"It’s a billion-dollar divorce!" says celebrity divorce lawyer Raoul Felder.
Yesterday’s headlines that Mel Gibson, 53 and his wife Robyn Moore, also 53, were filing for divorce after 28 years of marriage has now been eclipsed by a handful of thornier follow-up questions. Namely, how much will the split cost the A-lister? How will it affect his reputation? Will it jeopardize the projects he has in development? And perhaps, most tantalizing of all, will it be the costliest celebrity divorce ever?
In short, the answers are: lots, remains to be seen, not likely, and almost certainly yes.
With no indication that the couple had hammered out a prenuptial agreement before their 1980 wedding, Gibson’s low-profile wife is now legally entitled to half of everything he’s earned over their nearly-three decades together, according to Felder, which could translate into roughly $500 million.
People.com estimates Gibson’s fortune to be in the neighborhood of $1 billion (The Passion of the Christ, a labor of love project he directed and produced, pulled in $600 million at the box office, alone), which puts the split on track to be the richest celebrity divorce ever. Other celeb splits with lots of zeroes include Michael Jordan paying $168 million in his 2006 divorce from his wife Juanita, Steven Spielberg’s shelling out $100 million in his 1989 split from actress Amy Irving, and Sir Paul McCartney’s $48.6 million 2008 settlement with Heather Mills.
Obviously, half of a billion is still a nice chunk of change to have left in your bank account. So don’t cry for Gibson yet. The stickier issue, however, may be whether the split will tarnish Gibson’s reputation as a devoted father (Gibson and Moore have seven kids ranging in age from 10 to 28) and a devout Christian — an image already damaged by his 2006 arrest for drunken driving and the bizarre tirade that accompanied it.
"If he was Matthew Broderick or Tom Hanks, the answer would be yes," says Felder. "But the public has been desensitized already to this fellow, so I don’t think it’s going to affect him at all."
Felder doesn’t expect the divorce to have much effect on Gibson’s
upcoming projects, beyond the fact that his wife will have to be bought
out for her share in them. And that could get complicated since he has
more than a dozen films in various stages of development, ranging from Mad Max 4 to an adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.
"This divorce could be very difficult because he’s one of the few stars
who acquires properties and gets involved with them on different
levels, like directing and producing," says Felder. "These are very
hard to value, and that makes it not a simple divorce."
Still, Felder doesn’t expect that the couple will turn their split
into a drawn-out battle. "If [Moore] is like any other wife, she’ll
want her money now. She doesn’t want to be a partner in a movie that
may or may not be made 10 years from now. I think she’d want to be paid
up front. Until then, I’d try to keep it quiet. Because one of the
problems with these divorces is, if you unleash the dogs of war, you
can never put them back in the bottle again, to mix metaphors. But who
knows, it may wind up being World War III — you can’t tell."
More Mel Gibson:
Will Mel Gibson’s rant hurt him in Hollywood?
Mel Gibson’s wife files for divorce
Mel Gibson debuts ‘The Colonel’ on ‘Kimmel’ (and denies ever saying ’sugar tits’)
Felder doesn’t expect the divorce to have much effect on Gibson’supcoming projects, beyond the fact that his wife will have to be boughtout for her share in them. And that could get complicated since he hasmore than a dozen films in various stages of development, ranging from Mad Max 4 to an adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451."This divorce could be very difficult because he’s one of the few starswho acquires properties and gets involved with them on differentlevels, like directing and producing," says Felder. "These are veryhard to value, and that makes it not a simple divorce."
Still, Felder doesn’t expect that the couple will turn their splitinto a drawn-out battle. "If [Moore] is like any other wife, she’llwant her money now. She doesn’t want to be a partner in a movie thatmay or may not be made 10 years from now. I think she’d want to be paidup front. Until then, I’d try to keep it quiet. Because one of theproblems with these divorces is, if you unleash the dogs of war, youcan never put them back in the bottle again, to mix metaphors. But whoknows, it may wind up being World War III — you can’t tell."
More Mel Gibson:
Will Mel Gibson’s rant hurt him in Hollywood?
Mel Gibson’s wife files for divorce
Mel Gibson debuts ‘The Colonel’ on ‘Kimmel’ (and denies ever saying ’sugar tits’)
Comments (1-30) of 90 Add your comment
there’s a war going on.our troops are fighting for their lives,and that is important news.who gives a crap about mel gibson,his divorce,or his lousy money!
Why are you even on EW.com if you are so repelled by “Entertainment News”? Weird.
Why is EW treating Raoul Felder like he knows anything about this divorce? Does being identified as a “celebrity divorce lawyer” somehow give Felder knowledge of ALL celebrity divorces, even if he is not involved in any shape or form? What does Felder know about Gibson’s finances? His production deals or company or projects? What Felder “knows” about the Gibsons is what anyone reading TMZ knows yet EW feels free to quote him opining about Moore’s intentions and divorce strategy. Ridiculous. Just because Felder is a publicity whore doesn’t mean EW has to carry his nonsense.
I guess Mel has the answer to his movie “What do women want?”, ant the anser is: At least half of your money Mel!!!!
Why is this even being sensationalized? Mel doesn’t exactly seem like a money monger. I’m sure he will be fine giving a large amount of his money to the mother of his children that has been with him most of his life. They don’t seem to be in the messy divorce arena.
i hope his wife gets a good jewish attorney!!!
“devout Christian”
How can you use them two words together and get divorced? In my mind he/they couldn’t be to devout.
It won’t be bad for him, at least not financially. He’ll still have at least HALF A BILLION DOLLARS left.
I don’t understand the media attention to the money. It doesn’t appear to me that either mel or robyn were ever about money. I don’t expect either one of them are going to become moneywhores now. This is about a family and emotions. The fact that there is a lot of money involved doesn’t mean anything, at least not to this family. It’s NOT about money.
Sorry, but the costliest divorce ever, by far, is the one Formula 1 racing supremo Bernie Ecclestone is going through right now: his wife Slavica is expect to get over one billion dollars…
It won’t be bad for him, at least not financially. He’ll still have at least HALF A BILLION DOLLARS left.
Who cares about it? You clicked on the link didn’t you? For whatever reason, we as humans have to look at, and pay attention to things like car crashes, high priced divorces, and wardrobe malfunctions. It’s just in our nature.
I vote for more wardrobe malfunctions personally.
Wow…after a long marriage, wonder what happened.
http://tvdonewright.wordpress.com
Don’t you know that he is in love with a nice Russian young woman?That’s the reason!
She should get a Jewish lawyer–the ultimate revenge.
pretty good wages to earned on her back!
Of course that is not why she married him, at first. but still…
These is supposed to be a time of equality yet in every divorce there is the speculation of how much she is going to get.
How about he buy her a house of her choice, a car of her choice, split the custody and call it a day. Otherwise she is just another member of the oldest profession. Just like any and every women that gets a huge divorce settlement. She is a professional and successful actor in her own right. If she don’t like the marriage, just leave. Women are now able to earn their own income, yet we still have this archaic idea that the man is liable for support after the marriage fails. Talk about double standards. I really don’t care how much more he is worth than her, she has enough and does not need to prostitute herself into maintaining the life style she has become accustomed to. It is time to stop this madness, and women wonder why guys are not interested in marriage.
And what’s the point to have a Juwish lawyer?Will you tell,please?
Come on. All that is happening is that she is taking HER half and leaving. 28 years, 7 kids and 1 baffoon. She is just taking HER half and leaving.
This article is despicable and imbecilic from start to close.
“How bad with it be for him” is the blaring headline designed to pump up traffic. Gibson is not the victim. Nor is he the owner of the billion dollars. Like it or not, misogynists, they earned that money together from when they had nothing. Marriage is a partnership and no one, not even Mel Gibson, reaches success on his own. Unfortunately, wives like Ms. Gibson don’t have contracts spelling out and pinpointing their contributions the way agents, lawyers and others so. It is always hilarious when men of influence who have stayed married for years, with families, suddenly at divorce claim they did it all on their own.
And then quoting lawyers like Felder who comes across as a salivating parasite (yes, a redundancy for “lawyer.”) He appears gleeful
This story is not “tantalizing.” It is grotesque that someone of Gibson’s hypocrisy and hate has profited on the public’s ignorance, and now the public’s prurience.
to Netizen
+100!!! Absolutly agree with you
Why would there be a prenup? When they got married, Gibson wasn’t a big star yet. She’s been with him for 28 years. She’s no Heather Mills!
The problem isn’t that he is a devout Christian (plenty of Christian faiths permit divorce), it is the fact that he is a devout CATHOLIC, and thus breaking one of the sacraments, and thus committing a sin. And considering the fact that he practices a faith pre-Vatican II, unless he can get the a.o.k. from the Pope or a couple of Cardinals, he will never be able to be married in a Catholic church again. Something tells me that will be far more painful to him than a mere half a billion.
Funny, funny, funny how the good Catholic church kisses Obama’s you know what for the sin of baby murder. And yet they tell Gibson he is going to hell for wanting a divorce. Funny. Best soap in a long time.
so he had a few concubines, and you think she sat all by herself when he was on the other side of the world?
She already stashed a few million away secretly. How do I know this? It is taught to every girl by their mother to always discretely stash funds away “just in case!”
Marriage is not a partnership, it is a contractual arrangement sanctioned by church and state for the the transfer of ownership from her father to her husband. Don’t like my opinion, look up dowry, parents of bride pay for wedding, and woman take man’s name. Ownership of chattel!
Research the history of marriage, I dare you.
Of course the lawyers are drooling, any percent of a billion is a huge chunk of change.
so he had a few concubines, and you think she sat all by herself when he was on the other side of the world?
She already stashed a few million away secretly. How do I know this? It is taught to every girl by their mother to always discretely stash funds away “just in case!”
Marriage is not a partnership, it is a contractual arrangement sanctioned by church and state for the the transfer of ownership from her father to her husband. Don’t like my opinion, look up dowry, parents of bride pay for wedding, and woman take man’s name. Ownership of chattel!
Research the history of marriage, I dare you.
Of course the lawyers are drooling, any percent of a billion is a huge chunk of change.
Mel’s a pig of a human, and it’s not real surprise that his wife is leaving. In his worldveiw, women are less than men and should be quiet, barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. Now that all but one of the kids are on their own, she can get rid of the misogynist, homophobic, anti-Semitic jerk and have a fantastic new life on her own. Good for her, and I hope she fleeces him royally.
As usualy the idiotic, facistic right-wingers have to add President Obama (that’s right “President” so go pound salt)to an article that has nothing to do w/ him. This won’t hurt Mel Gibson. That’s already been done. Maybe because his wife is a Catholic that is why she put up w/ his behavior for so long. hope she does get half. She deserves it.
But really… who CARES!!! this has no effect on a single soul except for them..
I hate this kinda stuff. People’s minds are so clouded to what’s really going on. This is not news, it’s a divorce it happens every f-in day. There are real problems in the world people. F both of these people. Go read some real news
Im in the Marine Corps. I am pissed that the country that I fight for just sits around reading stupid bull like this. GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOU A** AMERICA!!!
Danny T-Your in the Marine Corps and blogging that your pissed that we’re blogging? What are we paying you FOR!!!!!