Star Trek star William Shatner strolled out of his recent divorce settlement hearing in a good mood. His happiness was well-justified as his lawyers managed to secure possession of a load of horse semen. That might sound like an odd thing to prioritize, but welcome to the high-stakes world of the Thoroughbred racing industry.
Shatner recently finalized his divorce from fourth wife Elizabeth Shatner, who he was married to for 18 years. The 88-year-old Star Trek icon did fairly well out of the proceedings (though by this point, I guess he knows the ropes and has some good lawyers). Shatner, who’s worth an estimated $100 million, will not be paying any alimony to his ex-wife and the two parties seem to be on good terms (relatively speaking).
It seems that the only assets that needed arbitration were shared ones purchased during the marriage. The court ultimately ruled that Shatner would keep horses Powder River Shirley and Renaissance Man’s Medici, his dogs Double Espresso and Macchiato (top tier dog names IMO), the aforementioned horse semen and the equipment used to extract it from stallions (probably fun to have around on a rainy Sunday).
In an interesting twist, Shatner granted his ex-wife visitation rights on the two horses contingent on her letting him know she’s popping by to feed them a sugar lump (or whatever it is you do when you’re visiting a horse). And that’s that.
While Shatner has ruled out making a Picard-style return to Star Trek, he’s still a regular fixture at fan conventions. Indeed, right now he’s on Star Trek: The Cruise IV, a floating fan experience in which he rubs shoulders with Kate Mulgrew, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Marina Sirtis, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, John De Lancie, and a load of committed Trekkies. Let’s hope the only trouble they have is with tribbles and not the coronavirus.