Mel Gibson's Ex & Mom of His Kid Went Bankrupt after He Left ⁠— She Could Not Pay Debts & Had $10 in Cash

Hollywood veteran Mel Gibson met his wife, Robyn Moore, in the 90s. The pair went through some challenging times that severed their relationship, which eventually resulted in the dissolution of their marriage.

After being married for over twenty years, actor Mel Gibson and his now-former wife, Robyn Moore, were considered to be the ultimate Hollywood couple with a solid marriage.

The pair met in Adelaide in 1977 when Gibson, then a stage actor, became Moore's flatmate in a shared apartment. Here are more details about the duo's tumultuous marriage.

Gibson and Moore walked down the aisle when they were both 24 years old in a brief and private ceremony in 1980. Their marriage was considered the strongest in Hollywood. They tied the knot amid rumors that they were expecting a baby, despite Gibson's devout Catholic belief in no sex before marriage.

Nonetheless, the speculations were accurate as the newly-wedded couple welcomed their first child together, daughter Hannah, that same year. Moore and Gibson had six more children together after her arrival, Milo, twins Christian and Edward, Thomas, Louis, and William.

GIBSON AS A FAMILY MAN & AN ALCOHOLIC

Gibson traveled everywhere with his family when shooting films on location, and when they settled down, he spent more time with them. The A-Lister hardly went out. When he was not working, he would bond with them.

His wife refused to give interviews while married to him. Moore's friends revealed that she was the pillar of Gibson's life and even had him change diapers instead of consuming alcohol.

The film director also admitted that his beloved wife saved him from self-destruction because of his drinking habits and kept the family together.

Gibson's alcoholism almost ended his career and ultimately led to an arrest for drunk driving in 1984. It all began when he realized that the loss of privacy and overwhelming fame after the success of movies such as "Mad Max" became overbearing.

It took his spouse's threat to leave him unless he stopped drinking. Moore made him join Alcoholics Anonymous in 1991 to get his life back in order.

Overall, he had a big responsibility by not only being a husband but a dad, too. Gibson and Moore welcomed their first-born child Hannah in 1980. They later became parents to twin sons, Christian and Edward, in June 1982.

The pair's fourth child, William, was born in 1985, and their fifth, Louis, arrived in 1988. They welcomed another son Milo in November 1990 and the youngest of the brood, Thomas, in 1999.

Though Moore and Gibson tried salvaging their marriage before addiction affected it, they gave up on it years later when they divorced in 2011 after 28 years of marriage.

THE COSTLY DIVORCE

In 2015, Moore shockingly filed for divorce in the Los Angeles Superior Court, citing irreconcilable differences as a reason for their split. Gibson was reportedly worth $900 million, and he and his estranged wife did not have a prenuptial agreement.

Moore asked for spousal support in the filing, including custody of their youngest child Thomas, then 7, and attorney fees. She also asked the judge to deny her estranged husband spousal support.

In May that same year, Gibson filed a response claiming that he and the mother of his kids had been separated since August 2006 following his DUI arrest.

At the same time, reports surfaced the year before the divorce announcement that the producer was romantically involved with a then-28-year-old Russian singer named Oksana Grigorieva and has since been photographed in a passionate embrace in Costa Rica with the songstress.

A source close to Gibson and Moore revealed that the 66-year-old was not cheating on his wife because they had been separated for a while, saying:

"Mel hasn't been cheating. He and Robyn haven't been together for a long time."

The insider added the duo remained friends after they parted ways and even tried numerous times to salvage their marriage and work on their differences. Moore, a television personality, and Gibson first released their official statement regarding their divorce in April 2009:

"Throughout our marriage and separation, we have always strived to maintain the privacy and integrity of our family and will continue to do so."

Two weeks after the divorce announcement, the former Sexiest Man Alive titleholder rocked up with his then-girlfriend, Grigorieva, at a special Los Angeles screening of "Wolverine."

As his rep explained, he was not doing anything to hurt his union with Moore because he had been single for almost three years during their separation.

His divorce from Moore, which cost $425 million, was officially finalized in 2011. After calling it quits, Moore purchased a Malibu beach house for $18.15 million. Years after their divorce, the mother of seven finally decided to let it go and listed it for $32 million in February 2021.

According to the New York Post, the abode was the most expensive house of its size in West Malibu, California, at 5,500 square feet. It boasted four bedrooms and five and a half bathrooms.

Meanwhile, Gibson continued his relationship with Grigorieva, whom he started dating in 2006 after his infamous arrest for driving under the influence in California.

During their official public outing at the "X- Men Origins: Wolverine" screening in April 2009, the couple held hands as they walked the carpet before taking a seat at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre event in Hollywood. A source told People at the time:

"They came in quietly and as under-the-radar as possible, and they were pretty low-key. Mel seemed very comfortable."

In January 2012, the screenwriter revealed during his appearance on "US TV" that he and his significant other were expecting their first child together. Gibson told Jay Leno at the time:

"This is true. We are going to have a child. I could not be happier about it. I guess that makes me Octo-Mel."

The "Braveheart" star eventually became a dad for the eighth time when Grigorieva gave birth to a baby girl named Lucia on October 30, 2009.

Gibson's rep confirmed the news to People stating the couple welcomed their little girl at an undisclosed hospital in LA and that no further details were available.

Speaking about the father of her child, Grigorieva, a songwriter, revealed to the Daily Mail in May 2010 that her relationship with Gibson started as an affair:

"We were very much in love. He was the biggest love of my life, and that's what Mel always told me."

She then set the record straight regarding how her romance with the New Yorker began, "The truth always comes out. We've been together three years, not one year as people have been writing," said Grigorieva.

Five months after giving birth, she and Gibson split. As for why they broke up, she refused to reveal at the time but denied that he cheated on her.

She did not keep mum for too long about the reason for their breakup because later that year, the pianist dished on why she and the "Lethal Weapon" star broke up. In a wide-ranging interview with People, Grigorieva spoke candidly about their relationship claiming Gibson was abusive towards her.

She recalled when he allegedly hit her while holding their baby, Lucia, stating she feared for her life. "I thought he would kill me," recounted the "Dark Eyes" singer. Grigorieva also revealed that Gibson often went into jealous rages, talked about suicide, and once brandished a gun in front of her.

Meanwhile, Gibson disputed her version of events when their daughter was only two months old. In a six-page declaration, he admitted to slapping his now-former girlfriend only once:

"I slapped Oksana one time with an open hand in an attempt to bring her back to reality. I did not slap her hard. I was trying to shock her so that she would stop screaming, continuing shaking Lucia back and forth."

According to Gibson, she and her ex were having a heated argument when she went upstairs to take the infant and placed her in the middle of a quarrel while screaming after he asked her to leave his house.

In July 2010, Gibson's then estranged wife, Moore, defended him against claims of physical abuse. In a declaration to an LA judge overseeing the custody battle between him and Grigorieva, she said:

"Mel never engaged in any physical abuse of any kind toward me before, during, or after our marriage. Mel was a wonderful and loving father."

In March 2011, Gibson pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor domestic violence charge that landed him in counseling instead of serving jail time.

His attorney Blair Berk revealed in a statement that Gibson did it for the sake of his children and to put all the media frenzy to a stop. Berk shared her client asked her to approach the district attorney with a proposal that would put an end to the scandal.

Grigorieva and Gibson's turbulent separation eventually ended in August 2016 when a court ruled that the musician must forfeit $500,000 worth of settlement money for violating a confidential agreement.

The pair went through an acrimonious breakup that resulted in a settlement offer at one point reportedly worth $15 million. However, that changed after Grigorieva secretly recorded audiotapes featuring private conversations between her and Gibson.

In addition, she later addressed the domestic violence allegations against the father of her child on "The Howard Stern Show," which resulted in her receiving just 1/60 of what she was initially owed.

E! News reported that the model only received $250,000 from the Oscar Award winner. After a year of back and forth, she and Gibson eventually settled on $750,000.

He had agreed to pay her in three installments $250,000 after the releases were signed, another $250,000 by September 2013, and a final $250,000 by September 2016.

The judge had warned Grigorieva not to speak publicly about any of the allegations, or the settlement would be void. Seeing that she did not heed the advice and went ahead to talk about Gibson in an interview with Stern, the court ruled he would not pay the remaining $500,000.

GRIGORIEVA FILED FOR BANKRUPTCY AFTERWARD

While she fell short of the money that she initially would have received, things went from bad to worse for Grigorieva. In April 2014, the Daily Mail reported that she maxed out her credit card bill before filing bankruptcy.

The mom of two used her card to spend $51,000 shortly before launching her legal action to subdue her $438,000 debts, a filing a courthouse revealed. The documents also disclosed that many of her monthly expenses had been considered irresponsible by the bankruptcy trustee.

Grigorieva previously filed court documents claiming she could only afford to pay $372 per month towards her debts listed at $438,000. She filed for bankruptcy less than four years after she forfeited money from Gibson.

She lodged the claim due to prohibitive legal debts said to be in the range of $250,000. Moreover, previously filed documents revealed she was claiming to be so broke that she only had $10 in cash to her name and had $48,000 in assets.

While she may have a strained relationship with Gibson, the proud dad still has a good relationship with his 12-year-old daughter Lucia, a source told People in 2016.

In July 2015, the court granted the doting father permission to fly his then five-year-old to Australia for a month while he was away filming. He was spotted spending some quality time with his child in Sydney.

Gibson has since moved on from the drama and is now in love with his long-time girlfriend, Rosalind Ross. The couple has been dating since 2014 and met when Ross was signed to co-write a script for the movie star's production company.

The lovebirds had an instant connection when they first laid eyes on each other. Like other Hollywood couples, the pair have a significant age gap. Ross is 35 years Gibson's junior, but that does not bother them.

They even welcomed a baby together in January 2017 when 31-year-old Ross gave birth to their baby boy named Lars Gerard Gibson. A source revealed: "They're thrilled, and Lars is adorable. Their family is all around them, and Mel is over the moon."

This was Gibson's ninth child while it was Ross' first child. A friend of the couple shared he loved being a dad and that the two years of his relationship with Ross had been some of the happiest years for him.