Gibson paid wife to keep separation secret

When Mel Gibson’s wife filed for divorce last month, few expected the relationship bombshell the papers revealed: he and Robyn Gibson had actually gone their separate ways nearly three years ago. The estranged couple explained that they’d “always strived to maintain the privacy and integrity of (their) family,” but according to a family insider, dollars and dishonesty were really behind the secret separation.

In an interview with the National Enquirer, the insider claimed Mel Gibson feared the damage a marital crisis could cause to his career and his image as a man of faith. That’s why the actor allegedly offered his wife a financial incentive to keep the story under wraps.

“So he tried to buy time with Robyn, agreeing to give her $52 million per year — over and above whatever she’d get in a divorce settlement — to remain visibly by his side before she pulled the plug and filed,” the insider revealed. “But Mel finally ran out of time.”

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Seems no amount of money was worth the humiliation Robyn Gibson was said to feel after photographers caught Mel Gibson frolicking beachside with another woman.

“(Robyn) didn’t want to look like a fool,” the source said. “She told Mel she was filing, and he didn’t fight her.”

John Mayer’s still stuck on Jen
The first breakup was tough, but it was the second split from Jennifer Aniston that left John Mayer heartbroken. At least that’s the latest from Mayer’s rebound-girlfriend (or not-at-all-girlfriend, depending on who you ask), Scheana Marie Jancan.

“John was devastated at the break up with Jen,” the cocktail waitress and sometimes actress told Heat magazine. “He really didn’t think Jen would dump him — it was a complete shock to him.”

It’s a shock Mayer still hasn’t recovered from, according to Jancan, who believes the singer-songwriter wants Aniston back by his side.

“(John’s) never really got over it and he still talks about her a lot,” Jancan revealed. “He’s been playing guitar alone at night, pining over her.”

Roseanne tweets her take on ‘American Idol’
Days after blogging her rage at people who follow “American Idol” and just hours after slamming the “twittering f—king idiots” of the world, comedienne Roseanne Barr took to her shiny new Twitter account to share her thoughts on the show.

“I hate Adam Lambert’s bleating,” Barr wrote of her least favorite finalist.

Not content to stop at her Lambert bash, Barr Tweeted a parting shot at the judges’ panel.

“I like Paula (Abdul) better when she had the morphine patch,” Barr wrote, referencing Abdul’s recent revelation that pain medication was behind her famously flighty “Idol” moments. “I want one too!”

Dish on the fly

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A fourth-place finish on “Dancing With the Stars” is just fine by Ty Murray. In an interview with OK! magazine, the cowboy admitted he was happy to leave the ballroom behind. “I’m not going to lie — I’m tired of learning dances,” Murray said. “I’m so glad I don’t have to go learn two more for next week. I really am.” … Reading, writing and recycling? That’s the idea behind Nicole Richie’s educational cause de jour. While attending the Environmental Media Association’s Young Hollywood Board event this week, Richie shared her “go green” goals for schools. “Being in a school with the environment of education, it really doesn’t make sense to educate children on math, science, history and not educate them on nutrition and taking care of our planet,” the mother of one (plus one on the way) told Hollyscoop.com. “It seems that it is our responsibility to make sure that happens.” … With his own brand of brew on the way, Kid Rock recently revealed his Budweiser-besting strategy to Rolling Stone magazine. “It’s going to be called Bad Ass Beer,” he explained. “The ads are so funny… There’s one where it looks like the Budweiser horses, and they’re all up in the air, just freaked out, like they went haywire, and whatever they ride on is smashed up, and it just has my beer sitting in the front, it says ‘Bad Ass.’ And ‘…and the horses they rode in on.’”

Tabloid Tidbits is compiled by Ree Hines.

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