Singer Ben Folds Ordered to Pay 5th Wife Emma Sandall $650K in Divorce
Ben Folds has officially ended his six-year marriage to Emma Sandall.
The musician, 57, finalized his split from Sandall last month after filing for divorce in December 2023, according to court documents obtained by People on Thursday, March 21. Folds’ divorce docs list their date of separation as November 20, 2023, and cite irreconcilable differences as the reason for their breakup. The divorce was officially finalized on February 27.
Folds was reportedly ordered to pay Sandall $475,000 for her interest in their shared Nashville home, as well as pay her a total of $650,000 — $27,083.33 a month over two years — and 12 months’ worth of car insurance.
Folds’ other payments toward Sandall include $50,000 for furniture and $210,000 in Australian currency from a National Australian Bank account, according to divorce docs. He has also been ordered to sign over a 2016 Honda CR-V registered in his name.
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Fold’s relationship with Sandall marked his fifth marriage. He was previously married to Anna Goodman from 1987 to 1992, Kate Rosen from 1996 to 1997, Frally Hynes from 1999 to 2007 and Fleur Stanbrook from 2007 to 2011.
Folds and Sandall tied the knot in Hawaii in January 2017. News of their split comes two weeks after Folds announced his 2024 Paper Airplane Request Tour. Kicking off in May, he is set to travel to over 20 cities across the country through August.
“The last time I did this on tour the response was overwhelming, with literally hundreds of paper airplanes with song requests being launched on cue from fans at the start of the second half of each of my concerts,” he wrote alongside the announcement via Instagram on March 6. “It’s the purest, most low-tech form of engagement that creates a special bond with my audiences.”
Folds and Sandall kept their relationship relatively out of the spotlight. However, Folds previously opened up about his past marriages in a September 2012 essay for The Sydney Morning Herald. Calling Goodman his “oldest friend,” Folds noted that the two wed because they “felt pressure to do something with our lives.”
He continued: “When we split, both of us found a lot more success in our lives. She is a dear close friend and always will be. Some of the songs on my band Ben Folds Five’s first two albums are collaborations with Anna.”
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He went on to describe himself as feeling like a “hopeless romantic” around the time of his brief marriage to Rosen. Folds met Hynes in Adelaide, Australia, and the two welcomed twins Gracie and Louis, 24. He and Stanbrook split in 2011, one year before publishing his article for The Sydney Morning Herald.
“I actually learnt nothing about women over the years,” he wrote at the time. “The key is learning about yourself and why you do what you do. That’s the thing about a relationship: if you’re doing it over and over again and it’s not working, you have to look within and ask yourself why. As much as I love the idea of being married, it’s not for me.”
Noting that his “reckless” nature has lent itself to his music, Folds said that “taking risks in my private life hasn’t measured up.”
