How much are Taylor Swift’s legs worth?

Taylor Swift performs on stage on the opening night of the “Taylor Swift The Eras Tour”.

John Medina/Getty Images

How much are Taylor Swift’s legs worth? And what about Gordon Ramsay’s tongue, Nick Cannon’s balls and J.Lo’s butt? All of these celebrity body parts are reportedly insured for millions, just in case something unlikely but horribly goes wrong.

But as you’ll soon discover, while some stories about celebrity liability insurance are true, most were either one-off publicity stunts or have been debunked. (Which of the above examples are false? The answer, as they say, might surprise you.)

Take, for example, the recent wild story that Cannon, father of 12, just took out a $10 million policy to protect his balls so the world doesn’t have to pay more cannon fodder. “Haters say it’s time I stopped having kids and put that super sperm to rest, but I’m double-dipping for those precious balls,” Cannon explained. The policy is apparently real, but it’s also used to promote a line of testicular care products.

This report is comparable to porn studio Brazzers taking out a policy for its star Keiran Lee in 2012 that insured his penis for $1 million (or, as we must dutifully clarify for the curious, $100,000 per inch). As Lee assured fans at the time, “I have no plans to lose my penis anytime soon.”

Here’s a more benign example: In 2007, America Ferrera made headlines when she insured her smile for $10 million, even though it was all just a promotion for Aquafresh. “It’s very flattering,” Ferrera said, “and I never thought something like this would happen.”

Ferrera’s policy was through Lloyds of London, which has been the go-to place for celebrity body parts insurance since the 1940s, when it insured Betty Grable’s legs for $1 million. It’s rarely reported what potential disasters famous body parts are actually insured against (fire? Flood? Theft, certainly not!). Skeptics point out that a standard long-term disability insurance policy can cover a performer’s disability, but where’s the fun in a policy that doesn’t cover your most famous asset?

More credible examples are singers who allegedly took out insurance against the impending loss of their voice. In 2010 Time reported that Bruce Springsteen insured his voice for $6 million. (The Boss never confirmed this.)

Recently, Ramsay was reported to have insured his tongue for $10 million in case his palate deteriorated. Judging by Ramsay’s new frozen food line, the chef may already be entitled to it. Ramsay did not comment on the report, but “taste insurance” is a real thing among some high-profile chefs and tasters. Again, many examples border on self-promotion – for example, leading wine taster Ilja Gort insured his nose for $8 million in 2008.

There are also several models and singer-dancers who have policies for their legs. Supermodel Heidi Klum confirmed that a client gave her a leg insurance policy worth a total of $2 million. Strangely and sadly, Klum noted on The Ellen DeGeneres Show last year, one hairline was valued at $200,000 less than the other, due to a childhood accident that left her with a scar that she regularly covers with makeup. It makes you wonder what kind of heartless Lloyds insurer takes their job so seriously. Rihanna also had $1 million in leg insurance with Gillette when she won the Celebrity Legs of a Goddess title in 2007.

But the most widely reported leg insurance is that Swift insured her legs for $40 million in 2015 before her 1989 tour. That this story originated in The National Enquirer hasn’t stopped its spread. Swift has neither confirmed nor denied it, but she addressed the headline as best she could, tweeting a photo of her scratched leg and referencing one of her cats: “Great job Meredith. All I wanted to do was love you and now you owe me $40 million.”

Other famous examples of body part insurance have been flatly denied. In 2022, Dolly Parton debunked a long-running rumor that she had insured her 40DD breasts for $600,000. That same year, after more than a decade of rumors that Julia Roberts had insured her megawatt smile for $30 million, the actress said The New York Times Magazine: “If my smile was insured, someone would be at my house every night and say, ‘You need to floss longer.'”

Likewise, there have long been reports that Jennifer Lopez insured her butt for $27 million (admittedly, we really wanted that to be true). But in 2020, she poked fun at the idea to James Corden, saying, “There’s no such thing.” Kim Kardashian also reportedly insured her butt for $21 million in 2014, but sources tell us that report is also false.

Although insurance can provide comprehensive protection for celebrities, you are never truly covered yourself.

This story first appeared in the June 19 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.