As part of her divorce from Charles Chaplin, she received $600,000, the largest cash settlement ever in an American divorce up to that time (the decree was granted on August 22, 1927). Chaplin was also ordered to establish $100,000 trust funds for their sons 'Charles Chaplin Jr.' and Sydney Chaplin. Lita's petition included a 52-page complaint against Charlie, listing his sexual peccadilloes. Chaplin settled after she had threatened to name five "prominent women" with which he had been sexually involved in while married to Grey.
In 1932, she lost a two-month-long court battle with ex-husband Charles Chaplin to prevent her from starring with their two sons, seven-year-old Charles Chaplin Jr., and six-year-old Sydney Chaplin, in a proposed movie, "The Little Teacher." While Charlie was away on a foreign trip, Lita Grey signed a contract with director David Butler to co-star in the film with the Chaplin boys. Upon returning to the U.S., Chaplin filed suit against her on August 25th, on the grounds that he wanted his boys to lead a normal life. Chaplin's own boyhood had been disrupted by work. On October 26th, the court ruled in Chaplin's favor. The film was never made.
Lita was 16 years old when she and Charles Chaplin wed; he was 35.
Mother of Sydney Chaplin and Charles Chaplin Jr.
Portrayed by Deborah Moore in Chaplin (1992).
Provided the name and some of the inspiration for Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita".
Son, Charles Chaplin Jr., died of alcohol abuse in 1968