Posted on 12/27/2011 7:22:42 AM PST by SeekAndFind
LOS ANGELES — A judge on Friday approved a divorce settlement between actor Mel Gibson and his estranged wife Robyn, ending their 31 years of marriage.
Robyn, Gibson's wife of nearly 30 years and the mother of their seven children, is walking away with half his fortune, once estimated to be as high as $850 million (according to the Los Angeles Business Journal in 2006) in what is considered the biggest divorce payout in Hollywood history.
Because the couple didn't have a prenuptial agreement, Robyn, 55, was legally entitled to half of everything he earned during their marriage, People magazine reported.
Among Gibson's estimated assets: more than $600 million grossed by the film "The Passion of the Christ" alone; $100-plus million in real estate investments worldwide (he bought an island in Fiji for $15 million in 2005); and $75 million for film and TV projects for which Gibson, 55, executive produced.
Robyn Gibson will return to using her maiden name, Robyn Denise Moore, but other details of the divorce were kept confidential. The settlement becomes effective on Jan. 9.
Gibson, 55, and his wife married in Australia in 1980. They separated in 2006 after Gibson was arrested for drunken driving in Malibu, Calif., and made anti-Semitic remarks that generated headlines around the world.
The actor's wife sued for divorce in April 2009, citing irreconcilable differences following Gibson's relationship with Oksana Grigorieva, with whom he has a 2-year-old daughter.
The "Lethal Weapon" and "Mad Max" star pleaded no contest to misdemeanor battery following an altercation with Grigorieva in 2010, and was sentenced to three years' probation.
He recently settled a custody battle with his former girlfriend, agreeing to pay Grigorieva $750,000 and share custody of their daughter.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
Married for 31 years, no prenup, yea, that’s how it goes. She wasn’t someone who married someone famous just with the intent of it being a quick marriage with a big payoff.
Hope they are able to both move past the pain and bitterness and live happy lives.
its cheaper to keep her, as the song goes..
She has $400 million reasons to be happy.
He has a twenty something girlfriend.
Done and done.
From all I have read, Robyn has kept Mel from completely going over the edge, even after their divorce.
Well like they old joke goes...
Why are divorces so expensive?
They are worth it.
An instructor in a real estate Law class once laid out an instructive scenario on how much a man lost as he and his wife drove across state lines on a “move” from East coast ... to California.
Anybody got Robyn’s phone number?
Does anyone really give a rat’s a.. about this beside those involved. Why is it even news worthy?
The beauty of it is she gets $400 million AND gets rid of the jerk!
All if it happiness and removal of bitterness were only solved by such superficial things...
I know a lot of miserable folks who have lots of money, and more than a few miserable womanizers.
Rarely is happiness found in superficiality. Not saying wealth and beauty don’t have their benefits, but doesn’t mean all is coming up roses.
There is a Cougar I could go for.
She doesn’t really get rid of him.
He’s the father of her children. She will still have dealings with him for the remainder of her life. As her children grow older, those contacts with him will be less frequent and less important.
But, she’ll never get back all of those years of her life. Nor will she be able to change who fathered her children. They’re bound on this earth forever, whether she likes it or not.
There will never be a day of her life where she doesn’t think of him and remember their marriage.
It is sad that it ended this way... especially for the children.
Who gets the dog?
That should be enough to keep her off food stamps.
Obviously she was the adult in the relationship...and she didn’t want his name.
Yes obviously, I mean we only know what we see in the press which includes virtually nothing about her, but from that we know she is the adult. /s
He has a substance abuse problem. I seriously doubt it was a surprise to her after 31 years.
It's an unfortunate fact that a wonderfully sound ethics of happiness is not taught to our kids.
That Ethics, clear and simple, identifies virtues in the context of too much, too little or just right.
Patience, for instance, is one of Aristotle's virtues.
Not wanting his name, and wanting to divorce him isn’t the point.
Divorce doesn’t mean she’ll ever be completely rid of him.
Too many people think that it is possible to walk off into a new life without the burden of their former spouse’s life ever invading their own, because they don’t understand that when there are children, the bonds of parenthood still bind them.
No, she won’t be calling him in desperation begging for child support because she must feed the children and he is a deadbeat father who doesn’t provide for his children’s welfare.
But, he’ll always be somewhere on the edges of her life. Her children will mention his name. He’ll invade their thoughts at birthday celebrations. He’ll take the kids on vacation and then they’ll return to her home and talk about what they did with him. His ghost will always be there.
She’ll have to share their hearts with him, forever.
He’s gonna wake up one morning, look down at his prone body on the sheets of his bed, and wish to God he had worked harder to maintain his marriage of 30+ years.
Some of you say “nay” ... but when he is left all alone, his body ailing, his mind failing, he’ll come to his senses and realize that a woman who stood with him for over thirty years was a ‘keeper’ and he is a failure for not realizing this sooner.
See my tagline ... marriage is a covenant, not a civil agreement. Covenant, not just an agreement to ‘love’ until love ends or one gets tired of the other or things aren’t working the way the ‘controller’ wants or some new face flatters a faltering ego ... I pray for the souls of the Gibsons and their children.
The difference between a Saint and everyone else, is that a Saint lives and acts in a saintly manner. Mel Gibson failed himself here ... as the male, the man, the husband, he knows his responsibility to the marriage covenant. God help him to repent, do penance, and reconcile with God and his family.
For a family man, Mel always struck me as a bit too much at ease all dressed in studded black leather in many of his films.
“She has $400 million reasons to be happy.
He has a twenty something girlfriend.”
Who, now that he hasn’t the same load of cash, will probably move on. No fool like an old fool.
I’m sure not all of the years were bad. In 31 years, there must have been some good times.
“... and wish to God he had worked harder to maintain his marriage of 30+ years”.
I truly hope for his sake that he gets his life/issues worked out. I truly wonder if he did... they couldn’t reunite. (yeah, I know that is a long shot but stranger things have happened)
No dude....I got dibbs!!!!!
She is rid of him as a constant source of irritation.
Aren't most of their "kids" grown?...late teens or 20's?
His youngest with Robyn is ten years old.
The laws are so screwed up. She doesn’t deserve 1/100th of his worth.
I’ll bet she felt little joy, though. The money had always been hers, just as my husband’s income is mine to use as household income. I’d bet she would much rather return to the years when they were a happy and whole family.
Agreed. And people wonder why marriages are down.
Poor kid...his life has been mixed up for a long time...thanks to good old dad!
I’m an adult child of divorce. My parents didn’t divorce until me and my four siblings were in the adult ages of 27-50.
I know the pain that the mere mention of my father’s name inflicted upon the heart of my mother, every single time his name was mentioned in her presence. A memory of him would bring her heartache.
There wasn’t a day of my mother’s life where her heart wasn’t pierced by the knowledge that the love of her life had torn her heart and her world to shreds.
Divorce is never something your heart can ignore, no matter the age of your children.
When I talk to other children of divorce, the pain is still there for their parents, no matter when the divorce happened, and no matter how advanced in age they were when it occurred. It never ends. It isn’t something you get over. These children can still see the scars that their parents carry, years later.
Modern society wants to make a marriage a partnership, it isn't, it is becoming one with someone.
Bless you.
Thank you.
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