It’s becoming ever more apparent that the divorce of Isla Fisher and Sacha Baron Cohen was a long time coming, with a report saying that the Australian actor “quietly” met with a top U.K. family law attorney two years ago to discuss how to best proceed with ending her marriage.
Fisher reportedly told friends that she had consulted with Fiona Shackleton, who has represented other celebrities in high-profile splits, including King Charles III in his divorce settlement with Princess Diana and Paul McCartney in his contentious split from Heather Mills, according to The Sun.
The advice Fisher got from Shackleton, who charges some $700 an hour, was to keep things as “amicable” as possible for the sake of their children, The Sun said. Fisher and Baron Cohen are parents to daughters Olive, 17 and Elula, 13, and son Montgomery, 9.
But “insiders” suggested to The Sun that there still could be conflicts over Baron Cohen’s estimated $50 million estate.
“Fiona is an incredible lawyer, and utterly fearsome in both reputation and ability,” a source said. “It was suggested they keep things as amicably as possible for the sake of the children. However, with Fiona on board, no stone will be left unturned if things did turn nasty.”
The estranged couple had a prenuptial agreement, the Daily Mail also reported. When they married in 2010, Baron Cohen was believed to be worth a lot more than Fisher. But they might have to figure out how to divide assets acquired since their marriage.
On Friday, Fisher and the Cambridge-educated actor, writer and comedian announced that they had separated last year and were in the process of divorcing. With a photo that showed the two posing in tennis outfits, their joint statement said, “After a long tennis match lasting over twenty years, we are finally putting our racquets down.” The estranged couple also said they had jointly filed in 2023 to end their marriage. “We forever share in our devotion and love for our children.”
The timing of the announcement led to questions about whether Fisher decided to split from Baron Cohen after he was recently accused by Rebel Wilson of sexually harassing her and making lewd demands while they worked together on the 2016 comedy “The Brothers Grimsby.”
Similarly, people are likely to wonder whether Wilson’s negative portrayal of the “Borat” actor is a sign of character issues that were a factor in his marriage. The public generally knows Baron Cohen as a British entertainer who likes to push stories and situations to the edge, reveling in crass, gross-out humor that also can be politically and socially charged.
In her new memoir, “Rebel Rising,” Wilson detailed how Baron Cohen made “outrageous” demands on her while they filmed “The Brothers Grimsby,” a raunchy spy action comedy. She said he asked her “every day” to “go naked” in scenes and pressured her to perform a lewd act with him for their last scene together.
But Baron Cohen strongly denied Wilson’s allegations in a statement released by his representative. The statement called the allegations “demonstrably false” and said they were “contradicted by extensive detailed evidence, including contemporaneous documents, film footage and eyewitness accounts from those present before, during and after the production of ‘The Brothers Grimsby.’”
Meanwhile, reports over the weekend pointed to the idea that both Fisher and Baron Cohen had been struggling in their marriage for quite some time.
“Their marriage has been shaky for years,” an insider told the Daily Mail. “The breakdown started when they relocated to Australia so that she could be closer to her family. But it left Sacha far removed from everyone he knows.”
Isla and the UK-born Baron Cohen met at a party in Sydney in 2002 and married eight years later. They long lived in Los Angeles, where they could be close to their film industry connections. But they moved to Sydney, Australia in 2020 and then to Perth, where Fisher’s family lives, in September 2021. They both said the move to Western Australia would be permanent.
But Baron Cohen, who grew up in London and is very close to his family, was itching to return to the U.K., while his wife was happier in her native Australia, the Daily Mail reported. The disagreement over where to live is said to have taken its toll on the couple.
Fisher’s beloved father, Brian Fisher, also died in January 2023, an event that “destroyed” her, friends said, and which may have pushed her to consider whether she was truly happy in her marriage, the Daily Mail reported.
If geography was a big issue in the marriage, it also could remain a big issue in divorce, the Daily Mail reported.
Fisher currently has custody of the children. She and Baron Cohen could decide to co-parent, as many parents do, but that would be difficult if they choose to live on different continents. As family law experts have previously said in interviews with this news organization, school-age children like theirs typically need to be based in one place for much of the year so they can go to school, engage in activities and maintain social contacts with friends.