Unfortunately, 2018 doesn't seem to have been a great year for some of our most celebrated authors. Philip Roth is another casualty who was best known for his power with words. Roth wrote classics like "Portnoy's Complaint", which was a best seller. It was obvious he was going to be a huge success in his chosen career from his very early days; he won the highly regarded National Book Award for his very first published novel "Goodbye, Columbus", all the way back in 1959.
Somehow, the Nobel Prize for Literature evaded Roth for his entire career, and his books took on an increasingly biographical tone as his life went on. He wrote about his failed marriage in "I Married A Communist", and he delved further into the background of his childhood, and his thoughts on being brought up Jewish; something that often put him at odds with the traditional Jewish community. Roth was 85.
To insure one’s house, one’s car or to underwrite a life insurance policy, that is common practice. But who would pay an insurance premium for his/her thumb, legs or smile? Stars, of course.
At the top of the ranking are the legs of Mariah Carey, worth 810 million USD: The diva became, in 2006, the Gillette brand muse for the advertising campaign «Legs of a Goddess». She then took out an insurance policy with London Lloyds to protect her legs, a decision that is far from being insignificant. Among its customers, the London insurer then included several icons of music, such as Bob Dylan or Rod Stewart.
David Beckham’s body insured for 195 million USD: European champion with Manchester United in 1999, David Beckham was in 2006 the most renowned footballer of the planet. In relation to his sporting activities, he took out an insurance cover for his legs. The huge amount paid for his insurance would reportedly exceed the 103 million USD disbursed by Real Madrid for the cover of Christiano Ronaldo in 2009. The fashion model would later extend his insurance cover to his entire body.
15 million USD in insurance for Kim Kardashian’s curves: The curves of Kim Kardashian are her number one beauty asset. The reality TV star, who is crazy about plastic surgery, has underwritten an insurance policy worth 15 million USD to protect her famous butt.
The culinary critic Egon Ronay assured his taste buds: The famous Hungarian culinary critic has insured his taste buds since 1957, for the amount of 400 000 USD. An original insurance policy which allows him to cover his sense of taste without which he will no longer be able to practice his job.