It’s not the headline Mel Gibson was looking for. But, newspapers around the nation are heralding it anyway: “Actor and Academy Award-Winning Director Arrested For Allegedly Driving Drunk.”
Unfortunately, the news isn’t tabloid rumor; rather The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department confirms that deputies clocked Gibson “going 87 miles per hour in a 45-miles-per-hour zone along the Pacific Coast Highway at 2:36 a.m. Friday morning. Officers say they arrested the actor after “a breath test indicated Gibson’s blood-alcohol level was 0.12.” California drivers 21 and older must remain under 0.08 percent.
According to police reports, the 50-year-old actor-director was cited and released from the Lost Hills Sheriff Department after posting $5,000 bail. Officers say the investigation into Gibson’s arrest is “ongoing.” Meanwhile, Gibson’s spokesperson said he was “looking into the matter.” Which always makes me wonder what whirlwind of activity must be going on behind-the-scenes to offset such bad press.
It wasn’t until I saw and read countless Gibson interviews preceding the release of his 2004 blockbuster “The Passion of the Christ” that I learned that Gibson had past problems with alcohol. I remembering watching an interview he did with Diane Sawyer in which he credited his wife’s steadfast loyalty to him during his “crisis” with helping him become the man his was. In the interview Gibson freely admitted that in 1984 he ran a red light and collided with another car and that in 1991 he joined Alcoholics Anonymous.
Four years after joining AA, Gibson walked away with an Oscar for Best Picture and Best Director for “Braveheart,” a movie in which he directed and starred in. He has also starred in the “Lethal Weapon” and “Mad Max” films, “What Women Want” and “The Man Without a Face,” among other movies. Gibson’s latest movie, “Apocalypto,” set in the Mayan civilization of several centuries ago, is due out in December.