Twenty-eight years after the release of his chart-topping hit single Ice Ice Baby, Vanilla Ice is still pulling more than $800,000 a year and sits on a fortune of close to $9 million, according to newly released divorce documents.
DailyMail.com exclusively obtained the rapper-turned-home-improvement-guru’s financial records on Wednesday from his two-year divorce proceedings in the court system of Palm Beach County, Florida.
The 51-year-old one-hit wonder, whose real name is Rob Van Winkle, has been at the receiving end of a divorce petition filed by Laura Van Winkle, 48, his wife of 21 years and mother of their two daughters, in October 2016.
Since then, the torn lovebirds have been tangling in court over money with his estranged spouse accusing tight-fisted Rob of abruptly dropping pre-divorce support payments to her a year ago.
Divorce records obtained by DailyMail.com reveal Vanilla Ice is still raking in millions, nearly three decades after releasing his chart-topping hit single. The rapper and his wife of 21 years Laura Van Winkle, 48, have been tangling in court over money since 2016
The one-hit-wonder, who rose to fame with his 1989 hit song, Ice Ice Baby, has been the host of The Vanilla Ice Project on DIY Network since 2009
Laura claimed it left her with no income other than $631 a month from renters in a property inherited from family.
And the court documents show Ice’s former love has used most of $125,000 in savings in order to stay afloat financially.
She also accumulated $26,000 in credit card debts while waiting for her next payment from the rapper, court records show.
Family court Judge Catherine M. Brunson, ultimately ordered a two-day trial to finalize the split and decide how much alimony, if anything, the DIY Network’s biggest star is to pay his soon-to-be ex-wife.
A source close to the case said Rob is expected to testify in the trial set to start February 4 in a downtown West Palm Beach courtoom.
Until then, Brunson decided to award Laura a whopping $10,000 a month in temporary support payable by Rob on the first of every month, plus $110,000 for what he failed to pay over the past 11 months.
The judge also ordered Rob to continue paying Laura another $7,191 a month to help her pay for her household expenses, health insurance and car loans.
To add insult to injury, he was also ordered to pay for Laura’s past and future legal fees and bills, a total of nearly $155,000.
Laura has accused the singer of leaving her with no income after he stopped shelling out pre-divorce support payments last year. Records show Ice makes $68,000 a month
But according to the court records, Rob is well able to pay for it all without missing a beat.
A financial affidavit filed with the court revealed he makes $68,000 a month. He has liquid assets, mostly cash, worth $2,927,541 and 15 properties, eight vehicles, a boat and other assets worth a total $5,109,328.
Forensic accounts also found that Vanilla Ice is living large and spent $387,406 on himself last year.
Vanilla Ice’s meteoric rise to the top of the music business came in 1990 after the release of his rookie album, To the Extreme.
Within a couple years as the album sold 7 million copies, the singer was a multi-millionaire with a lifestyle to match his status and homes in a half dozen cities.
By the mid-1990s, however, with newer albums tanking and the singer’s drug addiction to heroin, his financial situation, too, headed south. One of his companies, recording studio SBK, went bankrupt.
Away from show business, Van Winkle then dabbled in jet-ski racing, motocross racing and even ran an extreme sports store in Miami Beach for several years.
In near obscurity for a decade, Vanilla Ice popped back up into the public’s consciousness in 2010 when singing duo Jedward, contestants on the British version of The X Factor, re-released the song.
Simultaneously in the United States, the DIY Network aired the premiere of The Vanilla Ice Project, a reality series where Ice buys a distressed property, rehabs and tries to sell with big profits. The show’s eighth season just ended last month.
Laura has been living in their old marital home in the Versailles development a few miles south, in Wellington, Florida. Rob bought that house in 2005 for $716,000
The couple has two daughters Dusti Rain, and Keelee Breeze – who Laura previously said ‘wanted’ their parents to get a divorce
But now, Vanilla Ice seems to be well off.
Ice did not respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment. Both his and Laura’s lawyers are under a gag order and did not return calls for comment as well.
Laura Van previously told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview in 2016 that she had been thinking about dragging her husband into court for a long time.
‘I wanted to file for divorce for a long time but I was scared to do it,’ she said at the time.
‘Without me, he wouldn’t have a comeback. Now he left me with no money. I mean, he was always a good provider and all, but all of our assets are in his name. He wants to control all the money.’
The couple share two children: Dusti Rain, 21, and Keelee Breeze, who’s 18.
The pair had faced some low points throughout the years.
In 2001, Rob was charged with disorderly conduct in a domestic violence incident and was ordered to undergo family therapy. He was arrested again in 2004, and then 2008, for battery but Laura agreed to have the charges dropped both times.