|
This article is from USA Weekend Online, Issue Date: Feb. 7, 1999
Mel and his wife of 21 years, Robyn... I wish he'd look at ME like that!!!!!
Clockwise: Mel, Edward, Louis, Milo, Christian, William, Hannah and Robyn
THE SEXIEST SOCCER DAD ALIVE
Car-pooling to public school. Soccer games. Family reunions. In between, he's simply
the perpetual sexiest man-alive movie star Mel Gibson.
A look of panic crosses Mel Gibson's face. He pauses
from attacking his shrimp salad for a second and his lagoon-blue eyes turn steely. It's the same look he had while being torn
limb from limb in Braveheart.
He is describing his initial reaction last fall upon hearing the news that his 43 year
old wife, Robyn, was pregnant with their seventh child. "She was seeming a little emotional or something. I said, 'What's
up with you? Are you pregnant or something?' I thought I was making a little joke. She said, '"here his voice raises
an octave," 'Yes.' And you know what's the first thing I thought? Oh, no. Another teenager!"
Anyone who
has lived through the horror of raising hormonally charged adolescents would understand Gibson's trepidation. But as the father
of Hannah, 18 (who's looking at colleges); twins Eward and Christian, 17; Will, 14; Louis, 11; and Milo, 9, Gibson himself
is still the biggest kid in the clan.
"Growing up? Not for years. I hope to be a child when they put me away."
The brood is raucous, not surprising given the fact that Gibson (the sixth of 11 children) once stapled his sister's head
back in Australia and is still fond of giving noogies, playing practical jokes, bending spoons, burping the alphabet, telling
gross stories and giving his kids nicknames like Jarhead.
Gibson has driven over in his Toyota Land Cruiser from
his Malibu home to a small Santa Monica, Calif., eatery to talk about pregnancy, parenthood and his new thriller, Payback.
He wears baggy pants, a nondescript shirt, woolen clogs and a gold wedding band. His hair is shaggy, he has a scruffy beard
with a patch of white and he drinks cup after cup of cappuccino, nervously tugging at his chin hair.
He is fidgety.
Wired. Kicking a 30-year habit, he finally stopped smoking four months ago with the help of the antidepressant Zyban. "You
take it for a month. It gets you over the rough spots." His mouth still waters when he sees someone smoking. He's tried
exercise. Acupuncture. Massages. Does he feel different? "Fatter" I gained 10 to 15 punds. None of my clothes fit."
Another passage, he quips, is getting hairier. "A lot of guys go bald. I just keep getting hairier every year."
A Roman Catholic, Gibson managed to locate a parish priest near his home who still says Mass in Latin, which he attends
weekly with his family. And in a town where having seven children might be accomplished only by having seven wives, the Gibsons-on
the cusp of their 20th wedding anniversary-are envied for their longevity. Although he did his share of carousing in the past
(fuled by too much drinking, he acknowledges), the 43-year old Academy Award-wining actor-director-producer is devoted to
his wife, who is responsible for keeping his priorities straight.
"She is the levelheadedness of the world for
him," says a family friend. "She puts it all in perspective. She is so real and wants her family to be raised that
way, and it's hard if you're a Gibson." Has his fame been a burden to the kids? "I don't know." Gibson says,
twirling his beard. "I've asked them that question. I think there's no getting around it. I think it's a factor in who
they are and how the world treats them, in a sense. I think they've done all right. They're pretty good." Nobody in
jail? "No. Just the usual stuff: smoking in the boys room. Misbehaving. 'Cause they're spirited kids. My wife is more
the disciplinarian than I am."
While Mel car-pools the kids to public school and soccer games near their home
in Malibu, Robyn recently hosted a successful fund-riser for the school at their house (no press allowed) and her hsuband
is not shy about asking well-heeled friends for their support.
Gibson is rarely quoted on his extended family, but
in fact he has at least 50 nieces and nephews, and sees his 10 siblings when he goes back to Australia. One brother is a business
executive in art supplies, another is a money broker, another is in the process of patenting various inventions, and his sisters
"are mostly mothers." When the family gathers, as it did recently for Gibson's father's 80th birthday, "It's
loud. It's a lot of fun. We're a pretty tight group." His gift to his father-who moved his brood from America to Australian
in 1965- was "our presence. He's not a big material guy."
And everyone is thrilled about the baby. "The
doctor has done ultrasound. Everything is cool. The kid looks great." They know the sex of the baby, due in April. Boy
or girl? "It's neither. It's one of those hermaphrodites," he jokes. He leans forward. Intense. "When a guys'
wife gets pregnant. It's a real test of your manhood. Because you gotta swallow a lot of s_ _ _. It's like, she's got a lot
of hormones and she's emotional and there's good reason why she's unreasonable at times. I'll never get to the botton of it.
Just go with it. You're allowed to be perplexed by it, but you're not allowed to make it a problem for them." Pregnancy
for Robyn is not difficult. "She just take it all in her stride. She's very cool."
And the reason he stopped
smoking was her condition. "She can't stand the smell. It makes her ill. I didn't want her walking around turning green
every five minutes and throwing up." But one thing is really annoying. "She eats ice cubes. She crunches ice cubes.
She drives me crazy! You know the sound? 'Arrgh, arrgh...'" He screws his mouth up, chomping at the air. "She's
like some sort of animal."
He picks up a spoon. He once demonstrated, years ago, how to bend it. "It's
a great trick. Especially if you're a teenager. All you need is a strong wrist...Can't remember how? here-put your thumb here,
put your finger here and press." His face lights up. He finally seems relaxed. "Just squish 'em...No, further up.
That's better..."
Mel and Tommy on the set of the Patriot
Mel and Milo after a soccer game in 1999, Milo's team were the victors!
|
