Jennifer Tilly: The scream queen who owns a piece of ‘The Simpsons’
When the great big book of American television is finally written, there will be several chapters devoted to The Simpsons. From their days on The Tracey Ullman Show to their cultural dominance in the 1990s to their various declines and resurgences over the years, TV’s favourite yellow family have left a huge mark on millions of viewers across the globe and have also made lots of people very, very rich.
One of those people is Jennifer Tilly, the actor best known for playing Tiffany Valentine in the Child’s Play series of horror movies. Although she’s only appeared on the show once—as herself in the 2012 episode ‘Gone Abie Gone’—Tilly has connected to the series in another way that proved to be incredibly financially beneficial for her.
“My ex-husband was Sam Simon, who created The Simpsons,” she said on an episode of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. “I was married to him for seven years. We were together for about 10 years. When we got divorced, I got a piece of The Simpsons in the divorce settlement.”
According to Radar, Tilly struck a deal that entitled her to 30% of Simon’s proceeds from the show. She had previously been receiving an income from Simon’s company, Coconino Inc, but the terms of their arrangement changed after Simon passed away.
“Because of Sam’s death,” a court order stated. “It was no longer practical for Jennifer, Sam and Coconino to follow the procedure that Jennifer had been following with Sam and Coconino from 1993 until Sam’s death.” This new agreement was struck to “place Jennifer in substantially the same economic position that she would be in if she had received her percentage of the Fox Payments directly from Fox and had reported income on her income tax returns and paid tax thereon.”
Simon got his big break writing and showrunning the classic sitcom Taxi, as well as writing for the likes of Cheers and It’s Garry Shandling’s Show. He worked alongside Matt Groening and James L Brooks to develop The Simpsons for The Tracey Ullman Show and worked on the series for its first two seasons. He left the show in 1993 but continues to be credited as an executive producer to this day.
Outside of writing for television, Simon had a remarkable life. In 2004, he managed boxer Lamon Brewster to the WBO World Heavyweight Championship. He was also a keen poker player, an interest he and Tilly shared, and was involved in numerous animal welfare charities, including a series of mobile vets that administered free treatments to poor neighbourhoods.
In 2012, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer of the bowel. Despite being given between three and six months to live, he survived until 2015, passing away at the age of 59. He left a large amount of his estate to his various charities, and the Simpsons episode ‘Waiting for Duffman’ was dedicated to his memory.
Tilly, who was nominated for an Oscar for her role in Bullets Over Broadway and voices Bonnie Swanson on Simpsons competitor Family Guy, was married to Simon between 1984 and 1991. The couple remained friendly even after their split, which explains why Tilly was able to secure the support of his estate.
“Nobody knew that The Simpsons was going to go on for trillions of years,” she said on Real Housewives. “So every day – honestly, every day – I’m like, ‘Thank you, Sam.’”
