Mel Gibson Set For Six-Figure Palimony

After only a year of dating, actor Mel Gibson and his girlfriend of one year have called it quits. The lingering issue is the amount Mel will have to dish out for child support.

Gibson and Oksana Grigorieva, a Russian musician, met on the set of Edge of Darkness and have a 5-month old daughter, Lucia. It is unlikely that Gibson, who is already divorcing his wife of three decades, would have to pay alimony to Grigorieva because they were neither wed officially nor would California’s notorious law for unmarried couples require it.

Nevertheless, the actor will likely pay a hefty child support sum. Family law experts estimate child support payments will range from $12,000 to $15,000 a month for someone at his high wage level.

Grigorieva also has a twelve-year-old son with James Bond star Timothy Dalton. Gibson and Grigorieva went public with their relationship after being spotted on the beach near his Costa Rica holiday residence. The resulting photographs incited a scandal that many cite as the final straw for Gibson’s marriage and gave way to much-publicized divorce proceedings between Mel and Robyn, his wife of 28 years with whom he shares seven children. The absence of a prenuptial agreement entitles Robyn to half of Gibson’s estimated $850 million net worth. –AHMED MORHI