Celebrity breakups have been on a steady rise since the beginning of the year with the latest between Dan Brown and his wife; Blythe Brown.

Dan Brown, the author of the best-selling thriller ‘The Da Vinci Code‘ has settled a lawsuit with his ex-wife after she sued him for leading a double life during their marriage and spending their money on four women he had affairs with with with – including her horse trainer.

Blythe Brown, 69, sued the author last year, a year after the couple finalized the divorce from their 21-year marriage in 2019. She accused him in a lawsuit of carrying out ‘sordid extra-marital affairs’ and of ‘secretly plundering significant sums of their marital assets.’ The details of the settlement have not been made public.

The author, who was worth an estimated $160 million at the time of his divorce, counter-sued for slander and libel anyway, claiming her charges were a work of fiction.

After the lawsuit became public in 2020, the 53-year-old writer initially was worried that the accusations would sink his career, but his publisher told him it would help his sales.

Are you kidding? Everyone thinks you’re the most boring guy in the world… multiple affairs with beautiful women, finally there’s a story!’ the publisher told him, according to the Sunday Times.

In an interview with the Mail on Sunday in August 2020, Brown said his ex-wife’s claims were baseless.

‘She was throwing everything at the wall, hoping something would stick. We both know why she was upset and she had a right to be, but we were lonely and we looked for fulfillment in other places.’

But there was some truth to her claims. Brown admitted to having affairs with a 30-year-old Dutch horse trainer, Judith Pietersen, whom Blythe had hired to look after her prized show ponies.

The author told the Mail on Sunday last year that the affair started after his marriage was essentially over. And he did spend lavishly, giving Pietersen a $350,000 Fresian horse called LimiTed Edition as a present.

In his defense, Brown said that his ex-wife has 10 world-class horses of her own, and only outed him because she wanted the animal for herself ‘to inflict pain on the woman whom her ex-husband loved.’

‘We’re very much together and very happy,’ Brown told the Mail on Sunday last year.

His ex-wife got plenty, he said.

‘I gave Blythe half of everything I’d ever earned and more on top of that,’ he said.

Blythe, who is a songwriter, also claimed that she came up with the original premise for the author’s runaway bestseller, ‘The Da Vinci Code’ which has sold more than 80 million copies worldwide and was turned into a blockbuster movie starring Tom Hanks that grossed $758 million at the Box Office. Yeah!

In fact, during a 2006 trial against the publisher of ‘The Da Vinci Code,’ the court heard testimony that Blythe was an essential contributor to the thriller.

The book, in which a professor uncovers the secret that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and had children, launched his career and sparked the ire of the Vatican. The ex-wife also claimed that he hid future project ideas from her, like a children’s book, that she claimed were worth millions.

‘Blythe Brown and Dan Brown have reached an amicable resolution of their disagreements, and will have no further comment,’ Blythe Brown’s attorney Harvey Wolkoff said. ‘They request that their desire for privacy and closure be respected.’

No further details on the settlement were provided.