PLANET POP

The bigger they are, the harder they fall — especially in the world of celebrity divorce.

Basketball great Michael Jordan, singer-songwriter Neil Diamond and Oscar-winning director Steven Spielberg top a new Forbes magazine list of the most costly divorce settlements of the stars.

Jordan's pending divorce settlement with his wife of nearly 18 years, Chicago bank officer Juanita Vanoy, could end up as the most expensive in entertainment history, Forbes said, if his estranged spouse walks away with half his fortune.

With Jordan having earned much of his wealth during his marriage, Vanoy stands to collect more than US$150 million.

A close second would be the estimated US$150 million settlement Diamond paid to onetime TV production assistant Marcia Murphey, whom he married in 1969 before his breakthrough album, Touching You, Touching Me, went gold. Diamond later said Murphey, his second wife, was "worth every penny."

Spielberg's first marriage, to actress Amy Irving, ended in 1989 with his ex-spouse awarded roughly half of the filmmaker's fortune, about US$100 million, ranking No. 3 on Forbes' list.

Irving won that settlement after successfully contesting their prenuptial agreement, reportedly scribbled on a napkin, because she had lacked legal representation.

Actor Harrison Ford ranks No. 4 on the list with an estimated US$85 million paid to his second wife, Melissa Mathison.

Forbes ranked the pending divorce between former Beatle Paul McCartney and ex-model Heather Mills at No. 6.

Meanwhile, the Rutgers University women's basketball team on Friday accepted the apologies of Don Imus after the disgraced radio personality got fired from both radio and television for calling them "nappy-headed hos."

The racist and sexist remarks sparked protests from civil rights leaders and prompted advertisers to back out before CBS Radio finally pulled the plug on Imus' 30-year career on Thursday.

Imus had already apologized publicly for the comment but met privately with the Rutgers team late on Thursday.

Head coach C. Vivian Stringer said the team had begun to heal but added the incident spoke to wider problems in US culture, which is still struggling to overcome the legacy of slavery and discrimination.

"We have accepted Mr. Imus's apology," Stringer told reporters after a meeting with the Rutgers board of governors to celebrate the accomplishments of the team, which battled to the national championship contest but lost to Tennessee.

"This is not just Mr. Imus, it is not just Rutgers women's basketball. It spoke to women, it spoke to sexism, it spoke to racism in our society," she said.

The discussion between the team and Imus was to be hosted by New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, but the millionaire politician was badly injured in a automobile accident while en route to the meeting.

Corzine, who had not been wearing a seatbelt, was in the hospital, heavily sedated and breathing with the help of a ventilator.

There's still life in the Anna Nicole Smith saga, after a hearing in a Bahamas court last week failed to end a prolonged battle over custody of late Playboy Playmate's daughter, 7-month-old Dannielynn.

Larry Birkhead, a Los Angeles photographer and former boyfriend of the billionaire's widow, was identified last week as the father of the baby, who could one day be worth a fortune if Smith's estate wins a decade-long battle to inherit from her former oil tycoon husband J. Howard Marshall.

But Friday's hearing over custody of Dannielynn, at which Birkhead had been expected to be awarded guardianship based on court-ordered DNA tests, adjourned soon after it got under way.

Damien Gomez, an attorney for Smith's long-time companion Howard K. Stern, said the hearing was suspended at the request of lawyers for both Birkhead and Smith's mother Virgie Arthur.

But John O'Quinn, Arthur's lawyer, said Birkhead and his client had agreed to meet privately on Saturday in an apparent bid to reach an agreement over custody of the child.

O'Quinn said the father and grandmother of Dannielynn would try "to figure out what they believe is in the best interest of this child and try to get it done."