Actress Amy Irving received one of Hollywood’s largest divorce settlements — $100 million— from director Steven Spielberg in 1989, yet their split didn’t turn bitter. Instead, the retired actress, now 71, and her third husband, Kenneth Bowser Jr., occasionally enjoy double dates with the legendary filmmaker and his wife, Kate Capshaw, according to Irving.
It Happened In Hollywood
In a March interview on THR’s “It Happened in Hollywood” podcast, Amy said, “We’ve always communicated and been close. He and Kate and my husband and I, we try to double-date now and then.”
Irving first met Spielberg in 1976 during an audition for “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” Though too young for the part, she started dating Spielberg and eventually moved into his bachelor pad. Spielberg had promised her the role of Marion Ravenwood in “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” but after their 1979 split, the role went to Karen Allen.
Irving moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, but they reunited in 1984 in India while she filmed “The Far Pavilions” and Spielberg scouted locations for “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.” Sparks reignited, and they married in 1985, welcoming their son, Max, the same year.
Their marriage lasted about four years. Irving later revealed that being married — and then divorced — from one of Hollywood’s most powerful men had its challenges. “I think it hurt being Steven Spielberg’s wife, and then it hurt being the ex-Mrs. Steven Spielberg,” she once told the Los Angeles Times.
A key twist in their 1989 divorce was a prenuptial agreement that Spielberg had hastily scribbled on a napkin. A judge, however, later invalidated it due to lack of legal counsel for Irving. This led to the sizable $100 million settlement. His net worth was estimated to be between $200 million and $300 million. Her $100 million divorce settlement reportedly represented about one-third to half of his net worth at the time. Today, the director is worth about $5.3 billion in 2025, according to Forbes.
