Mel Gibson announces split from Rosalind Ross – 1 year after losing their Malibu, California mansion to wildfires

Hollywood heavyweight Mel Gibson and his old partner, Rosalind Rosshave announced that they have split after nine years together – almost a year since the actor lost his Malibu mansion to the California wildfires.

Gibson, 69, and Ross, 35, shared the news in a joint statement Peoplein which they confirmed that they quietly split a year ago, around the same time their properties were destroyed by the devastating fires.

The couple, who started dating in 2014 after meeting through a mutual friend, share an 8-year-old son Lars and expressed their determination to continue co-parenting.

“While it is sad to end this chapter in our lives, we are blessed with a beautiful son and will continue to be the best parents possible,” Gibson and Ross told the outlet.

The actor has eight other children. He shares daughter Hannah and sons Christian, Edward, William, Louis, MiloAnd Thomas with ex-wife Robin Mooreand daughter Lucia16, with Oksana Grigorievawhom he divorced in 2010.

News of Gibson and Ross’ divorce comes nearly a year after the actor’s old Malibu mansion burned to the ground during California’s devastating wildfires.

The ‘Braveheart’ star bought the hilltop home in 2008 for $11.5 million and has made two attempts to foreclose on it in the years since, most recently in 2019 for $14.5 million.

However, after taking the property private in July of that same year, Gibson seemed content to hang on to the massive five-bedroom, five-bathroom home, but disaster struck in January when the home was destroyed by the Pacific Palisades fire that burned more than 23,000 acres, destroying hundreds of homes in the process.

Gibson hit out at the governor of California at the time. Gavin Newsom about tackling the forest fires.

“I think in 2019 Newsom said, ‘I’m going to take care of the forest and maintain the forest’ and do all that stuff. He didn’t do anything,” Gibson said during an appearance on Joe Rogan‘s podcast.

He also revealed it to NewsNation Elizabeth Vargas that he was not at home when the fires broke out, explaining that upon his return he arrived at his home to find it had burned to the ground.

“When I got home, sure enough, it wasn’t there. I’ve never seen a place that was so perfectly burned,” he said. ‘There were about ten places that simply didn’t exist. I mean, nothing but a chimney and some roof tiles, and you don’t dare walk around for the nails and the whole deal. The vehicles were gone, everything. My house looked like Dresden.’

While some fire victims chose to walk away from their destroyed properties – opting to sell the land rather than go through the arduous process of rebuilding – images of Gibson’s home suggested he was fully committed to rebuilding the mansion he had called home for more than 15 years.

Photos obtained by Realtor.com® in June it emerged that Gibson had made serious progress on preparations for a new structure to be built, indicating that the remaining rubble of his former property had been completely cleared.

The images showed that the place where the house once stood had been carefully maintained and that a new foundation had been laid.

Meanwhile, the landscaping surrounding the home was revitalized, making way for lush vegetation to once again surround the opulent property.

Similarly, the property’s pool house, which was also destroyed by the fires, had been cleared out to make way for a new foundation.

The images indicated that Gibson planned to build a structure similar to the one that once stood on the 5.5-acre parcel. It had high ceilings with wooden beams, wooden floors and stone arches.

When the home last came on the market in 2019, agent Sandro Dazzan described the property as having “the warmth of an old-fashioned estate”, while also exuding a “light and airy beachy vibe”.

The original estate offered 6,578 square feet of living space, including a main house with five bedrooms and five bathrooms, a pool house used as a gym, and a detached guest house above a three-car garage.

Although Gibson — who has an estimated net worth of $425 million — could recreate the hilltop shrine that once stood on his property, he noted shortly after the wildfires that the most important and meaningful things he had lost in the fire were irreplaceable.

“It’s emotional. You know, I lived there for about 14, 15 years, so it was my home, and I had a lot of personal things there that I can’t get back,” he told NewsNation.

“All kinds of things. Everything from photos to files to, you know, just personal things that I’ve had over the years, and clothes, and you know, cool things.”

He managed to find some humor in the situation and told Vargas that he tried to see the incident as an opportunity to look to the future and distance himself from the aspects of the house that were not so pleasant.

“I went home and said to myself, ‘Well, at least I don’t have any of those annoying sewer problems anymore,’” he said.

Gibson also expressed gratitude that his loved ones were safe and not injured in the bushfires, which claimed the lives of 30 people.

“The good news is that the people in my family and those I love are all doing well, and we are all happy and healthy and out of danger. That’s really all I care about,” he added.

The actor was one of dozens of celebrities who lost their homes to the January bushfires, with stars including Adam Brody And Leighton Master, Paris Hilton, Cameron Mathison, Billy CrystalAnd Spencer Pratt And Heidi Montag all confirmed that their property had been destroyed.

A report from the UCLA Anderson Prediction estimates estimated property and capital losses from the Pacific Palisades and Eaton fires at $76 billion to $131 billion, with insured losses potentially reaching $45 billion.

Meanwhile, homeowners in areas affected by the bushfires face a daunting task in rebuilding their properties, a costly process that involves a lot of red tape.

By the end of March, only four permits had been approved for homeowners wanting to rebuild, a number that was quickly criticized by local leaders, despite Mayor Karen Bass calling it an important milestone in the city’s recovery.

The first permit was issued by the city on March 5, paving the way for homeowners to fix up their blighted properties in the star-studded Pacific Palisades neighborhood, where about 6,800 homes burned or were seriously damaged.

Of the first three permits approved by the city, two were for complete rebuilding: one in the Palisades section and another facing the Pacific Coast Highway.