Mel Gibson recently found an ally in female journalist Allison Hope Weiner. In her opinion, everyone should get off the guy’s back and leave him alone.
For those who don’t remember, Gibson found himself in the center of a media firestorm after he made several anti-Semitic and racist remarks several years ago. He also landed in hot water after getting nasty with a female police officer after getting busted for DUI . Then there’s the rants and outbursts directed by girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva.
Not surprisingly, Mel Gibson didn’t do himself any favors in Hollywood with this behavior. Although he’s starred in a few movies since the fallout — Edge of Darkness , Get the Gringo , and Jodie Foster’s The Beaver being the few highlights — the box office titan found himself languishing on a secret industry blacklist.
One person who thinks it’s time to give Mel Gibson a second chance is journalist Allison Hope Weiner. In a recent article posted at Deadline , the reporter explains why Gibson’s time in exile should come to an end .
Weiner said she received a call from Mel during a recent vacation. Instead of telling the guy to get lost, she decided to give him a few minutes of her time. Before long, the journalist was listening to Gibson explain how he’s desperately trying to get his life back on the right track.
“During his breakup with Grigorieva, he’d gone through a terrible emotional breakdown and struggled to get healthy, gain joint custody of his infant daughter and deal with the fallout from the publication of those awful tapes. He was in a very bad place and we talked for some time about how difficult it was for him to deal with the pain he’d inflicted on his family,” Allison wrote.
She continued, “He got so upset talking about that period in his life that he ended our call abruptly. He’d shared some very deep, personal feelings with me and was in so much pain, that I was honestly worried about him. It wasn’t the type of conversation that one has with an interview subjects. I decided we were friends now and that I could no longer write objectively about him.”
Although Gibson doesn’t have many Jewish supporters these days, this didn’t stop the actor from attending a bar mitzvah celebration for Weiner’s son. Gibson has also reportedly spent a lot of time apologizing for his anti-Semitic remarks and making generous donations to Jewish causes. In other words, the guy is trying his best to get back in everyone’s good graces. However, it’s anyone’s guess if these gestures will add up to anything at all.
Mel Gibson fans can catch the guy in this summer’s celebrity-packed action flick The Expendables 3 . Since many people still aren’t happy with the Braveheart director’s behavior over the past few years, it’s still unclear if the industry will ever welcome him back with open arms. Do you think the actor deserves a second chance in Hollywood?
[Image via Warner Bros.]