Even before their lavish weddings, celebrities from Jennifer Lopez to Grace Kelly were given engagement rings worth $5M to $44.3M.
Lifestyle Asia has covered the most expensive wedding gowns and nuptials of various celebrities in separate features, but what about the accouterments prior to the special day? Engagement rings can be just as extravagant and valuable as the wedding rings themselves—especially when no expense is too big for a symbol of commitment.
According to The Knot and The Diamond Pro, the average cost of an engagement ring in the United States is $6,000 to $6,500. Of course, this figure can increase depending on factors like materials and jewelers. In fact, some celebrities have spent as much as eight figures on the special accessory.
From J.Lo to Grace Kelly, below are five celebrities whose lavish engagement rings cost millions of dollars:
Grace Kelly ($44.3 million)
Though Grace Kelly, the famous Hollywood actress and princess of Monaco, had passed away years ago, her legacy of sophistication lives on. There’s, for instance, her impressive 10.47-carat engagement ring for her marriage with Prince Rainier III of Monaco.
The sparkling white diamond piece impressed the public even in 1956, as it cost $4 million at the time. With inflation taken into consideration, Brides estimates that the ring would cost around $44.3 million today. Cartier designed the ring with an emerald cut—a unique aesthetic choice that many current celebrities have adopted for their own rings.
Jackie Kennedy Onassis ($20 million)
No list of valuable items is complete without mentioning Jackie Kennedy Onassis—the former U.S. First Lady, style icon, and socialite who made waves with a shining 40.4-carat engagement ring from Aristotle Onassis.
Though Onassis never publicly disclosed the actual price of the ring, it sold for $2.6 million in a 1996 auction after her death. In the current day, that would amount to roughly $20 million, as per Brides. The piece sports a marquis-cut “Lesotho III” design by Harry Winston.
Mariah Carey ($10 million)
Singer Mariah Carey doesn’t just top the charts—she also tops the list of modern-day celebrities with the most expensive engagement rings. Her engagement ring from former fiancé and casino mogul, James Packer, cost around $10 million. American jewelry designer, Wilfredo Rosado, crafted the 35-carat, emerald-cut piece, as per Prestige.
The ring was so impressive that Carey continued wearing it long after her engagement broke off. That said, the singer did eventually sell the accessory for $2.1 million to a Los Angeles-based jeweler back in May 2018. As a spin to the old adage: it’s better to have had a million-dollar engagement ring than to never have had one at all.
Beyoncé ($5 million)
Nothing is too costly for Queen Bey, and this holds true even with her engagement ring from Jay-Z in 2008. The 24-carat masterpiece, like many valuable rings, sports the emerald cut with shining white diamonds.
Media outlets report that Jay-Z spent around $5 million for the ring, which Lorraine Schwartz designed. Today, the ring would cost roughly $6.8 million with inflation—so when Beyoncé said “if you want it then you gotta put a ring on it,” Jay-Z certainly took the message seriously.
Jennifer Lopez ($5 million)
On a similar level as Beyoncé’s opulent accessory in the rankings is Jennifer Lopez’s 8.5-carat engagement ring from actor Ben Affleck. The piece doesn’t just feature trapezoidal white diamonds—at its center is a rare, bright green diamond. The unconventional stone is so precious that jewelers have estimated its cost to be anywhere between $5 million to $7 million, as per Bloomberg.
The ring clearly meant a lot to Lopez, who was previously engaged to Affleck in 2002 (with another ring that cost $2.2 million at the time). “I always say the color green is my lucky color,” Lopez shared in an interview with People. “I’ve realized there are many moments in my life where amazing things happened when I was wearing green.”
Banner photos from The Beau Monde Organization website.
