Mel Gibson Can Keep His Life but His Freedom is Probably Going to be Taken Away

Sorry, Braveheart fans. You can no longer name this movie as your favorite of all time without making women around you shudder in disgust — thanks to the off-screen actions of the film’s barbaric leading man.

Mel Gibson used to be a perfect man crush: squeaky clean Hollywood blockbusting-star, with a big family and serious passion. But now his major hits tend to be for gossip websites reporting on his misdeeds, first with his anti-Semitic rant while being arrested for drunken driving in 2006 (later expunged from his record), then with the end of his 28-year marriage amid accusations of adultery, and now with the alleged battery of and abusive phone calls to his current Russian-musician girlfriend/baby mama.

Gibson usually plays an affable and inspiring good guy in films. But in real-life phone calls to his girlfriend — check out recordings #1 and #2 (with added death threats and heavy panting!) — it sounds like he’s auditioning for a horror movie, using his mouth as a lethal weapon. Here’s a censored version of one of the calls (so you can listen with your kids), from the AP:

Gibson’s girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva, taped the calls after Gibson allegedly punched her in the face and broke a few teeth — all while she was holding their love child. California is a two-party consent state when it comes to taping conversations, with $2,500 fines and jail time for those that break the wiretapping law.

Could Grigorieva get in trouble for recording Mad Mel?

Sponsored

Probably not, a former FBI agent tells Fox News. The law — Cal. Penal Code § 637.2 — carries exceptions for those threatened with violence:

[Nothing in the statute] prohibits one party to a confidential communication from recording the communication for the purpose of obtaining evidence reasonably believed to relate to the commission by another party to the communication of the crime of extortion, kidnapping, bribery, any felony involving violence against the person, or a violation of Section 653m. Nothing in Section 631, 632, 632.5, 632.6, or 632.7 renders any evidence so obtained inadmissible in a prosecution for extortion, kidnapping, bribery, any felony involving violence against the person, a violation of Section 653m, or any crime in connection therewith.

Signs point to Gibson getting some jail time. Fox says Gibson could face four years for felony assault as a result of the alleged January 6th attack on his Russian lady friend. His lawyers have responded by saying his lady friend was the one who broke the law, by blackmailing him with the tapes.

Meanwhile, the judge in the couple’s ongoing custody case over their eight-month-old daughter, Lucia, is not happy about the tapes being leaked, according to TMZ, as Grigorieva was prohibited under a restraining order from releasing them. Mel Gibson’s lawyers have asked Judge Scott Gordon to hold her in contempt. She denies being the source of the leak.

Gibson’s career appears to be Apocalypto. His talent agency is dropping it like it’s hot. Is that wise, though? Gibson could play a very convincing psychotic character sometime soon.

Sponsored

EXCLUSIVE NEW AUDIO: Mel Gibson Admits Hitting Oksana, Threatens To Kill Her – Listen To It Here [Radar Online]
‘My Career Is Over’: Another Terrifying Mel Gibson Phone Call Is Now Online [Gawker]
Mel Gibson’s Horrifying Phone Call Is Now Online [Gawker]
Mel Gibson Could Serve Four Years if Found Guilty of Felony Assault [Fox News]
Mel Gibson Goes After Oksana for Contempt [TMZ]
It’s war! Mel Gibson accuses ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva of extortion [New York Daily News]
This just in: Mel Gibson dropped by his talent agency [Reliable Sources/Washington Post]