Celebrity Body Parts Worth More Than You, Me or Canada
Posted in Life Insurance
February 9th, 2010
“Insuring your assets” is given a whole new meaning in the rarefied world of celebrity stardom. J-Lo’s rear, David Beckham’s legs, America Ferrara’s teeth all are reported to have been insured in the event of a mishap. Many of these reports of leg-and-limb insurance are titillating urban myths, of course, and of those that are true you can be sure that a good percentage were just classic publicity stunts.
Crass gambits for media attention aside, however, insuring a body part can make perfect sense if an actor or athlete makes a lot of money from one of their physical attributes.
Anyone Can Insure Body Parts
For the sake of clarity, it’s important to remember that anyone can insure a body part or parts against injury. Technically, it usually falls under general disability insurance, so you won’t have to get specific unless you want to. If you do feel that your nose, bellybutton or fuzzy back hair are worth extra security, then you’re heading into “surplus lines” territory, which is a general hodge-podge of peculiar insurance risks that typical insurance providers don’t cover.
Go Insurance Rates has compiled a list of some of the best-known insured celebrity body parts stories because apocryphal or not, they certainly make for fun reading.
Insured Celebrity Body Parts
Photo by blogpocket
J-Lo’s Buttocks
This one sounds like its straight out of the rumor mill, and it probably is since Jennifer Lopez’s representatives have done nothing but deny it ever since it came out. Chalk another one up to a smart publicist?
Photo by Billie Hara
Tom Jones’ Chest Hair
Tom Jones is a legend, and so is the story of his chest hair, supposedly insured to the tune of $7 million. He might be able to sell some locks of it on eBay for this much, but the insurance story has been thoroughly denied by the British sex symbol.
Photo by Nicole Zheng
Heidi Klum’s Legs
This one is true. Heidi Klum’s stretchy legs were indeed insured by Lloyd’s of London for over $2 million. The insurance was taken out by Braun when it hired Klum for an advertising campaign, and lapsed when the campaign ended.
Photo by roniweb
America Ferrera’s Teeth
“Ugly Betty” star America Ferrerra’s teeth are considered so nice that they were insured for $10 million when she filmed a tooth-product commercial. This one is true.
Photo by knoizki
Mariah Carey’s Legs
By an incredible coincidence, pop chanteuse Carey launched her “Adventures of Mimi” arena tour at the same time rumors started circulating that she insured her legs for $1 billion. Loathe to talk about her personal life, Carey refused to confirm or deny the long, tall tales.
Photo by lord_henry
Bruce Springsteen’s Voice
The Boss commands boss prices for his albums, concert tickets, and signature working man’s voice, which is insured for about $6 million. That’s an expensive set of vocal chords, but his millions of fans can see why.
Photo by ramseymohsen
David Beckham’s Entire Body
Soccer celebrity David Beckham insured his entire body – even the parts he doesn’t use in games, like his ear lobes – for 100 million. That’s a policy he took out himself, and when you add it on to the policies taken out on his behalf by various soccer teams, organizations and corporate sponsors, this soccer superstar is worth more than the GDP of quite a few small nations.
If you think you possess valuable body parts, check with your insurer to see how much coverage is. Or, you can take out a disability insurance policy in case you are unable to work in the future.