Mary J. Blige’s marriage officially ended in 2018, and it didn’t end favorably for her. At least, not financially. Years after being discovered by her late benefactor, Mary had earned many millions from her R&B music career. Heading to divorce court meant splitting her cash with her soon-to-be-ex.
Mary J. Blige wound up going through a messy divorce with her ex-husband Kendu Isaacs. The circus of the separation had taken over the public eye all through the mid to late 2010s. The worst part of Mary J. Blige’s divorce was the massive amount of alimony she had to pay her ex, to the tune of $30,000 per month.
Mary J Blige’s Divorce Led To Financial Discoveries
The divorce court judge ordered Mary J. Blige to pay her estranged husband, Martin “Kendu” Isaacs, $30,000 monthly in spousal support.
She had previously filed for divorce from her husband, her manager, in 2016. Blige stated that “irreconcilable differences” were the reason for the split. They separated in 2015 after being married for 12 years.
Mary J. Blige finally settled with ex-husband/manager Martin “Kendu” Isaacs two nights before she was slated to appear at the Academy Awards ceremony.
She was nominated for Best Supporting Actress and Song in the film for her performance in the 2017 Netflix original movie Mudbound. Apparently, according to court documents from the divorce trial, her expenses were more than her earnings from the role.
Mary J. Blige’s Ex-Husband Claimed He Couldn’t Support Himself Financially
Isaacs claimed to be “unemployable” and could not pay rent without Blige’s financial support. He added that he had “experienced physical manifestations of stress and emotional distress from this matter, which has caused him to become hospitalized.”
Isaacs had argued to the Los Angeles Superior Court that she had left him with ‘no source of income’ after firing him from being her personal manager, a position he had held throughout their marriage.
Reportedly, Blige had been complaining about her then-husband Martin Isaacs’ lavish spending habits since the beginning of their marriage.
In May 2017, PEOPLE obtained more court documents where Mary J. Blige had claimed that Isaacs had spent in excess of $420,000 on “travel charges” which had involved a woman he had been seeing outside the marriage.
The documents also revealed that she had also said that Isaacs had commandeered and refused to return her “Grammy and other achievement awards.”
Martin Isaacs had originally demanded $130,000 in monthly spousal support, so he could continue to bask in the ‘lavish’ lifestyle he had been enjoying before she had filed for divorce, which included a private chef, personal trainer sessions, and vacations.
The Result Of The Divorce Affected Mary J. Blige’s Finances And Made Her Go Broke
On an iHeart Radio special hosted by Angie Martinez, Mary J. Blige performed the lead single “Rent Money” from her 15th studio album “Good Morning Gorgeous”, together with Dave East, a Harlem rapper. After the performance, she talked about the inspiration for the song.
Apparently, her painful divorce from Martin “Kendu” Isaacs had inspired the song. She had said, “Rent money is [about] when I first got divorced. I had to give up all this alimony, and I didn’t have no more money to give because he had spent it all. So, I had to go, you know, I had to go on tour, and make all the money back to pay the alimony.”
She explained how she had developed money problems due to the fact that Isaacs had wasted all of her money and so when she had been ordered to cough up a monthly alimony check of $30,000, she had gone broke trying to pay her rent and other bills.
Mary J. Blige has also talked about her financial problems that resulted from the divorce proceedings. In addition to the $30,000 she was to pay in spousal support, she also owed the IRS $6.5 million in eight years of back taxes.
All these debts meant her takeaway was zero from the European leg of her tour plus Mudbound.
Without a financial tightrope to balance on, most people would’ve gone into a panic or just quit trying. But not Mary. She kept going, performing around the world, including at the Super Bowl, increased her brand visibility, and launched a new album in 2022.
Mary has also seemingly joined forces with big companies like Versace; she might even be a paid rep for the luxury brand. As of 2020, Mary had a $20M net worth; that figure is apparently still accurate today.