# Mel Gibson is getting divorced. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 13, 2009, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-is-getting-divorced/492988 "2009-04-13T21:33:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Linty\_Fresh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Linty\_Fresh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linty_Fresh)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-is-getting-divorced/492988/1 "2009-04-13T21:33:41Z")
[According to People Magazine.](http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/04/13/mel.gibson.divorce/index.html) You know, I happen to think of Mel as a massive tool, an anti-semitic nutjob who’s taken one too many cues from his anti-semitic nutjob dad, and who couldn’t learn from his mistakes if he paid them tuition, but this does make me sad. They were married for almost 30 years, and they had stuck together through some tough times. His wife Robyn is a living saint from everything I’ve seen and heard, and this couldn’t be easy on either of them. Also, I don’t hate Mel completely. He’s obviously intelligent, he’s got a great sense of humor, and there’s only so far I can go in my dislike of a fellow **Three Stooges** fan. He also seemed to work really well with kids. He’s not all bad. He’s just not all there. I don’t care enough about celebrities to let it ruin my evening, but tonight I’m going to hug my wife a little more tightly than usual and remind myself why I stay away from alcohol. ---
**Author:** ![Linty\_Fresh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Linty\_Fresh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linty_Fresh)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-is-getting-divorced/492988/2 "2009-04-13T21:58:55Z")
[Actual link to the People magazine article, cuz im not that brite.](http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20272014,00.html) ---
**Author:** ![Annie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/858c86/32.png) [@Annie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-is-getting-divorced/492988/3 "2009-04-14T02:27:30Z")
$5 on their being a new Mrs Gibson within 13 months of the finalization of legalities. Yeah, call me a sappy romantic ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-is-getting-divorced/492988/4 "2009-04-14T02:29:58Z")
Remember when Mel Gibson was cool? ---
**Author:** ![Annie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/858c86/32.png) [@Annie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-is-getting-divorced/492988/5 "2009-04-14T02:43:58Z")
_The Year of Living Dangerously?_ Then? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-is-getting-divorced/492988/6 "2009-04-14T03:04:42Z")
> [@Annie](#): > > _The Year of Living Dangerously?_ Then? Yep. That was a good one. And _Mad Max_. And _Braveheart_. But then he got all weird an’ shite. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-is-getting-divorced/492988/7 "2009-04-14T03:17:31Z")
Maybe she is looking for someone with less tolerance for Jooos and who isn’t obsessed with being fake tortured in movies, maybe she wants a man who is into real pain. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-is-getting-divorced/492988/8 "2009-04-14T03:20:21Z")
His wife picked a great time to leave him, too. Right after Easter. I guess she had to at least give him that one day, before she ran off to chase that 12-inch kosher salami she’s always dreamed of. ---
**Author:** ![Linty\_Fresh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Linty\_Fresh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linty_Fresh)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-is-getting-divorced/492988/9 "2009-04-14T23:14:40Z")
> [@Annie](#): > > $5 on their being a new Mrs Gibson within 13 months of the finalization of legalities. Yeah, call me a sappy romantic I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it were much sooner than that. Mel doesn’t strike me as someone who’s going to do very well on his own for long. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-is-getting-divorced/492988/10 "2009-04-14T23:24:20Z")
Since Gibson’s weird little church is more Catholic than the Roman Catholic Church, I assume he doesn’t believe in divorce. But apparently his wife does, which makes me glad we live in a country where you can just decide to ignore what your church says, as long as you don’t break the secular laws. Still, it’s a shame. They’ve got a huge number of children. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-is-getting-divorced/492988/11 "2009-04-14T23:36:09Z")
A friend of mines parents broke up after 32 years, he was 24 and he was devastated. Went into near depression for a year, despite being a pretty successful barrister (like his parents). I guess the shock is always there. I wonder what it is like though, got to be doubly hard when you have been married for so long. All divorces are sad, but where you have been together more than a quater of a century, the roots have to be very deep. In my friends case his father refused to take back his grandmothers rings from his ex-wife (which he had given to her as an engagement) saying it should be for one of their future daughter in laws ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-is-getting-divorced/492988/12 "2009-04-15T00:47:32Z")
Mel Gibson’s wife is Episcopalian, not Catholic. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-is-getting-divorced/492988/13 "2009-04-15T01:23:33Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Mel Gibson’s wife is Episcopalian, not Catholic. [And going to hell](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4224452/). > [@](#): > > “Put it this way. My wife is a saint. She’s a much better person than I am. Honestly. She’s, like, Episcopalian, Church of England. She prays, she believes in God, she knows Jesus, she believes in that stuff. And it’s just not fair if she doesn’t make it, she’s better than I am. But that is a pronouncement from the chair. I go with it.” Because of Mel’s uber Catholicism (not just run of the mill “mass on Sunday” variety but “The Templars just reunited and sent a telegram for you to ‘Chill’” Catholic) I doubt he’ll get remarried anytime soon. This is going to be one whopper of a divorce settlement since he had nothing when he married her so it’s all community property. He made over $150 million from _Passion of the Christ_ alone (though he gave loads to charity), and by his own admission he’s been unfaithful to her many times and through all manner of substance problems so she’s got him by the short hairs. Of course I’m pretty sure they’re at the level where he can give her $300 million and still keep 4 houses and a private jet. I had thought their daughter was a nun but apparently not. She’s married and has two kids (who I’m assuming are by the current husband as if she was a nun I don’t think Jesus would just let them walk, especially after all that hullabaloo over his kid with Mary Magdalene). ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-is-getting-divorced/492988/14 "2009-04-15T01:43:12Z")
> [@Baldwin](#): > > Since Gibson’s weird little church is more Catholic than the Roman Catholic Church, I assume he doesn’t believe in divorce… And after 30+ years he can appeal all the way to Rome and he’s still not going to get an annulment. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-is-getting-divorced/492988/15 "2009-04-15T02:16:25Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > And after 30+ years he can appeal all the way to Rome and he’s still not going to get an annulment. Especially since his sect ([the Sedevacantist](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedevacantism)) doesn’t acknowledge the authority of any pope for the last 50 years. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-is-getting-divorced/492988/16 "2009-04-15T03:01:41Z")
Have you seen [Mel’s new girlfirend?](http://www.wwtdd.com/post.phtml?pk=22622) He’s screwed in court…but I’m sure he’ll find ways to console himself. ---
**Author:** ![TooSchoolforCool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tooschoolforcool/32/19621_2.png) [@TooSchoolforCool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TooSchoolforCool)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-is-getting-divorced/492988/17 "2009-04-15T03:23:52Z")
As I understand it, they’ve been separated for 3 years at this point. Not sure that a girlfriend really has the same impact after that. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-is-getting-divorced/492988/18 "2009-04-15T04:48:07Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > Have you seen [Mel’s new girlfirend?](http://www.wwtdd.com/post.phtml?pk=22622) > > He’s screwed in court…but I’m sure he’ll find ways to console himself. She’s going to be really hot when she grows up. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-is-getting-divorced/492988/19 "2009-04-15T05:52:12Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > This is going to be one whopper of a divorce settlement since he had nothing when he married her so it’s all community property. He made over $150 million from _Passion of the Christ_ alone (though he gave loads to charity), and by his own admission he’s been unfaithful to her many times and through all manner of substance problems so she’s got him by the short hairs. Of course I’m pretty sure they’re at the level where he can give her $300 million and still keep 4 houses and a private jet. Gibson’s fortune is estimated at approximately $900 million, according to [U. S. News & World Report](http://www.usnews.com/blogs/luxe-life/2009/04/14/mel-gibsons-divorce-priciest-in-hollywood-history.html) and is expected to be the costliest in Hollywood history. Robin Gibson could get up to $450 million. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-is-getting-divorced/492988/20 "2009-04-15T05:54:33Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > Have you seen [Mel’s new girlfirend?](http://www.wwtdd.com/post.phtml?pk=22622) > > He’s screwed in court…but I’m sure he’ll find ways to console himself. What a great Christian!