Mel Gibson bet $45 million of his own money on one film, and seven years later his divorce reportedly cost him $425 million. The film was The Passion of the Christ. Gibson and his company paid the $30 million budget and about $15 million in marketing. It made $370.8 million in the US alone, and more than $600 million worldwide. In the video below, he explains why he had to do it alone: “I had no alternative, because no major would back it.” He says Rupert Murdoch wanted to distribute it, then was advised he would be “out of business in five years.” Gibson had been married to Robyn Moore since 1980. Reportedly there was no prenup. When the divorce was finalized in December 2011, the reported settlement was about $425 million, half of an estimated $850 million fortune. The case for Gibson: he bet his own money when Hollywood said no, and the bet paid off many times over. The case for Robyn: they were married for 31 years and had seven children, and she was there before any of it made money. Do the math. $425 million is about nine times the $45 million he put into the film. Here’s the lesson. Without a prenup, a hit film has two owners.