64-Mel Gibson's Domestic Abuse: How Money and Power Trump Justice

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi Warriors, welcome to One in Three.
I'm your host, ingrid.
Domestic abuse isn't alwaysviolence, but most of the
stories we hear about are.
Before I get into today'sepisode, I want to bring up a
few statistics again.
A weapon is used in 19% ofdomestic violence situations.
The risk of homicide increasesby 500% when a gun is present.

(00:26):
Homicide victims can go beyondthe abused victim.
20% of intimate partnerviolence.
Homicides involve people whointervene, including family
members, friends, neighbors, lawenforcement and bystanders and

(00:48):
bystanders.
Mel Gibson and Oksana Grigorievawent public with their romantic
relationship shortly afterGibson finalized his divorce
from Robin Moore in 2009.
By the end of that same year,the couple welcomed a baby girl.
While reports initiallydescribed the two as being
deeply in love, things took adark turn on January 6th 2010.
In a video interview, oksanaadmitted she had seen flashes of

(01:11):
Gibson's temper before, but theevents of January 6th marked a
severe escalation.
She claimed that during aheated altercation, Gibson
punched her in the face whileshe was holding their
two-month-old daughter, and thisresulted in breaking two of
Oksana's teeth.
Now, I didn't find this inevery source, but there were

(01:31):
some sources that reported thatGibson also pulled one of his
guns as Oksana escaped from theroom.
Over the next few months, abattle ensued regarding custody,
child support and financialarrangements.
Initially, many dismissedOksana's allegations of abuse.
That is until recorded phoneconversations were released to

(01:54):
the public.
Oksana said she recorded thecalls out of fear, believing her
safety and the safety of theirdaughter were at serious risk.
She claimed Gibson had madedeath threats against her.
She was granted a temporaryrestraining order against him in
June and, from what I cangather, gibson also filed one
against her.

(02:15):
At one point, gibson offeredOksana a $15 million payout.
I'm not sure if this offer camebefore he learned of the
recordings or as an attempt toprevent the release.
Regardless, the tapes werereleased and the $15 million
offer was withdrawn.
The recordings were first madeavailable through Radar Online.

(02:39):
While the original audio is nolonger accessible on their site,
partial transcriptions remain.
I was able to locate and listento some excerpts of the
conversations, though, on othernews platforms, and following is
a summary of the content ofthose recordings.
Gibson, listen to my fuckingranting.

(03:00):
Listen to what you do to me.
Oksana, you need medication.
Gibson, I need a woman.
I don't need medication, youneed a fucking bat in the side
of the head.
How about that, oksana, youwere hitting a woman with a
child in her hands.
You.
What kind of man is that?
Hitting a woman when she'sholding a child in her hands,

(03:24):
breaking her teeth twice in theface?
What kind of man is that,gibson?
Oh, you're all angry now.
You know what you fuckingdeserved it, oksana.
You're going to answer one day,boy.
You're going to answer, gibson,I'll put you in a fucking rose
garden, you cunt.
You understand that, becauseI'm capable of it.

(03:44):
You understand that Later inthe tape, he also threatens to
burn her house down.
Now there was a series of sixtapes released.
It appears they were all fromthe same conversation, but I
might be wrong on that.
Anyway, here's more of what wassaid that.

(04:07):
Anyway, here's more of what wassaid.
Oksana, you cannot raise thechild with these symptoms.
Gibson, what, oksana?
You're acting as a crazy manright now, and you have been for
many, many months and you hitme and you hit her while she was
in my hands.
Mel, you're losing your mind.
You need medication, gibson.
You need a fucking kick up theass for being a bitch, cunt's,

(04:28):
gold digging whore with a pussyson, and I want my child and no
one will believe you.
So fuck you.
I'm not giving you my house andyou can rot unless you crawl
back, suck my cock and sayyou're sorry.
In that order, do youunderstand me?
You fucking offend my fuckingmaleness, my masculinity, my

(04:50):
being, my soul.
Oksana, I'm just saving mychild's life because you are a
monster, that's all.
You're a monster.
I'm not sure where the followingstatements occur within the
conversation, but I believe theyare important to include
because they reveal Gibson'sblatant disrespect toward women.

(05:12):
Gibson fake tits Like there'ssome special deal.
How much do they cost thosefakers?
You go out in public and it's afucking embarrassment to me.
You look like a fucking bitchon heat and if you get raped by
a pack of N-words it will beyour fault.

(05:35):
So Gibson was interviewed atsome point after this and he was
asked if he thought hisconversations would be made
public.
His response was whoanticipates being recorded?
Who anticipates that?
Who could anticipate such apersonal betrayal?
Yeah, you were betrayed.

(06:00):
Gibson eventually admitted toslapping Oksana with an open
hand.
His reasoning since there isalways a reason for abuse was
because she was becominghysterical.
He merely wanted to calm herdown.
In 2011, gibson pleaded nocontest to one misdemeanor count
of domestic violence againstOksana and he was sentenced to

(06:24):
three years probation,counseling and community service
.
Oksana's original $15 millionsettlement was reduced to
$750,000, with the understandingshe could never speak publicly
about her allegations.
After receiving a third of thatamount, she appeared on a Howard
Stern show.
Howard had said Anyone who'sbeen through what you've been

(06:48):
through with Gibson, you oughtto be full of hope, because it's
the only way to be.
You got to look ahead, to whichOksana replied you know what
you have to embrace yourexperience and even it doesn't
matter how painful it might beat the time and the darker
experience learn from it.
Hopefully.
Her comment was found to be inviolation of her agreement, so

(07:14):
Gibson did not have to pay theremaining $500,000.
Did not have to pay theremaining $500,000.
You may be wondering why I'msummarizing this specific story,
and it's because it didn't endthere.
Now let me get a littleofficial sounding here for a
moment.
In 1968, following theassassination of President John

(07:35):
F Kennedy, attorney GeneralRobert Kennedy and Dr Martin
Luther King Jr, the Federal GunControl Act was passed.
The purpose of the act was toprohibit felons from owning guns
.
The Lautenberg Amendment waspassed in 1996.
This amendment extends theFederal Gun Control Act to

(07:56):
include those convicted of amisdemeanor crime of domestic
violence.
I'm going to include the nextpart as a direct quote from the
US Department of Justice websitebecause I don't want to lose
any meaning with myinterpretation Quote the bill
passed with almost unanimoussupport and represents
Congress's recognition thatanyone who attempts or threatens

(08:19):
violence against a loved onehas demonstrated that he or she
poses an unacceptable risk andshould be prohibited from
possessing firearms.
This new provision affects lawenforcement in three
interrelated ways.
First, it will assist inpreventing those individuals who
have demonstrated a propensityfor domestic violence from

(08:41):
obtaining a firearm.
Second, it will assist lawenforcement by providing a tool
for the removal of firearms fromcertain explosive domestic
situations, thus decreasing thepossibility of deadly violence.
Finally, it will serve as afederal prosecution tool in
certain situations wherealternatives have failed.

(09:03):
I'm still quoting here has as anelement the use or attempted

(09:24):
use of physical force or thethreatened use of a deadly
weapon committed by a current orformer spouse, parent or
guardian of the victim, by aperson with whom the victim
shares a child in common, by avictim who is cohabitating with
or has cohabitated with thevictim as a spouse, parent or
guardian, or by a personsimilarly situated to a spouse,

(09:46):
parent or guardian of the victim.
So let's dissect this a littlebit.
Anyone who attempts orthreatens violence against a
loved one.
Check has as an element the useor attempted use of physical
force.
Check or the threatened use ofa deadly weapon.

(10:06):
Check Committed by a personwith whom the victim shares a
child in common.
Check Committed by a person whois cohabitating with or has
cohabitated with a victim as aspouse, parent or guardian, or
by a person similarly situatedto a spouse, parent or guardian
of the victim.

(10:27):
Check.
I want to remind you, just incase you don't recall, that this
is also the guy with a verypublicized aggressive drunk
driving arrest in which he wasspewing anti-Semitic slurs.
Following the results of thetrial, gibson did surrender his

(10:47):
gun or guns I'm not sure howmany he owned.
So now let's fast forward toMarch of 2025.
Of 2025.

(11:09):
Former US pardon attorneyElizabeth G Oyer received a list
of individuals slated to havetheir gun rights restored.
Among the names, she wasdirected to include actor Mel
Gibson.
Oyer expressed strong concernover reinstating gun rights to
individuals with domesticviolence histories and she
remained firm in her opposition.
She also emphasized that, whileshe was given ample time to

(11:30):
properly vet the othercandidates.
Gibson's name was given to herwithout that same consideration.
The next day, security arrivedat her office to escort her out
as she had been terminated.
While it's not confirmed thather dismissal was directly tied
to this incident, I think thetiming is a bit suspicious.

(11:53):
Now, if you're pulling forGibson, don't worry.
Us Attorney General Pam Bondijust approved restoration of his
gun ownership rights.
So what does giving Mel Gibsonhis guns back say to the world?
Why does it matter?
He's one guy, right.
Well, it sends a disturbingmessage.

(12:14):
If you have enough clout ormoney, the rules don't apply to
you, even in cases backed byphotograph and audio evidence of
physical abuse.
Even when lives are repeatedlythreatened, the voices and
safety of survivors can and willbe ignored.
It means the attorney generalcan be handed hard proof that a

(12:38):
man who not only threatenedviolence but carried out
violence will still beprioritized.
The system appears willing tooverlook violence when influence
enters the equation, leavingthose most in need of protection
out in the cold.
Now I know I have already givenyou enough to be outraged, but

(13:03):
there are a few more points inthis situation that I wanted to
highlight During the custodybattle and throughout the
hearing regarding domesticviolence charges, I didn't find
anything, not a single thing,describing how people were
concerned with Oksana'swell-being.
Nothing about their daughtereither.

(13:23):
They could have been out there,but I didn't find them.
But there was plenty ofdocumentation, of comments and
speculations and questions aboutwhether Mel Gibson's career
could recover from this terriblepublicity.
Oksana was frequently labeledthe Russian-born beauty.

(13:48):
Now she is beautiful and she isRussian-born, but that's a
phrase that reduced her identityto mere objectification.
I even found a law firm whoused this case as an example of
what lengths individuals will goto in child custody cases,

(14:09):
stating, quote even the mostamicable divorce can turn into a
contentious battle when issuesinvolving the children cannot be
agreed upon.
So all of this is not just aboutone man or one victim.
This isn't just about oneperson's abuse of power.

(14:31):
This isn't about men versuswomen, left versus right, guns
versus no guns.
This is about all of us as acollective.
This is a call to action.
We cannot sit quietly in aworld where gun ownership is
deemed more.
Thank you for listening.
I truly would love to hear yourfeedback on this episode.

(15:12):
Sources for today and there area lot of them can be found in
the show notes.
I will be back next week withanother episode for you.
Until then, stay strong andwherever you are in your journey
, always remember you are notalone.
Find more information, registeras a guest or leave a review by

(15:37):
going to the website.
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That's the number one.
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To help me out, please rememberto rate, review and subscribe.
1 in 3 is a .5 Pinoy productionMusic written and performed by

(15:59):
Tim Crow.
© transcript Emily Beynon.

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