Richie has sold millions of records in a lengthy career

In an income declaration at Los Angeles Superior Court, Diane Richie said the couple had experienced "an extraordinary extravagant lifestyle".

She said she had "no limit on what I could spend" during their marriage.

But Lionel Richie told BBC One chat show host Michael Parkinson his wife had denied seeking the amount quoted.

Diane's costs $20,000 a year on plastic surgery $15,000 a month for clothing, shoes and accessories $5,000 on jewellery, $3,000 on dermatology, $1,000 for laser hair removal and $600 on massages

"That's impossible," he said, referring to reports that she was seeking $3.6m (�2m) a year in child and "spousal" support.

Richie said when he heard about the amount reported, "it scared me to death".

In her court papers, Diane Richie said her husband "never had a problem earning money.

"I know that he earns in excess of $300,000 per month because we have always comfortably spent at least that in any given month."

She cited the upkeep of their $40m (�21.4m), 30-room Beverly Hills mansion, which the estranged couple still shares.

Lionel Richie's adopted daughter Nicole (r) with Paris Hilton

It included a $75,000 (�45,000) monthly mortgage and wages for a full-time staff of nine.

There were other staff to "maintain our plants, detail our cars, care for our pool, groom our dog, maintain our aquarium and a painter for regular touch ups on the house".

"We could comfortably afford to spend unlimited sums of money on everything and anything we chose," she wrote.

The couple spent at least $1,000 (�540) a month for birthday presents when their five-year-old daughter, Sofia, attended friends' parties.

They also donated up to $3,000 (�1,600) a month to charity and to their children's schools, she added.

Diane Richie, a former waitress, dancer and clothing designer, said she met the singer in 1984 while he was married to his first wife, Brenda.

Because we have kids, we have to be friends - it will always be that way Lionel Richie

They married in 1996, and she filed for separation in October last year and then for divorce in January, citing irreconcilable differences.

Describing the separation as amicable, Lionel Richie, 54, told Parkinson: "It still in the stages now, where we are rounding off to see where we are.

"You know, marriages go through their ups and downs. As I told her before, if it does happen to end, then I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope that we are friends at the end.

"But because we have kids, we have to be friends. It will always be that way. It has to be that way."

Richie's hits include Say You, Say Me, Hello and Penny Lover.

He is the adoptive father of Nicole Richie, who starred alongside Paris Hilton in the US reality TV show The Simple Life.