BeBe Zahara Benet might have been the first winner of 'Drag Race,' but Charlie Hides has another slice of history - she's the oldest contestant ever to appear on the show. She was 52 years old when she competed in the ninth season, being eliminated in the fourth week after a disastrous lip-sync competition she would later blame on suffering broken ribs in an earlier cheerleading task!
British-American Hides, who uses her real name when appearing on stage, had been performing on the London club scene for years before the invention of YouTube gave her the opportunity to broadcast to a wider audience. Her celebrity impersonations went viral, and even met with the approval of the celebrities that he was impersonating. Cher describes Hides as being her favorite Cher impersonator; he can mimic her so well that he managed to convince Kylie Minogue she was really talking to Cher during a phone call!
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.