PEOPLE magazine reports that Mel Gibson (no relation, in so many ways) and his wife of 28 years, Robyn, have filed for divorce and joint custody of their one minor child, a nine-year-old boy. (They have six older children.)

Granted, Mel’s fringe Traditionalism ain’t my cup of Catholic tea, but then again I don’t have enough money to build my own church, like he did. So I can’t imagine being married to him–not that Mel would marry me. Or I him. (There’s that California ballot thingy, remember?) But he’s also something of a tom-cat, though he’s always readily admitted that he’s no angel and that Robyn is a better person–but that she’d still wind up in Hell because she’s not Catholic: 

“There is no salvation for those outside the Church,” Gibson told an Australian reporter in 2004. “I believe it…Put it this way. My wife is a saint. She’s a much better person than I am. Honestly. She’s, like, Episcopalian, Church of England. She prays, she believes in God, she knows Jesus, she believes in that stuff. And it’s just not fair if she doesn’t make it, she’s better than I am. But that is a pronouncement from the chair. I go with it.”

According to the PEOPLE report,the couple have in fact been separated since August 26, 2006, almost a month after Gibson was pulled over for a DUI in Malibu:

“The movie star regained his sobriety following the notorious roadside incident in which he made anti-Semitic remarks that he later apologized for.

Robyn’s initial divorce petition lists the date of separation as “to be determined.”

“They’ll do this amicably,” a source tells PEOPLE. “There’s a lot of mutual respect and they’ve worked hard on their marriage and worked hard on their separation.”

Adds the source, “They’ll handle the divorce in the same respectful way.”

In fact, Gibson and his estranged wife attended church together with other family members on Palm Sunday, just four days before Robyn signed the divorce papers, PEOPLE has learned.”