Back in 2004, movie star and film director Mel Gibson became a hero in the Catholic news media. That year, Gibson finally released his much anticipated epic “The Passion of the Christ:” a film detailing the last hours of Jesus Christ; a project that he directed and financed himself. While promoting the movie, Gibson made numerous appearances in Catholic newspapers, magazines and on EWTN. During that time, because of some controversy surrounding the film, because of supposed anti-Semitic messages in the way Gibson portrayed the Jewish people, there was also renewed interest in his personal religious beliefs. Several reports, including an interview with Diane Sawyer, focused on Gibson’s Traditional Catholic upbringing and “ultraconservative” political views which included attendance at the Tridentine Mass, a strict adherence to Catholic doctrine, and vocal opposition to embryonic stem cell research. To an American media and populous, that was far more content with the very public and liberal Catholic wing of the Church, epitomized by the Kennedys, Gibson’s sincere orthodoxism and seemingly stable home life (he was married for 31 and had 8 children) was a refreshing change from the usual Hollywood outpouring of sex and scandal.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, in 2006, Gibson was arrested for a DUI and then launched into an expletive laden tirade that was fully recorded by the CHP. The tape was leaked to the press, and soon afterwards: his faithful wife left him. Subsequently, Gibson hooked up with a Russian singer; their daughter was born out-of-wedlock in 2009. They quickly split up, and then – things got really ugly: with duel restraining orders, accusations of abuse, and more embarrassing audio tapes of Gibson on a phone-rampage. Everything was unraveling. But what was the cause? I have been wondering the same thing for years. Until, I found an article by celebrity reporter Rick Wedge who claimed that Gibson has suffered with a long time addiction to foot fetish pornography. According to Wedge, it all started in Thailand during the 1982 filming of “The Year of Living Dangerously.” Wedge claims, the obsession has continued: “He would spend hours just downloading pictures of naked female feet. Even when he did go out to meet his filming commitments, he always took a laptop with him.” If true, this would explain a great many things: his alcoholism, strange mood swings, bizarre outbursts, the breakdown of his marriage, and recent penchant for dating a partying with a string of young and beautiful (including a 25-year-old fetish model) women.
Porn can take anyone down.