The Biggest Divorce Settlements Ever

Mel Gibson, whose acting career for the last year or so has taken a sideline to his off-screen shenanigans like drinking, swearing and threatening his girlfriend, is in the news again for another non-entertainment reason: his divorce. The actor, 55, has officially split from his wife of 31 years, Robyn Moore, also 55. The details of this divorce weren't disclosed, but "People" magazine reported that the couple didn't have a prenup--and so half of his $850 million fortune is hers. That's the largest settlement ever paid by a Hollywood star, but there are other moguls whose settlements make Gibson's look like pocket change. Here, from number 10 to number one, are the stars who paid less than Gibson and the heavy hitters who paid more. (As for Tiger Woods, whose breakup caused a media firestorm? Just $100 million - not bad for a billionaire.)

10. Greg Norman - $103 million The legendary golfer left his wife of 25 years, Laura Andrassy, in 2006 for Chris Evert. In return, Laura got $103 millionand Norman got a divorce from Evert after about 15 months. Let's see: that means he paid almost $7 million a month for the privilege of being married to a former #1 women's tennis player.

9. Neil Diamond - $150 million After 25 years, Diamond, one of the longest-running entertainers in the business, left his wife, Marcia Murphey, in 1996. At the time, he was in a relationship with an Australian woman, Rachel Farley. According to CNBC, the amount of the settlement was never made public, although Diamond said informally, "That was the amount she got. Shes been with me through thick and thin. She deserves half my fortune."

8. Michael Jordan - $168 million The best basketball player of all time left his wife, Juanita, in 2006 after a rocky 17-year marriage that prompted rumors of infidelity and gambling on his part. The divorce was long and probably agonizing, since the Jordans were ready to split in 2002. But they tried for four more years.

7. Michael Polsky - $184 million In 2007, the founder of the Chicago-based wind energy company Invergy split from Maya, his wife of 31 years.Claiming that she had been Polsky's confidant and an integral part of his success, Maya Polsky won a whopping 50 percent of her husband's $368 million fortune.

6. Roman Abramovich - $300 million The Russian oil billionaire could really have been taken to the cleaners when he and his wife, Irina, divorced in 2007. Hes one of the richest men in the world, with assets estimated at $18.7 billion. And according to various news reports, under Russian law Irina, who accused him of adultery, could have made a play for half that. Instead, she took the high road and settled for $300 million, which sounds like a lot until you realize it's less than 5 percent of Abramovich's wealth.

5. Robert Johnson - $400 million Johnson, the founder of the BET network and the first black billionaire in the United States, split from his wife Sheila in 2000 after a marriage of more than 30 years. However, they've remained business partners, and eventually Sheila married William Newman, the judge who presided over the couple's divorce case.

4. Craig McCaw - $460 million McCaw, the founder of McCaw Cellular, ended his marriage to Wendy McCaw in 1998, a few years after selling his company to AT&T for an estimated $11 billion. Wendy used part of her settlement to buy a newspaper, the "Santa Barbara News-Press," from "The New York Times." Today, McCaw is married to Susan Rasinski McCaw, who was the U.S. Ambassador to Austria from 2005-2007.

3. Adnan Khashoggi - $874 million The Saudi arms dealer and entrepreneur fought an eight-year battle with his wife, Soraya, over her settlement. They filed for divorce in 1974, but it wasn't until 1982 that they reached an agreement. For Soraya (born Sandra Daly in the UK), the fight was clearly worth it.

2. Bernie Ecclestone - $1 billion Ecclestone, the British sports entrepreneur czar of Formula One car racing, split up with his wife Slavica, a former model for Giorgio Armani, in 2008. Observers thought Eccleston would have to hand over about 50 percent of his assets to his ex-wife. But it seems that she got slightly less. Although the official figure was never made public, estimates put it at least $1 billion, and possibly a bit higher.

1. Rupert Murdoch - $1.2 billion After 32 years of being married, the Australian media mogul split from his wife, Anna, a devout Catholic who had gotten him a papal knighthood during their years together. With the divorce, in 1999, Anna was given $1.7 billion of his money, with an estimated $110 million in cash. Two weeks later, Rupert married a woman nearly 40 years his junior. Several months after that, Anna remarried as well. Presumably both of them remembered to ask for a prenup this time around.