Mel's £250m divorce bill: Gibson forced to hand over half his fortune at end of 31-year marriage
Mel Gibson’s divorce has cost him at least £250million – the most costly celebrity split on record.
The actor has given away half his £500million fortune to Robyn, the mother of seven of his eight children. They had no pre-nuptial agreement.
She will also pick up 50 per cent of the pension benefits the Lethal Weapon star has built up during their 31-year marriage.
Out of pocket: Mel Gibson will have to share his hefty pension with his ex-wife
Details of the settlement were made public yesterday, nine months after the couple divorced.
The payout easily eclipses the previous showbusiness record of £94million that singer Neil Diamond paid to ex-wife Marcia Murphey and the £74million Melissa Mathison reportedly received from Harrison Ford.
Gibson, 56, split from his wife, a dental nurse he had met while they were still living in Australia, following his infamous arrest in Malibu for drink driving in 2006.
Three years later she filed for divorce after Gibson announced he was having a baby with his Russian mistress, Oksana Grigorieva.
Gibson has made millions from a long film career, grossing more than £375million from his religious epic The Passion of the Christ alone.
Walking away with millions: Wife of 26 years Robyn will be very well off
He and Robyn together owned properties in the US, Australia, Costa Rica and a £10million private island in Fiji.
His ex-wife also gets half of his film rights, according to reports.
Divorce papers show that, along with Gibson’s Screen Actors Guild pension, she is entitled to a split of his Directors Guild of America pension and half the benefits he accumulated through their production company, Icon.
Since the end of his marriage, the actor and director has had a string of high profile problems in his personal life. In 2010, he admitted hitting Miss Grigorieva, who is the mother of his two-year-old daughter, Lucia.
Restraining order: Mel's relationship with Oksana turned sour after he hit her and threatened to kill her and bury her in the garden
He was also accused of threatening her with the words: ‘You need a ****ing bat in the side of the head. Alright, how about that?’
The outburst was caught on tape, and led to her filing a restraining order against him.
This year, Gibson was again recorded verbally abusing screenwriter Joe Eszterhas, and more recently his step-mother filed for a restraining order against the actor, claiming he had spat in her face.
It is not the most expensive divorce ever though. Rupert Murdoch handed £1billion to his ex-wife, Anna, and Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone’s divorce from Slavica cost him £470million.
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