Fear of Chest Baldness?
Now, obviously, Roth understood exactly what risks he was taking that warranted the cost of his forward-thinking insurance. And certainly anyone can suffer a leg injury, but why in the world singer Tom Jones felt the need to put $7 million worth of protection on his chest hair is harder to fathom. It would seem that chest hair-related injuries are relatively rare. And, now in his early 70s, said chest remains furrily intact.
It’s also difficult to do the math on $7 million chest hair when country musician Dolly Parton, whose assets are considerably more pronounced, has only a $600,000 policy on her breasts.
Celebrity body part insurance is certainly not new, but the coverage amounts have escalated sharply from the days of Hollywood’s Golden Age.
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Adjusting for inflation, however, these celebrities of the 1930s and 1940s thought just as highly of themselves as today’s rockers and pop mega-stars.
Everybody Has to Make a Living with Something
In theory, each of the insured parts is vital to the person’s ability to make a living. For instance, food critic Egon Ronay bought a policy on his taste buds in the 1960s for $330,000, which in today’s currency, would come in roughly at $2.3 million. Everyone’s a critic, but you can’t really review food you can’t taste.
Do all the celebs insure their bodily assets? Hard to say, since many are coy on the topic. Kim Kardashian, for instance, has a well-discussed backside, which she claims is not protected by a policy, but she did admit to considering the possibility in 2008. German super model Claudia Shiffer, however, openly admits to having a $5 million policy on her facial features. Rihanna like Mariah Carey before her, picked up $1 millon coverage on her legs after Gillette pegged her as their Venus Breeze “Celebrity Legs of a Goddess” designee.
