Do You Really Think Mel Gibson Is Bothered by Giving His Wife $400 Million?
There is something poignant and symbolic that Robyn Gibson, the loyal, dutiful wife of actor Mel Gibson, chose Easter weekend to file divorce papers after 28 years of marriage. With Easter representing resurrection, maybe this is a new beginning for her.
When she met her husband, then a struggling Australian actor, she was a 24-year-old dental assistant. While he was on locations around the globe filming movies for months at a time, she fulfilled an important part of their partnership. She was home raising seven children, a massive job that includes keeping meticulous schedules that rival many CFO's spread sheets.
There's the doctors appointments, the after school activities which requires shuttling kids to and from ballet to hockey practices, a job that needs to be planned with Swiss like efficiency and the expectation that somewhere along the line a child will forget a sneaker or stick and call Mom and have it delivered.
And then there's the tyranny of feeding a small army of people three times a day who often have different menu requirements and who without fail will complain bitterly about being forced to eat green vegetables. This job continues at night where Mom then enforces the bedtime rituals of showering, reading, hugging and then usually exhausted can plop into bed hopeful that at day's end you have time to read a Huffington Post or magazine article.
Sure, they most likely had nannies to make it easier, much much easier, but Robyn Gibson still fulfilled her job in being a stay at home mom so that Mel could parachute into the home and have it function with the elevated tastes of a movie star until he flew out again to another film set. It was their bargain. And now that they're getting divorced, she is entitled to share in the fortune created while both were married. Divorce laws are designed to protect the connective glue of society which is family and recognizes that each person's participation is valuable.
While the press is having myopic focus on the size of the divorce settlement, gleefully speculating like Wall Street subprime traders that this will be the biggest amount ever, even bigger than Madonna's or Phil Collins' payouts, the truth is that unlike the vast majority of divorcing couples, Mel and Robyn Gibson's lifestyle will not be diminished.
This is not a case where the divorcing man supports his former household and hardly can afford a studio apartment with a Sears couch and widescreen TV or where the wife now has to explain why the kids' piano lessons are canceled. Do you really think that Mel Gibson, who is reportedly worth over a billion dollars, will be impacted if his fortune is halved? Plus, the money that will be given to Robyn will end up being left to his children, his grandchildren and even great grandchildren.
I would bet they will reach a settlement where she walks away with several hundred million dollars and continues with her life. She will no longer have the cachet of being Mrs. Mel Gibson but will have plenty of cash to have a fabulous life and find someone who treasures her -- and hopefully not just her newfound treasure.
He on the other hand can go on frolicking with the mysterious woman who he was clutching in Costa Rica. This picture we're told was the breaking point - I am always curious what creates those breaking points for people - and Robyn finally said enough.
After she filed, the couple then released a statement that they were separated since August 2006, just a month after his venomous attacks on homosexuals and anti-Semitic rant to a Jewish police officer who had arrested him for drunk-driving. But my guess is that Robyn nailed him for not being the devout Catholic he purports to be and embarrassing her in public which to her broke a personal vow, common in many Hollywood marriages. Do what you want when I'm not around but don't let me know about it and respect our history together.
Since both of them still will co-parent their 10-year-old son, and there's enough money for everyone to live well, most likely this case will be settled sooner vs. later. He doesn't want another tabloid drama a la Paul McCartney or Christie Brinkley. With seven children together, the marriage may be over but the parental partnership is one that does last forever.
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Would you mind giving up half what you own? Money is only money right?
But what about equality? What about that?
Can women ever hope to be seen as equal, when they claim dependency, and use the law as a means of enforcing that dependency?
In case you haven't noticed, marriage is disapearing in the west, each one of these high profile divorces sends a signal to men that marriage is a liability from which you can't protect yourself.
In Brittain, more children are now born out of wedlock than in marriage, maybe that's ok by you, but for many, that's a prescripiton for a society full of instability, like the one we have now.
pachel....
Wow you guys are all really missing the point.
When a couple splits....
Marriage is formed as a joint partnership that is suppose to last until death to them part....
so when they part everything partssssss
Stop with the oh she doesnt deserve this or that IT"S IRREVELANTTTTTT
She was his wife who was publicly humiliated and cheated on dozens of times.
WHy WOULD SHE STAY!!!!!!
In general, I would tend to agree with hotrod. I do not think that being married to someone entitles you to half of their assets and in many instances joint assets rules certainly are a joke. It is outrageous the way some greedy spouses have managed to profit from their dissolved marriages. In this case though, I can't say that I could ever feel badly for Mel. That disgusting homophobic
Leigh 84, I tend to agree with you on most points. How much money is enough? How much is one spouse entitled to? As a mom, and a working mother,I know how much of oneself that a mom gives up to raise your family, so I do believe there is a need for a financial "payment" for lack of a better word. We can all argue about how much that is worth, how much that can differ from woman to woman, etc. So, that's why we have laws. The law is the law on the dissolution of marriage. It goes both ways, whichever one makes the most money, the other one is entitled to it. This is on a much grander scale, something most of us know nothing about. Personally, I feel most, if not at all, entertainers, athletes, etc. make way too much money for what they do. Their priorities are messed up- how many homes are enough?, how many cars?. As for Mel, I don't feel bad for him either. He is a hateful man, a HYPOCRITE, all the while building a church! In closing, they mean nothing to me and don't affect my daily life. Just another example of the rich and shameless, to use one of Mel's movie lines. Stories like these make me thankful I'm just a working class schleb. Hope his new movie goes bust; I won't be going.
Ms. Brooke paints a picture of divorce with empathy for women who have given the best years of their lives to raise their children with an absentee husband. While Mel was busy growing his business and nurturing his career, his wife was raising and nurturing his children, the most precious of commodities. While the marriage may have deteriorated over time, he has seven wonderful children who would not be who they are today without the love and devotion of their mother. He is free to go out and start a new life with a younger woman. Men have an unfair advantage here. It's much more difficult for her to start over. Marriage is a contract - a business AND spiritual one. He has an obligation to take care of her and I don't see why giving her half of what he has is too much to pay. Brooke points out that half a billion dollars would certainly not require a budget to live on...I tend to agree with her.
The bigger question is this .....Do you believe that half of the money that Mel earned should legitimately be considered his wife's ? Does anyone really believe the fact they were married should allow his wife be able to collect 50% of their marital assets and ongoing lifestyle allowances ? Joint asset rules are a joke. Alimony is a joke.
Yes, I think he will care about halving his estate. Men always do regardless of the "bargain" they had with their wives of long standing. In his thinking, being a wife and mother isn't as valuable as being a movie star and director. We'll see.
$400 million isn't what it used to be, you know, after taxes and all.....
While I have no problem with her asking for half of what he has, with only one child under 18 (Their seven children are Hannah (born 1980), twins Edward and Christian (born 1982), William (born 1985), Louis (born 1988), Milo (born 1990), and Thomas (born 1999).) it would seem child support is a joke. IF she can't take care of ONE child on FOUR HUNDRED MILLION, she needs to seek help desperately. BUT since child support is mandatory, she'll probably get it.
At her age, she will probably only attract scammers and other forms of gigolos.
Oh well the rich are indeed different.
Yes, they'll be seeing each other at their children's weddings. It never ends. I bet a lot of single women in the world are happy about this. He's probably going to increase ticket sales by the multi-millions in his next movie just for being single again.
The sad part is she'll have a lot of money and yet she won't be with Mel anymore. There's no amount of money that can make up for the emptiness she's going to feel without him. It's too bad. I thought she seemed loyal. Now the children will remind her of him, and they might feel the pain, as parents tend to make the children suffer in this chain of events. Let's hope they don't get blamed in this unfortunate incident. I think his new bimbo from Russia is just a temporary fling. Bye de Bye, his children are very lucky to have had him this long as their daddy, and I know he's a loyal and loving father. He's been a flirt from what I've seen for a very long time. ...and this isn't the first time Robyn has threatened to leave him. Maybe they'll work it out.
Miss him?!@#$%^&* I doubt Robyn's spent much time with him all these years. Now she can go out and live her own life since most of the kids are grown. I probably think she'll be relieved.
Amen!! she will not be missing him if she is smart....
"Is Mel Gibson bothered by giving his wife $400M?" No. He probably views this as his penance.
"She will no longer have the CACHET of being Mrs. Mel Gibson." Say that again? The Mrs. may very well revert to her maiden name and try to leave the past behind.
Or he realizes at this point, he's far too old to spend it all before he dies, so what the heck.
So let me get this straight. Mel's loyal wife works hard with the kids because Mel is out doing the Hollywood thing and now, after 28 years she deserves a half a billion dollars? So what about women who have a large families and limited family income? I can guarantee you they are working a hell of a lot harder then Robyn Gibson to keep their family on the right track and they don't have a billion dollars to fall back on. What do these hard working women deserve if their marriages go sour?
Answer: Whatever they can get.
Let's be honest here, this has nothing to do with what Robyn Gibson deserves and everything to do with what she's able to get. I can't really comment on Robyn Gibson's motives, I don't know what she wants, what she's gone through over the last 28 years, or what she feels she deserves because of it, but a lot of the "you go girl" and "milk him dry" comments I have been reading in the other 'Mel Gibson Divorce' stories are testimony to the fact that feminism is only as good as the number of zeros on the cheque. Women just want to get paid, and in a world where money IS power that is no surprise But in cases like this don't call justice and don't call it feminism, it's capitalism and to dress it up in some kind of pseudo morality is insulting.
I also wanted to say that there are only a few things on this planet any one person should get paid a half a billion dollars to do and being responsible for your children and raising a loving family isn't anywhere on the list.
How about playing a "wacky cop" with an older partner just weeks from retirement -- 5 times. How much is that worth?
It really doesn't matter what you think it's worth, the fact is, he got paid big bucks, she married him for rich or poor and guess what...he'
I doubt the kind of nonsense Mel has been serving up as an actor all these years don't deserve the billions dollars he seems to have accumulated either. So what's your point?
While I don't have a problem with her getting half of what he's worth, I find it disturbing that she's asking for child support and spousal support IN ADDITION to the half!
I'm sorry, but if you aren't able to keep yourself and your child up in the manner that you are used to on $400,000,000, then you need to REALLY reconsider your spending habits!!!
Child support is mandatory in California. It is done by the numbers - how much each earns and time share with child - and an equation spits out the answer. You can't "opt out" of child support in any state, I believe, but I do know California works that way. Spousal support is less formulaic. This issue is not about spending habits, divorce is the splitting of an economic unit. Think of it as HP splitting in half and take the emotion out and it's much easier to understand.
I understand the point of BOTH child support and spousal support, and in some cases (maybe even most...) it makes a lot of sense. However, in cases like these the judges need to have the discretion to refuse to order child support, and to understand that spousal support is NOT needed in a situation like this!!
Seriously.
there a million...
Lethal Weapon movie...
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