The Price of Independence: Kristin Cavallari's Uncommon James Divorce Showdown

When Kristin Cavallari decided to walk away from her marriage to Jay Cutler, she wasn’t walking away empty-handed—but she was walking away poorer. On the Tuesday, July 7 episode of the“Aspire”podcast, the 39-year-old jewelry entrepreneur revealed that her husband received half the value of Uncommon James, her jewelry brand, as part of their divorce settlement.

Here’s the twist that reframes everything: Cavallari says she got nothing from Cutler financially. No alimony, no spousal support, no cash from the former NFL player’s substantial earnings during their seven years of marriage. Instead, she handed over half of Uncommon James in cash and properties—a move she called“a really large asset”on their balance sheet. At the time, she was furious. She admitted being“really pissed”about the settlement, but her perspective has shifted dramatically since then.

The irony isn’t lost on Cavallari.“Which is interesting because if I didn’t have Uncommon James, I could have taken half of his money, right?”she explained. Instead, her success became her independence. The business that could have freed her financially ended up costing her financially—yet paradoxically, that financial blow became motivational fuel. She’s learned to view the settlement as a catalyst rather than a setback.“Now, I’m so thankful, because I think—for me—I’ve needed these things in my life to keep going,”she reflected.“I have found that that is an instance where I was like,‘I’m going to fight harder.'”

But Cutler isn’t buying her version of events. The 43-year-old disputed Cavallari’s claim that she received nothing, pointing out the logical reality: no judge in Tennessee would sign off on an agreement leaving him with every dollar he earned during their marriage while she got zero. Speaking on his“Take It Outside”podcast in August 2025, Cutler called her narrative“irresponsible”and“borderline slander,”insisting he has a 67-page divorce decree signed by a judge with a detailed financial breakdown. He also classified Uncommon James as a marital asset, since Cavallari built it while they were together—meaning he had legitimate claim to a portion of it.

The disconnect here reveals more than just dueling narratives about money. It’s a fundamental disagreement about what“nothing”means. Cavallari is claiming she didn’t receive financial support from Cutler post-divorce. Cutler is arguing that nobody—especially not her—walked away with zero dollars. Both statements could technically be true, depending on how you define the terms. What’s undeniable is this: Cavallari’s willingness to surrender half her company rather than tap into Cutler’s NFL fortune tells you everything about her priorities at that moment. She chose independence over security, and even though it stung, she’s determined to prove it was the right call.