Posted on 07/31/2006 3:22:03 PM PDT by veronica
Every morning, Mel Gibson strolls through the oleander-filled gardens of his mansion high above the Pacific Ocean and disappears inside his private family chapel. Kneeling alone, the actor will confess his sins then pray in silence for an hour. It is a ritual on which the fiercely devout Gibson has come to rely in recent years.
His appearance at his Malibu confessional on Friday morning might, one suspects, have stretched somewhat beyond the usual 60 minutes. And given the sore head he was no doubt nursing, the Hollywood star must have been thankful for its quiet tranquillity.
An hour earlier, 50-year-old Gibson had been released from California's Lost Hill Sheriff's Station after a night in the cells. A night during which, it is alleged, he swung like a monkey on the bars of his cell and
threatened to urinate on the floor.
Which would, of course, be embarrassing enough if it wasn't for the fact that the heart-throb actor and director is also accused of launching into a drunken tirade at officers who pulled him over for drink-driving in the early hours on the Pacific Coast Highway.
And worse, that he unleashed a hate-filled anti-Semitic rant, saying: 'F****** Jews. The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.'
Warming to his theme, the Mad Max and Lethal Weapon star asked an officer: 'Are you a Jew?' before beginning another four-letter onslaught.
A female officer was greeted with the memorable line: 'What do you think you're looking at, sugar t**s?'
Given his deplorable behaviour, it was not surprising, therefore, that within hours of his release, Gibson was proffering a fulsome apology.
'After drinking alcohol on Thursday night, I did a number of things that were very wrong and for which I am ashamed,' said the repentant star.
'I drove a car when I should not have, and was stopped by the LA County Sheriffs. The arresting officer was just doing his job and I feel fortunate that I was apprehended before I caused injury to any other person.
'I acted like a person completely out of control when I was arrested, and said things that I do not believe to be true and which are despicable.
'I am deeply ashamed of everything I said. Also, I take this opportunity to apologise to the deputies involved for my belligerent behaviour. They have always been there for me in my community, and indeed probably saved me from myself. I disgraced myself and my family with my behaviour, and for that I am truly sorry.'
He added: 'I have battled with the disease of alcoholism for all of my adult life and profoundly regret my horrific relapse.
'I apologise for any behaviour unbecoming of me in my inebriated state, and have already taken necessary steps to ensure my return to health.'
All suitably humble stuff. Which is hardly surprising. For Gibson, as one of the most astute players in the movie business, is only too well aware that his anti-semitic ranting could result in him being blackballed in Hollywood - a city which is home to many powerful Jews.
Last night, a senior Tinseltown studio executive told the Mail: 'Mel Gibson better get down on his knees and eat dirt because he has made some very important enemies.' Indeed, there is already talk that distribution companies and cinemas may be reluctant to take on future Gibson projects because of fears of a backlash from Jewish groups.
And the influential U.S. Jewish Anti-Defamation League has wasted no time wading in to say that his apology is not enough and that Gibson should be ostracised by Hollywood.
The group's national director, Abraham H. Foxman, said: 'It appears that the combination of liquor and arrest has revealed his true character.
'We believe there should be consequences to bigots and bigotry. One way to combat bigots is to put a price on bigotry. I would hope if this is, in fact, true, that his colleagues condemn him and distance themselves from him.'
None of which will make pleasant reading for Gibson as he faces up to the fall-out from his latest outburst.
This is not, it should be said, the first time he has landed in hot water over his hard-line views. He has been pilloried for his outspoken views on homosexuality and his membership of the fundamentalist sect The Traditional Catholic Movement.
HIS uncompromising approach has led him to reveal that he expects Robyn - his wife of 26 years and the mother of his seven children - will go to hell when she dies because she is a member of the Church of England, rather than a Roman Catholic.
'It's not fair, but that's the pronouncement from the chair and I go with it,' he said by way of explanation.
Much of this dogmatic approach can be traced back to Gibson's domineering father, Hutton, now 87, a Biblical scholar who force-fed his ten children his own skewed approach to Catholicism. He condemns the Sixties modernisation of the Church and the ending of the Latin mass, and rejects the legitimacy of all Popes for the past 40 years. Gibson Snr, a New Yorker who relocated his family to Australia when Mel was 12 to avoid his sons being drafted to Vietnam, has also made a string of bizarre public pronouncements, including that burning heretics is an act of 'charity', that the Holocaust never happened and that Al Qaeda had nothing to do with the September 11 attacks on New York.
Hardly surprising, then, that his son, who has steadfastly refused to denounce the majority of his father's propaganda (although he has said he believes the Holocaust did happen), has been tarred with the same brush.
PARTICULARLY as he pumped more than £18 million of his own fortune into the hugely controversial The Passion Of The Christ, which he directed in 2004. Gibson personally backed the bloodsoaked film - which chronicles the last hours of Jesus - because he could not get mainstream studios to fund the project. It proved an unlikely massive box office success, but was condemned as being rabidly anti-Jewish.
Nonetheless, the film grossed more than £500million and swelled the star's already bulging coffers.
The pious Gibson immediately invested £5 million in building his own Catholic church in the Agoura Hills, on the outskirts of Los Angeles.
The lavish Holy Family's chapel, which is run by Gibson's Icon production company, has an unlisted phone number and keeps its exact location a secret for fear of becoming the target of unwelcome attention.
Those attending services are asked
not to divulge any details of their worship or the church's famous benefactor. Women entering are instructed to keep their heads covered at all times.
The couple's children, whose privacy the star has steadfastly sought to protect, are all said to be deeply involved in the Church. Indeed, four years ago their only daughter Hannah, now 25, joined a religious order in America to train as a nun.
All of which is something of a far cry from the hell-raising for which Gibson was once famed. An outsider at school in Sydney because of his American accent, the young Mel was a minor delinquent and truant.
He landed his first major starring role in the hit Mad Max after turning up for the audition covered in cuts and bruises from a fight the previous night.
But from the outset of his acting career, he fell prey to addictions to alcohol and drugs. When he starred opposite Diane Keaton in the 1984 romantic drama Mrs Soffel, he insisted on drinking five bottles of beer before he even arrived on set in the morning.
And with rumours of his increasingly heavy drinking came accusations that he indulged in a string of affairs behind the back of his long-suffering wife. One of his alleged conquests, a former soft porn actress called Diana Alouise - who later wrote a book about her Eighties affair with the star - claimed he seduced her after persuading her to
watch a video of him as the bloodthirsty vigilante Mad Max.
As he was propelled to the pinnacle of Hollywood with his role as a burnt-out cop in the Lethal Weapon films, Gibson's personal life was fast unravelling.
He later admitted that, as he fought a seemingly losing battle with his demons, he had considered suicide.
Finally, at the behest of Robyn, he joined Alcoholics Anonymous in 1991, checked into rehab and rededicated himself to his Roman Catholic faith. Later, he admitted he had reached 'the height of spiritual bankruptcy'.
'All of us have a point in our lives where we hit the wall,' he said of his out-of-control lifestyle.
'I got to a place of personal misery, and it was through faith and the passion of Christ that I was able to come back.'
As he sought to face his problems, Gibson retreated from the public eye with his family to his £15 million compound in Malibu, a cattle ranch in Montana and a farm in Australia.
But despite his claims that he had beaten his alcoholism and been dry for 15 years, rumours have continued to circulate in Hollywood that he has been prone to falling off the wagon.
Indeed, Hollywood is buzzing with gossip that his latest arrest (he was also charged with drink-driving in Canada in 1994) is not the only time in recent history he has fallen foul of traffic cops.
The American TMZ website, which first reported his alleged racist comments this weekend, now claims that in the past three years Gibson has twice been stopped by police near his Malibu home. Despite being suspected of drink-driving, he was allowed to go free on both occasions.
Which might go some way to explaining his fury when Sheriff's Deputy James Mee told the star he was arresting him after stopping Gibson's Lexus for driving at 87mph in a 45mph zone at 2.30am. Inside the car in a brown paper bag the officers found a quarter-empty bottle of tequila.
Gibson is alleged to have tried to make a run for it, then - after failing a breath test - taunted the policeman that he 'owned Malibu' and would 'spend all his money to get even' with him.
The website also suggests that senior officers ordered the Deputy to tone down his original report of the arrest - complete with Gibson's alleged anti-Jewish rant - for fear it would fall into the hands of the media.
Unhappily for the star, that is exactly what had happened by the time that Gibson, who is estimated to be worth £456million, was released seven hours later on £2,700 bail.
Along with details of his anti-Semitic diatribe has since come those claims that the actor was 'jumping like a monkey' in a steel cage in the police station and had tried to smash up a pay phone after demanding his right to make a call.
What a spectacular relapse for Gibson, who is preparing for his latest film role in a movie called Sam And George.
And the part he will play? A man who is released from prison and tries valiantly to rebuild his ruined life. How very appropriate.
I thought the majority of the profits from Passion went to charities and non-profits.
Who the Hell Wrote this???
Mel Gibson had a meltdown?
Nahh..the media can be so fatalistic, they would love to see Mel Gibson meltdown ...isn't happening. When the Media get thru giving Mel Gibson all this free non-stop coverage, there are some folks who will be very supportive of Mel, when they weren't before.
Mel Gibson was arrested? Holy Crap on a Wheat Thin!
Does he still have the beard? I have seen two different photo's recently one with, one without.
He is a self-proclaimed genius...and they are usually an equi-mixture of brains and madness.
Paul Scott, according to the original post. (Hint: it's on the line just under the title.)
Shouldn't the left love him? I mean he didn't specifically voice support for the Palestinians but at least he did attack the Jews.
Check out another recent Gibson meltdown: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1675236/posts
The group's national director, Abraham H. Foxman, said: 'It appears that the combination of liquor and arrest has revealed his true character.
'We believe there should be consequences to bigots and bigotry. One way to combat bigots is to put a price on bigotry. I would hope if this is, in fact, true, that his colleagues condemn him and distance themselves from him.'
Evil always hates good and wants to pull it down with itself. Of course they aren't happy with his apology; they wouldn't be happy unless he killed hiimself in remorse. I wonder what their lives look like close up..... Must be nice to be perfect /sarc
If these drunk Mel threads don't get a lot funnier quickly, this scandal will fade.
..no more......Please someone....tell (you know who you are) to stop posting Mel Gibson threads....out of sheer boredom I think I may just start defending him since I've already heard every denunciation about 100 times ..over and over....and over...including myself.....argghhhhhhh
This article is now degenerating into rumor and innuendo.
The lynch mob is going to go way beyond justice.
Good idea!
Mel is a great man. Did you know he was named after Mel Brooks? That he donated a kidney to a blind, one legged orphan kitten? That he donated all the profits from Passion to charities that provide free liposunction and Botox to B and C list actresses?
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