EXCLUSIVE: Vanilla Ice’s ex-wife takes him to court claiming he’s iced her out of her $10k a month in alimony – but the rapper says it’s ‘just a glitch’

• Vanilla Ice was ordered to pay his ex-wife  $10,500 a month in support plus $110,000 for what he failed to pay over their  divorce 
• The couple officially divorced in November but ex-wife Laura Van Winkle reopened the case after two of her monthly alimony payments were short
• The rapper told DailyMail.com that it was a ‘glitch’ and the amount ‘is being paid’
• ‘It was an auto-pay glitch. All this for a couple hundred dollars?’ he said 
• According to his financial disclosures, Vanilla Ice is raking in $68,000 a month and has liquid assets worth more than $3million 
• He also has 15 properties, eight vehicles, a boat and other assets worth a total $5,109,328 

(DailyMail) Rapper Vanilla Ice’s divorce saga has more staying power than even his 1989 hit, Ice Ice Baby.

The 52-year-old Ice Ice Baby rapper, whose real name is Rob Van Winkle, and ex-wife Laura Van Winkle are continuing to tangle in a Palm Beach County family court despite the fact they’ve been officially divorced since November 2019.

Now, Laura claims her ex shorted her on her monthly $10,500 alimony payments.

‘This thing has been going on for a long time, that’s a fact,’ said John Christiansen, the star’s high-stakes divorce lawyer.

Late last year, it appeared the acrimony would settle down when a judge brought down the gavel on the Van Winkles 22-year marriage and pronounced them divorced.

It had taken almost three years since the day Laura, 49, a homemaker who raised their two adult daughters, first went to court to end the marriage.

Within a month of the judgement, DailyMail.com has learned exclusively, Laura reopened the case after two of her monthly alimony payments didn’t quite come to $10,500, the amount that the host of the home-rehab DIY Network show The Vanilla Ice Project agreed to pay her for life.

Laura’s lawyer filed a motion to find Vanilla Ice in contempt of court.

‘The former husband’s failure to pay his full alimony obligation is a willful violation of the court’s order,’ Laura’s petition reads.

But the rapper told DailyMail.com exclusively that it’s just a glitch.

‘It’s being paid,’ Vanilla Ice said in a text message. ‘It was an auto-pay glitch. All this for a couple hundred dollars?’

While the other details of the divorce settlement have been kept under wraps by the justice system, it’s clear there was big money to be had by Laura.

According to his financial disclosures, Vanilla Ice is raking in $68,000 a month and has liquid assets, mostly cash, worth more than $3million. 

He also owns at least 15 real estate properties, eight vehicles, a boat and other assets worth a total $5,109,328.

His money partly comes from hosting The Vanilla Ice Project since 2009 and residuals from his early music as well as several tours worldwide over the past decade.

He’s scheduled to be a top act at the mid-April Tortuga Music Festival on Fort Lauderdale Beach.

In addition to sharing what could amount to half his fortune with his ex, Ice was ordered to pay alimony to the tune of $10,500 a month plus $110,000 for what he failed to pay her during the divorce proceedings, as well as more than $200,000 for her legal bills, according to court records.

In motions, Laura repeatedly accused Rob of being so tight-fisted that she could barely fend for herself.

Meanwhile, the forensics accounting expert she hired found the rapper was spending $387,406 per year on himself.

In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com after she filed for divorce in 2016, Laura said she’d been thinking about divorcing Rob for years.

‘I was just too scared to do it,’ she said at the time. She was referring to his three arrests in domestic violence incidents between 2001 and 2008.

‘Without me, he wouldn’t have a comeback,’ she said at the time. ‘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.’

In interviews, Vanilla Ice often compares himself to current fallen pop star Justin Bieber.

Van Winkle’s meteoric rise to the top of the music business came with the 1990 release of his rookie album, To The Extreme.

Within a couple years as the album sold 7million copies, the rapper was a multi-millionaire with a lifestyle to match what he portrayed in his music videos.

By the middle of the decade, however, the rapper was addicted to heroin, and his newer albums, as well as his finances, were tanking.

Van Winkle left show business and dabbled in jet-ski racing, motocross racing and even opened an extreme sports store in Miami Beach.

In near obscurity through the 2000s, 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 an updated remix of Ice Ice Baby.

Simultaneously in the U.S., the DIY Network aired the premiere of The Vanilla Ice Project, a reality series where Ice buys a distressed property, and with the help of a motley crew of handymen and their women tricks it out with mood lighting and other gimmicks then tries to sell it with big profits.

The show is soon to be in its ninth season.

Usually extremely private, Van Winkle seems happy with the divorce behind him.

He confirmed a rumor that he had a third daughter with a new girlfriend whose identity he is shielding.

‘The baby is doing great,’ he texted, ‘she just started walking.’

He also wrote he’s appearing in a Netflix movie produced by comedian Adam Sandler and starring Saturday Night Live alums David Spade and Molly Sims, The Wrong Missy.

‘It’s hands down the funniest movie you’ll ever see,’ Ice texted.

How We Can Help
If you, a friend or a family member find themselves in a situation such as this, please call the Law Office of Scott A. Ferris, P.A. at 305 670-3330 right away. Scott A. Ferris, Esq. is a licensed Family law attorney who has been practicing law for 33 years. He is available whenever you need him to defend your rights. Please learn about our firm at www.FerrisLawFirm.com.
Republished by the Law Office of Scott A. Ferris, P.A.