One is a Hollywood superstar who is as notorious for his off-screen meltdowns as he is for his Oscar-winning role as William Wallace in Braveheart and his legendary performances in the films Mad Max and Lethal Weapon.
The other enters Hollywood’s legendary Polo Lounge and doesn’t deserve a fleeting glimpse from the movie industry brokers who crowd the restaurant’s blue leather booths.
At 65, Donal Gibson is Mel Gibson’s younger brother by a few years and has the same piercing blue eyes and striking looks that made his brother a global superstar.
In fact, Donal sounds so much like his brother that Disney hired him to voice the main character of John Smith in the studio’s sequel to the blockbuster animated hit Pocahontas when Mel was unavailable to reprise the role.
They were once so close that Mel gave Donal a role in Braveheart and encouraged him to pursue his own Hollywood dreams.
Donal Gibson (right) is pictured having an “awkward” dinner with his older brother Mel in 2008
On the set of Braveheart with Mel Gibson, right, as the brothers maintained a close relationship
But today, those dreams are in tatters — and so is their relationship.
In this first interview about his famous sibling, Donal reveals the price Hollywood’s fame and fortune has taken for their once “unassailable bond” and how he blames it on Mel’s controversial film The Passion Of The Christ (which Star brought in a report). $425m or £340m) to tear them apart.
“Mel and I were so close at one point that I find it incredible that we don’t talk, that we don’t have any contact,” says Donal quietly, shaking his head. “When we were kids, we shared a bedroom and did everything together.
“When he came to LA, I followed him. He’s only two years older than me, so he was my big brother, my best friend. When he became famous, there was no jealousy. I was happy for him and proud that he had made it.
“Fame changed him. He began to believe in his own advertising. The Mel I knew disappeared.
“Hollywood ate him up and spat him out.” To me, fame and money went to his head and created a monster. I hate what has become of him.’
Donal has chosen to speak out now because devout Catholic Mel is about to begin work on a sequel to The Passion of the Christ called Resurrection.
When the original film came out in 2004 – the film covering the last 12 hours of Jesus’ life, known as “The Passion”, it was condemned by many as anti-Semitic for its portrayal of Jews and criticized for its extreme violence.
Mel has a long-standing relationship with Rosalind Ross, pictured together in 2019, with whom he has a young son
New York-born actor Mel Gibson played William Wallace in the Oscar-winning film Braveheart
Shot entirely in Aramaic, Hebrew and Latin, fans described the film as almost a religious experience and it became the highest-grossing independent film of all time, grossing US$612 million (£490 million) at the global box office. Mel, who largely self-financed the film, became worth hundreds of millions overnight. Today he owns a home in Malibu, a sprawling estate in Costa Rica and a private island in Fiji. But for Donal, the film was “a disaster.”
He claims his burgeoning Hollywood career “went to the toilet” because people blacklisted him for what he calls “my brother’s sins.”
Like many family feuds, this one started with money. Donal says he repeatedly begged his brother for financial help and was shocked when Mel told him, “Your problems are your own.”
I ask Donal if, as a grown man, it’s really fair to blame his brother for his lack of success in Hollywood. After all, Mel has his own family of nine children to support – why should he be in charge of a sibling? Donal is afraid. “Before Passion Of The Christ, I had a regular job, but I think people thought Mel was an anti-Semite, so they thought I was an anti-Semite too.
“I think I was blacklisted. “Mel was fine because he got millions in the bank.”
Things only got worse, Donal says, when Mel – a man who is open about his struggles with addiction – was pulled over for drunk driving in Malibu in 2006 and went on a drunken rampage, calling a police officer “Zuckert*.” ts’ – which he later denied – and triggered a tirade of anti-Semitic remarks.
Mel later said, “I was overworked and angry and got arrested.” I was caught – illegally – by a ruthless police officer who was never prosecuted for this crime, and then he went public with it for profit.
“If I really were what they claim to be, some kind of hater, there would certainly be evidence. That has never happened before. “For an episode in the back seat of a police car with eight double tequilas to dictate…all the work, life’s work, and beliefs…that’s really unfair.”
The arrest for drinking and driving was followed in 2010 by leaked tapes in which Mel allegedly yelled racist remarks, including the use of the N-word, at his then-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, the mother of one of his nine children.
Despite Mel’s many apologies, it took years for his Hollywood career to recover.
While supporters like Robert Downey Jr. begged studios to give Mel a second chance, many in the film industry have never forgiven him.
Stranger Things actress Winona Ryder claimed Mel called her “an oven robber,” which he vehemently denies.
“Hollywood is a one-industry city, and when Mel went nuclear and made those scathing comments about Jews when he was arrested, my work dried up overnight,” says Donal.
Donal, who’d managed to land bit parts in movies like Immortal Beloved and voice work on TV shows like Justice League Unlimited, recites a litany of perceived slights.
He claims a speaking role in a film starring another Hollywood star was cut because the actor allegedly had a falling out with Mel.
When Donal reminded his brother that he had made suggestions for the soundtrack to “The Passion,” he claimed his brother replied, “Bully for you.”
Whether he would ever have reached his brother’s acting heights is, in his opinion, unknown. “I think Mel’s behavior made me unable to get a job. “The Gibson name was poisonous,” says Donal. “My agent fired me.” The phone stopped ringing.
“People associated the Gibson name with bigotry, racism, cruelty, hatred and anger.”
“I’ve worked with big studios like Warner Brothers and Disney. It stopped overnight.’
Donal says Mel once helped him financially and offered him a small family-owned flat, but he believes his brother should have compensated him for the “pain and suffering” he and his wife Shanas allegedly endured.
Why?
“Because we’ve been in hell for almost 20 years.”
Every time he asked his brother for money, Mel got angry.
“He yelled at me and told me if the name Gibson upset me, I should change my name.”
“He screamed, ‘You can’t blame me for that’ and ‘Your problems are your own!’
He cites the Hemsworth brothers – Chris, Liam and Luke – who have had varying degrees of success in Hollywood.
Chris plays Thor in the Marvel cinematic universe and is one of the highest paid actors in the world.
“Other families take care of each other. “The Hemsworth brothers live close and support each other.” Donal dreaded family reunions because of what he calls “the Gibson rage.”
His brother was prone to temper tantrums or awkward silences, even during “fun” friendship outings.
An example of this is when Mel flew him to Boston on his private jet and introduced him to Robert De Niro. Donal shows a photo of an obviously uncomfortable Mel sitting next to him at dinner during that trip. “Mel was upset because Celine Dion had the presidential suite at the hotel and he wanted it.” “He was in a bad mood all night.”
Donal believes Mel’s wife of 31 years, Robyn, mother of the star’s seven children, helped his brother “stay balanced” until their divorce in 2011.
“I think Mel was afraid of his wife,” Donal said. “She ruled her house with an iron rod.” When their marriage ended, Mel began to behave.
“He was surrounded by people who only told him what he wanted to hear.”
Donal has written a book: Resurrection: Tales Of Family, Madness, Mayhem And Surviving The Gibson Rage and is looking for a publisher
Donal hasn’t spoken to his brother in more than five years, which he finds difficult to reconcile given the close bond they shared as a child.
They were born in upstate New York, just two of 11 children. A pair of twins separated them.
“The twins were a year older than me and Mel was two years older. These were the guys I spent my childhood with. “We were the gang of four, a carefree bunch.”
Her father, Hutton, worked on the railways, while her Irish-born mother, Anne, was a homemaker who struggled to make ends meet.
Donal calls Anne the “glue” that held her family together. “We were very poor and often went hungry, but we loved each other.”
“We jumped out the hayloft window.” We literally walked on thin ice. We played with soldiers. We dodged the lightning. “We were followed every day by a Great Dane named Duchess.”
Her father, a self-taught, book-loving and Latin-reader, supplemented his meager income by participating in game shows.
Hutton won the America’s Jeopardy game show five times and took home prizes including cars and televisions. When Donal was ten his father suffered an accident at work and moved to Australia with the compensation money.
Donal says, “Ever since Mel was young, he was ambitious.” He wanted to be rich and famous.
“Acting was in our blood. We played as Vikings or Spartacus. Mom was crazy about movies. She encouraged us to be storytellers.”
Mel attended drama school and moved to Hollywood, where he quickly became a star in 1979’s “Mad Max.”
Donal followed his brother: “He supported him. I was happy about his success. Then everything went wrong with “The Passion”.
“I feel like when he made that film he didn’t care what it would mean for my acting career. He didn’t care that his anti-Semitic outbursts would have repercussions on me.’
Today, Donal works as an artist, but longs to be a voice actor again. Wife Shanas, a writer, is the main breadwinner.
Mel is now in a long-term relationship with Rosalind Ross, with whom he has a young son.
Donal has written a book: Resurrection: Tales Of Family, Madness, Mayhem And Surviving The Gibson Rage and is looking for a publisher.
“I warned Mel that The Passion Of The Christ would have consequences.
“It doesn’t take a genius to realize that a controversial film about Christ’s death could be condemned as anti-Semitic and offensive to Jews.”
“But Mel ended up laughing all the way to the bank.”
“When I heard he was going to do a sequel, I had to speak up. Religious films only create discord, fear and anger. They don’t unite people, they divide people.”
The rift causes Donal to stop speaking to other family members. “I don’t want to include my other siblings because Mel is the rich and successful one and I think some feel like they don’t want to upset him.”
“I still love Mel, but I don’t know who he is anymore.” I want him to fix things between us. I want to live in peace.’
You can read more about Donal Gibson and his book at https://www.resurrectionbydonalgibson.com/.