During the 1980s and 1990s if you wanted a comedy making you phoned John Candy. The larger-than-life actor was everywhere from 'Stripes' to 'Uncle Buck,' but was probably best known for 'Planes, Trains & Automobiles.' Candy was a huge man with a huge presence to go with it, but being such a physically large human being had negative consequences for his health.
Candy was morbidly obese for his whole adult life. He was also known to smoke and drink heavily, and had been an infrequent user of cocaine. When you also take into account that his family had a history of men dying young from heart attacks, his fate seemed to be written in stone. He suffered a fatal heart attack on the set of 'Wagons East' - from which this picture was taken - in 1994 at 43 years old. The movie was completed using a stand-in and special effects, and was dedicated in his memory.
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.