Mel Gibson admits slapping girlfriend

LONDON - Hollywood star Mel Gibson has admitted that he slapped his former girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, with whom he is currently embroiled in a custody battle over their 12-month old daughter Lucia.

While Gibson denied Grigorieva’s allegations that he attacked her while she was holding the baby, he confessed in court documents that he slapped her when she became hysterical, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

According to a June 23, 2010 declaration filed with Los Angeles Superior Court, Gibson said the pair were arguing Jan 6, 2010 when Grigorieva grabbed Lucia and screamed at him - “Stop yelling or you will make her into a retarded brain damaged idiot!”

The 54-year-old “Braveheart” star claimed he was worried Lucia would suffer Shaken Baby Syndrome - neurological damage sustained to infants after being shaken, because the singer “started swinging Lucia erratically in her arms, jerking her body from side to side to keep Lucia out of my reach”.

“I slapped Oksana one time with an open hand in an attempt to bring her back to reality. I did not slap her hard, I was just trying to shock her so that she would stop screaming, continuing shaking Lucia back and forth,” Gibson said in his declaration.

“I did not hit Oksana with a closed fist, as she alleges. I did not ever punch her in the face or in the temple or anywhere else, not then or at any other time,” he added.

Though Gibson admits he was wrong in raising his hand at his former partner, he said he was worried for his daughter’s safety.

“While I do not believe I handled the situation as well as I should have, I was worried about the rough way Oksana was shaking and tossing Lucia around. My hand never touched any part of Lucia.”

Grigorieva has alleged that Gibson knocked out two of her teeth in the argument. But the latter claims otherwise.

“There was never any blood on Oksana and none of her teeth were ‘broken’, although one of the false veneers from a tooth apparently did come off, I did not see that occur at the time,” he said.