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Body guards: a growing number of celebrities are protecting their livelihoods by insuring their physical assets.

Article Excerpt
Key Points

* A number of celebrities have had various body parts insured to protect against injury or illness.

* Celebrities' legs have been a popular body part to insure.

* Lloyd's of London has issued many of the celebrity policies, with such clients as Billy Joel, the Rolling Stones, and Michael Flatley.

* Most celebrity policies protect against either permanent total disability without hope of improvement or temporary total disability.

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Next time you spot your favorite actor, actress or professional athlete in the media, take a closer look at his or her best features--chances are they're insured.

Over the years, a growing number of celebrities have had various body parts insured to protect against injury or illness. Supermodel Heidi Klum is the newest member of the group. Klum's role as a spokeswoman for German electronics company Braun's Soft-Perfection Epilator prompted the company to protect its assets by insuring the model's legs for nearly 52 million.

Policies to protect celebrities began more than 80 years ago when silent film star Ben Turpin, known for his crossed eyes, was asked to take out a $20,000 policy against his eyes becoming uncrossed. Since then, such policies have included:

* a $50,000 policy insuring crooner Jimmy...