Mel Gibson's Strangeness



(image via nypost)

Mel Gibson is an odd egg goven to expreme behavior. Anti-Semitism. Alcoholism. Overwrought self-righteousness and an antiquated religiosity. Torture is a major theme in his work, to such a degree that his continued graphic portrayals almost veer towards the sadistic. Perhaps we can blame it all on the hairline "restoration"? Now this news on his private church and extra-marital fascination with Russian pop singers and aspiring Slavic actresses. From DailyMail:

"Even by the cultish standards of some of California's wackier religious sects, the Holy Family Catholic Church is something of an oddity.
Perched high above the Pacific and just a few miles from the glitzy confines of Malibu, it is reached by a narrow, winding road that stops at a security lodge manned 24 hours a day.

"Access beyond these gates to the Spanish-style mission church a quarter of a mile up the private drive is for a select few only.

"Even those who clear the rigorous security checks will be monitored by the CCTV cameras hidden in the poplar and olive trees that stand sentry over the church's formal Tuscan-style gardens.

"It is here for the past two years that Mel Gibson has regularly attended the 9am Mass conducted in Latin at which female members of the congregation are expected to wear long dowdy skirts, prim blouses and flat shoes, and to cover their hair with lace veils.

"Mel Gibson is said to be hoping to pay off his wife 'quietly' with a lump sum of £320million

"It is Gibson, say his fellow worshippers, who is most resolute about the drab dress code being observed at all times.

"But since the Hollywood star built the £28 million church and owns the ten-acre plot on which it sits, what the actor says invariably goes.

"Small wonder, given his all-encompassing control over the tight-knit religious group and its highly secretive nature (it refuses to publish its address and has an ex-directory phone number), the Holy Family Church has become known in Tinseltown as 'the cult of Mel'.

"The ultra-conservative group has been cut off by the Vatican over its hardline stance and refusal to bow to the authority of the Pope.

"Nonetheless, Gibson is on a recruiting drive. He is building a new chapel that will accommodate up to 400 worshippers, and homes for members of the sect are being built by Gibson's own construction company inside the walled grounds.

"The Lethal Weapon star is even said to have attempted to persuade Britney Spears and fellow actor Robert Downey Jr to join its ranks.

"The pictures were said to have been the final straw for long-suffering Robyn, who rescued Gibson from alcoholism and whom he referred to as his 'Rock of Gibraltar'.

"But Robyn's torment deepened yesterday when no less than four separate women were 'identified' as the mystery Oksana.

"Suspect one, identified by internet rumours, is a blonde Russian singer named Oksana Kolesnikova. She yesterday admitted 'entertaining Mr Gibson with her piano music', but insists the pair have 'no emotional ties' and are 'not romantically involved'."