Billionaire music and film mogul David Geffen has reached a settlement with his estranged husband, David Armstrong, bringing a formal close to a divorce that descended into one of Hollywood’s most publicly acrimonious splits in years.
Court documents show that the 83-year-old billionaire marked the divorce as uncontested, indicating that both parties reached agreement on all key issues, including spousal support and division of property. The specific terms of the settlement were not made public.
Geffen and Armstrong married in March 2023 without a prenuptial agreement. Geffen filed for divorce in May 2025, shortly before the couple’s second anniversary. Armstrong also goes by the name Donovan Michaels.
The case quickly escalated beyond a standard divorce filing. Two months after the divorce was filed, Armstrong filed a lawsuit claiming Geffen had groomed him and paid him thousands of dollars for sex, and that he was plied with drugs including cocaine, cannabis, and ecstasy to increase his dependency. Geffen’s attorneys denied the allegations, describing them as a work of fiction.
In October 2025, Armstrong withdrew the lawsuit, requesting it be dismissed without prejudice. A day later, he accused Geffen in court filings of misrepresenting his financial position, arguing the billionaire was concealing the true extent of his wealth to minimise spousal support obligations.
Geffen rejected those claims, denying he had ever promised Armstrong lifelong financial support or an ownership stake in his assets. He argued that most of his estimated fortune came from investments and assets acquired long before the relationship began.
During proceedings, Geffen’s legal team said he had already provided Armstrong with at least $500,000 in payments since their separation, $50,000 toward legal fees, and approximately $198,450 for a stay at a private rehabilitation centre.
Geffen’s net worth is estimated at over $9.1 billion. Because he has been retired for approximately 15 years and most of his income derives from stocks and equities, California law could classify the majority of those assets as separate property, potentially limiting Armstrong’s financial entitlements.
Geffen built his fortune through decades at the centre of the American entertainment industry, co-founding Asylum Records, launching Geffen Records, and co-founding DreamWorks with Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg.
