Hulk Hogan buys $1.6m beach house
Hulk Hogan has splashed out $1.6 million on a beach house next door to his home after winning his $140 million Gawker case.
The 63-year-old wrestler won the huge amount – $115 million in compensatory damages and $25 million in punitive damages – after the website posted a sex tape, which was taken in 2006, of him and Bubba The Love Sponge’s then-wife Heather Clem.
The luxurious beach house is 2,000 square foot in size, has an undisturbed view of the beach and is just moments away from the $3 million mansion which he owns with his wife Jennifer McDaniel, the DailyMail.com reports.
Meanwhile, Hulk previously admitted he was "overwhelmed" when he was handed the pay out by the website.
He said: "I tried to not snort again, just … water just came pouring out of my eyes. I just started shaking. I couldn’t hear anything except the judge going, ‘Yes’ to that or ‘Yes’ to this or ‘Yes’ for damages. I don’t remember what they said. But it was just so overwhelming when I knew that we had won and people believed me. It was just – gosh, it was a moment. It was a moment.
"Gawker was hoping that, financially, I wouldn’t be able to stay in the game with them, and I’d quit or tap out or something. I felt like I had this monster on my shoulders no matter where I went."
Gawker did appeal the decision but the judge upheld the court’s ruling.
Seth Berlin, the attorney for Gawker, claimed the amount of damages would be "one of the largest in Florida’s history and grossly excessive compared to the conduct at issue" but Hulk’s lawyer Shane Vogt said the $25 million was actually quite "low".
