If there is one obvious take away from all the Mel Gibson stories that have blared out from media headlines over the past couple years concerning his family life, it must be this: The man is rich.
Rich enough, indeed, to have hundreds of millions of dollars left over following court-mandated outlays for child support and other matters relating to his estrangement from ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva.
And, now, still solidly in the black following the details that emerged last week from the divorce settlement finally realized with his wife of nearly three decades, Robyn.
The settlement constitutes a virtual definition for the term high-asset divorce.
Consider that Gibson’s net worth as an actor, producer and business tycoon has been estimated as high as $850 million. Passion of the Christ, a film he directed, grossed $600 million alone.
The divorce settlement reflects that rarefied air, with Robyn, the mother of the couple’s seven children, being legally entitled to half of everything Gibson earned during their lengthy marriage.
California’s community property regime helps see to that. So, too, does the absence of a premarital agreement between the couple, which is always a central media inquiry into the marriage dissolution of any celebrity like Gibson.
Gibson’s holdings include more than $100 million in real estate investments, including an island he owns in Fiji. He has reportedly already transferred two Malibu homes worth more than $22 million to his ex-wife.
Gibson met his former spouse in Australia in the 1970s shortly after filming Mad Max, the film that initially thrust him into star status.
Source: People, “Mel Gibson’s ex wife takes half his estimated $850 million in divorce settlement” Ken Lee, Dec. 23, 2011
