We’ve all heard of the stories–this actress insured her legs, that one her breasts. Can you really insure such things? And why would you?
The answer to the first question is yes. You can insure pretty much anything some insurance company somewhere is willing to insure–and for the right price, you’ll find companies quite willing to indulge whatever insurance whim you might have.
And the reason that people do this? Publicity. It’s a sheer stunt. A simple disability insurance plan would cover any “body part” insurance policies that a celebrity want to might have.
How Body-Part Insurance Works
Insuring a body part for a high amount of money makes it seem like the body part has been appraised at such a value. After all, you can’t insure a house or a car or a necklace for more than they are worth.
But that’s not how this “body part” insurance works. The celebrity–or, more often, the endorsement company–picks a number out of thin air: ”$1 million! No, $1.6 million! That seems like a more precise number.” And then they find an insurance company–usually Lloyd’s of London–that will write a policy for that amount.
You could insure yourself for $5 million, too, if you wanted, through life insurance. That doesn’t mean that someone came by, looked at your body, and declared, “This man is worth $5 million.” It just means that you are willing to make a bet that you will die that’s worth $5 million, and an insurance company is willing to take it.
The celebrity or endorsement brand pays their first premium, and then here comes the whole point of the stunt: The press release. The celebrity gets covered in the media, and the value of the celebrity’s brand–and whatever body part that the endorsement company is focused on–suddenly seems higher.
All because most people don’t understand insurance.
You might think that a brand that is using that celebrity’s body part to promote its goods has a legitimate business reason for insuring that body part. But this isn’t really so. There really is no business reason for L’eggs to have taken out a $1 million insurance policy on Jamie Lee Curtis when they hired her to promote their product. A simple termination clause would have kept them from having to continue to pay her if she had a terrible accident and one of her legs were mutilated. But the insurance policy got a great deal more press for L’eggs and their celebrity endorser, both.
The company might pay the premium for a year or two–but really, it’s all about the publicity, so why bother to keep it?
Of course, not every strange thing that people have insured is due to a clever bid for media attention. Sometimes people insure strange things because they’re crazy. But as long as they’re crazy and they’ve got the money, they’re likely to find someone to write a policy.
Craziest Celebrity Insurance Policies
So, now that we’ve covered the “why” and “how,” let’s get to the fun part: The “who” and the “what”!
Legs.
This is the most popular body part to cover.
Fred Astaire, Legs,
$150,000Betty Grable, Legs,
$1 millionMary Hart, Legs,
$1 millionRihanna, Legs,
$1 millionJamie Lee Curtis, Legs,
$1 million — endorsement brand
Heidi Klum, Legs,
$2.2 million – endorsement brand
Tina Turner, Legs,
$3.2 millionLord of the Dance Michael Flatley, Legs,
$40 millionMariah Carey, Legs,
$1 billion – endorsement brand
Breasts.
Less common but no less of a stunt. Holly Madison, Breasts,
$1 millionMadonna, Breasts,
$2 millionDolly Parton, Breasts,
$3.8 million Voice and Hands.
A favorite of musicians and singers.
Marlene Dietrich, Voice,
$1 millionBruce Springsteen, Voice,
$6 millionRod Stewart, Voice,
$15.5 millionKeith Richards, Hands,
$1.6 millionJeff Beck, Fingers,
$10 million Signature Body Parts.
Sometimes just because.
Jimmy Durante, Nose,
$50,000Troy Polamalu, Hair,
$1 million – endorsement brand
Tom Jones, Chest Hair,
$1 millionGene Simmons, Tongue,
$7 millionAmerica Ferrera, Smile,
$10 million – endorsement brand
Cricket player Merv Hughes, Mustache,
$370,000 (Australian)
Tools of the Trade.
These are just two of the tasters who have sought to boost their reputations by insuring their senses of taste or smell.
Food critic Egon Ronay, Taste Buds,
$ 400,000Wine expert Angela Mount, Taste Buds,
$16 Million Sports Star’s Bodies.
Usually, the team takes out a comprehensive policy against injury or illness during a given season, but sometimes, sports stars take out policies of their own.
Mark McGwire, Ankle,
$120 millionDavid Beckham, Injury, Illness, and Disfigurement,
$195 million And now for the crazy….
Shirley MacLaine, Alien Abduction,
$25 million. Really, there’s nothing to say about that!
