Jean-Claude Van Damme

Known around the world as the “Muscles from Brussels”, Jean-Claude Van Damme is one of the world’s finest martial arts superstars. The action hero holds the unique distinction of having created the “karate kick to the opponent’s head during a leaping 360-degree turn” move. Van Damme was a European karate champion, a bodybuilder and a gym owner before he turned to acting. After having starred in the 1983 French action film "Rue Barbare", Van Damme made his way to the U.S. and picked up a few insignificant roles before landing meatier roles in martial arts-based action movies made on low budgets. The year 1988 saw Van Damme starring in action hits like "Black Eagle", "Kickboxer" and "Bloodsport" and the star turned to production with the 1991 hit "Double Impact". The 1992 hit "Universal Soldier" turned out to be a worldwide success for Van Damme and by the time he starred in the 1993 romantic action comedy "Nowhere to Run", he was commanding a paycheck of around $3.5 million. Van Damme went on to star in several action-based movies in the 1990s including "Knock Off", "Double Team", "The Quest", "Sudden Death", "Timecop" and "Hard Target". Van Damme’s more recent projects include the highly successful action comedies “The Expendables” and “The Expendables 2”.

Having worked as a martial artist, action star, producer and director, Van Damme earned himself a net worth of $8 million. Van Damme has gone on record saying that he only earned an average of around $70,000 per film for the first seven films that he starred in. His first $1 million paycheck came with the movie "Universal Soldier" after which he earned roughly $3 million per film. Van Damme reportedly received a $6.2 million paycheck for his role in "Street Fighter”. Despite being absent from the box office for more than a decade, Van Damme has managed to remain one of the biggest action stars in Hollywood.

Jean Claude Van Damme reportedly shelled out a cool $3.5 million to have a house custom built for him in Hollywood. He also owns properties in Brussels and Hong Kong.

Jean-Claude Van Damme’s first wife was the Venezuelan Maria Rodriguez. The couple divorced when Van Damme relocated to the United States in 1981. In 1985, Van Damme was married to Cynthia Derdian though this relationship lasted just one year. Van Damme married bodybuilder Gladys Portugues in 1986 and the couple divorced in 1992. Van Damme then married Hawaiian beauty queen and model Darcy La Pier in 1994. La Pier filed for divorce several time though the couple reconciled for brief periods. Van Damme and La Pier finally got divorce by the end of 1997. Van Damme went on to remarry his third wife Gladys Portugues in June 1999.

Jean-Claude Van Damme has three children- a son, Kristopher, and a daughter, Bianca, with Gladys Portugues and a son, Nicholas, with Darcy La Pier. From 1995 and 1997, Van Damme suffered from substance abuse and was reported to have been spending up to $10,000 a week on cocaine in 1996. Van Damme become suicidal in 1998 and was diagnosed with rapid cycling bipolar disorder.