This sacrifice by Mel Gibson at the birth of his first child, which caused him to fall into alcohol

Mad Max, Lethal Weapon, the Oscar winner BraveheartThe passion of Christ, but also What women Want. From the start of his career, Mel Gibson has been one of the essential figures in Hollywood. The multifaceted actor tells his story Sunday June 16, 2024 at 11:05 p.m. on Arte in the documentary Mel Gibson: Madly, passionately… The opportunity to return to the surprising journey full of twists and turns of an actor as talented as he is tortured. From his Australian childhood to his adult life in the spotlight and its excesses, the documentary avoids nothing. Not even his penchant for alcohol, which recurred throughout his career. And for good reason, it caused him a lot of problems… However, he would have fallen into this vice because of a very particular event.

A look back at Mel Gibson’s childhood and early days before becoming a movie star

Born in New York State in 1956, Mel Gibson grew up among 10 other children and moved to Australia when he was 12. First described as a calm teenager, despite the bullying from his classmates, he uses his humor to be accepted. “I played tricks on the teachers to confuse them”, he said in an interview. But from the age of 15, the young man discovered his darker side. Added to the jokes are the first drinks of alcohol and cigarettes. The start of a long debacle for the actor, who found refuge in drinking for many years. After high school, unsure of what he wanted to do with his life, he found himself an actor thanks to his sister who secretly enrolled him at the National Drama Institute of Australia. Mel Gibson made his film debut in 1977 with his first real role in Summer City, a low-budget film. Success was not long in coming, since only two years later, it was revealed by the first film in the saga. Mad Max. He is only 23 years old and becoming a star. Both fame and another major event will shake up Mel Gibson’s already troubled life.

Mel Gibson sober? The actor’s confidences about his relationship with alcohol

In 1981, the actor had been married to Robyn Moore for a year. He is also filming again as he prepares Gallipolias well as Mad Max 2: The Challenge. On the set of the first film, which looks at an important battle of the First World War, he receives a call that will greatly disturb him. His wife, Robyn Moore Gibson is on deck to give birth to their first and only daughter, Hannah Gibson. “His wife Robyn, having had to stay in Australia, he was forced to attend the birth of his first child by telephone,” explains the documentary to us. “To combat the stress and loneliness of long days of filming, he took refuge in alcohol.. An evil that will follow him for a long time. In 2002, Mel Gibson confided to Michael Parkinsonn on the set of a TV show BBC : “For 10 years, my wife asked me why I drank so much. She said, ‘I think you have a drinking problem.’ I said she was crazy and I loved just a drink every now and then. But she was right. You have to become more mature to decide to move on.”. His partner in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (1985), the incredible Tina Turner, also pointed out to him that he was pushing the bottle a little too hard. But it was only at the end of the 2000s, after numerous incidents, including accusations of anti-Semitism and violence from his partner Oksana Grigorieva, that he questioned himself. In 2016, he revealed to the Australian channel Sunday Night that he joined Alcoholics Anonymous and has been sober for 10 years. A long journey for someone who made the headlines for all the wrong reasons…