Who is Mel Gibson’s Ex-wife Robyn Moore and Why Did They End Their 31-Year-Long Marriage?
- Mel Gibson was a budding actor when he tied the knot with Robyn Moore.
- Gibson and Moore decided to go their separate ways after 26 years, but the divorce took another 5 years.
- The Mad Max actor took the blame of the dissolution of his marriage with Moore upon himself.
Mel Gibson is one of the most legendary Hollywood stars, but he was yet to become one when he tied the knot with Robyn Moore. The couple had a long and good run for more than three decades and became parents to seven kids over the course of their marriage.
Considering how long they had been together; one would assume that they would be each other’s end endgame. However, as fate would have it, they decided to part ways after years and left the world wondering what the reason behind their decision to split could possibly be.
Mel Gibson and Robyn Moore Called It Quits After 26 Years of Marriage
Mel Gibson was born and brought up in New York for 12 years before his father decided that the family should move to Australia due to economic reasons. The Gallipoli actor graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art, Sydney in 1977, and immediately began filming the first Mad Max movie.
Soon after he was done filming the movie, he met Robyn Moore who was a dental nurse at the time. This was before he attained superstar status. The couple got married in 1980 and share seven kids- one daughter named Hannah, who is their oldest child, and six sons, namely, twins Edward and Christian, William, Louis, Milo, and Thomas.
Gibson became a well-known actor and even tried his hand at other aspects of filmmaking over time. However, his personal life took a hit in 2006 when he and Moore decided to separate. In 2009, Moore filed for divorce and the couple issued an official statement (via TMZ):
Throughout our marriage and separation we have always strived to maintain the privacy and integrity of our family and will continue to do so.
The divorce was finalized in 2011 and the settlement between them is still considered one of the costliest ones in Hollywood. According to PEOPLE, since the couple did not have a pre-nuptial agreement, Gibson had to give half of his $850 million fortune to his ex-wife.
Why Did Mel Gibson and Robyn Moore Separate?
The news of the couple’s split came a day after the actor was arrested for drunk driving in 2006, in which Gibson was heard spouting vile antisemitic remarks during the arrest, as covered by ABC News. The joint statement that came with the divorce filing cited “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for their separation.
Even so, in an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (via Express UK), Gibson claimed that he was the one responsible for the divorce.
Look, when it’s all said and done, I did a pretty good hatchet job on my marriage myself.
Gibson and Moore undoubtedly had a happy marriage for years, but like most other couples, they obviously had their own problems. In an interview with the Evening Standard in 2002, the What Women Want actor admitted that their marriage was not all sunshine and rainbows (via Express UK).
The whole relationship thing is tough, any time. I’ve been married for 22 years and people don’t go that far these days. It doesn’t happen. You’re going to get ups and downs and you’re going to get days when you really want to strangle each other.
He further said that sometimes things like this happen, but people learn to do better after facing a “dry spell” every time. Even so, four years later, they called it quits. In the years since the divorce, Gibson only further damaged his public image on his own to the point that it might never recover completely.
