THE RICH are different from you and me. They have much more interesting divorces.

Take, for example, the contretemps between former General Electric boss Jack Welsh and his soon-to-be second ex-wife, Jane Beasley Welch.

She stormed out earlier this year when she found out that her brilliant, gutsy corporate lion had begun an affair with a journalist.

Suzy Wetlaufer, editor of Harvard Business Review, apparently fell hard for the big guy during a lengthy interview.

At the time their affair became public, I remember wondering why I never land interviews with billionaires who might be vulnerable to my charms.

But things have gotten very tawdry between Jack and Jane of late, and I am just as glad it is not me.

Jane is a former corporate attorney and, when Jack married her 13 years ago, he called her his "perfect partner."

She's an estimable adversary, too.

Just out from under a pre-nup that would have protected his then nearly billion dollars in assets - it expired on their 10th anniversary - Jane sniffed at his initial offer of $15 million and took him to court, where the judge required both to open their books.

Nobody in the big-ticket divorce biz can believe Jack didn't pay her to go away, no matter what it took, because the affidavits he had to file also revealed his perks-for-life deal with GE:

An apartment in Trump Tower, plus all costs associated with it: furniture, food, wine, flowers, cook, wait staff, housekeeper, laundry, dry-cleaning, subscriptions, postage and an open tab at the restaurant on the ground floor.

Access to the corporate jet, not to mention the corporate helicopter, limo and driver.

Dues to four country clubs, including Augusta National, home of the Masters.

Box seats or VIP seats to the Knicks, the Yankees and the Red Sox, the Metropolitan Opera, Wimbledon, the French Open and the Olympics.

Plus, GE picked up the tab for satellite TV at all six of his homes.

Unfortunately for the guy who made his reputation with brutal economies at GE, the same court documents reveal that Jack can very well pay for his own dry-cleaning.

The affidavits revealed that Jack earns about $1.4 million a month in pension, consulting fees, dividends and interest, plus $1,000 a month in Social Security.

It does keep a chunk of change to keep Jack on the road, however. He has two homes in Connecticut, two in Florida, and two in Massachusetts, and they cost about $51,531 a month to run.

His total monthly living expenses amount to $366,144, including $52,486 a month in gifts. (For her sake, let's hope Suzy is listed under "gifts.")

When Jack offered Jane $35,000 a month to keep her going, she was insulted.

Wouldn't you be?

Equally unfortunate for Jack is the timing of these revelations. Though he negotiated this deal years ago when GE was desperate to keep him from retiring early, its details came to light in the midst of multiple corporate scandals over executive compensations hidden from stockholders.

Jack wrote a big essay in The Wall Street Journal explaining the origins of the deal. But when all was said and done, Jack agreed to pay GE $2 million a year to cover the costs for all this stuff.

It is clear that Jane is playing for keeps.

In the matter of scorned wives, at least, the rich may not be that different from the rest of us.