Cleese: 'Divorce will be worth every penny'

John Cleese has joked that his divorce will be expensive but "worth every penny".

A judge in the Santa Barbara Supreme Court in California ordered the 68-year-old to pay his third wife £77,500 a month as a temporary measure until their divorce settlement is complete.

Cleese announced in January that he had separated from American-born psychotherapist Alyce Faye Eichelberger after 15 years. They have no children.

Eichelberger is asking for half of her husband's £16 million worldwide property portfolio, £900,000 a year and half his earnings since 1992. Her lawyer told the court that she had no money because Cleese had refused to pay her any spousal support.

However, he responded that he was "puzzled" that she could afford to stay in a £600-a-night room at New York's Carlyle Hotel if she was strapped for cash.

The comedian, who arrived in court in a wheelchair after having a knee operation, joked that he had sent her legal papers to his former Monty Python colleagues as they were amusing enough to make a reality TV show.

He told reporters: "It's going to be very, very expensive, but it will be worth every penny."

> Cleese furious over wife's divorce demands