Mel Gibson was seen out in the Los Angeles suburbs this week, stepping into an upscale restaurant with his 16-year-old daughter, Lucia.
The 70-year-old Hollywood star shares Lucia with Russian musician Oksana Grigorieva, 56, whom he dated before their highly publicized breakup in 2010.
Their split spiraled into a bitter legal battle after Grigorieva accused Gibson of domestic violence, a case that later ended with the actor entering a no-contest plea to misdemeanor battery.
The controversy also badly damaged Gibson’s standing in Hollywood after recordings surfaced of him making abusive and racist remarks during a phone call with Grigorieva.
Despite the turmoil surrounding that chapter of his life, Gibson, who is a father of nine, appeared relaxed and close with Lucia as the pair headed out for an Italian dinner on Thursday.
Lucia, now nearly as tall as her 5-foot-10 father, was photographed arriving with him at Mediterraneo, a farm-to-table Italian restaurant in Westlake Village.
Our News Outlet has reached out to Gibson’s representatives for comment.
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Mel Gibson was seen taking his 16-year-old daughter Lucia to an upscale restaurant in the Los Angeles suburbs this week
The father of nine appeared to share an easy, affectionate bond with his youngest daughter during their Thursday Italian dinner outing
Lucia, now nearly matching her father’s 5-foot-10 height, was photographed with him outside Mediterraneo in Westlake Village
Gibson has returned to America after he finished directing the Italian shoot of the sequel to his 2004 self-produced blockbuster The Passion of the Christ.
Entitled The Resurrection of the Christ, the two-part follow-up is slated for release over the next two years and features Finnish actor Jaakko Ohtonen as Jesus, a role played in the original picture by Sound of Freedom star Jim Caviezel.
Gibson struck up his romance with Lucia’s mother while he was separated from his wife Robyn Moore, the mother of his seven oldest children.
Moore and Gibson married in 1980, the year after he catapulted to stardom in Mad Max, and split in 2009 before finalizing their divorce in 2011.
In 2010, the Braveheart star’s relationship with Grigorieva disintegrated into a bruising custody battle over Lucia that eventually grew so rancorous that both parents at one point held restraining orders against each other.
Gibson confessed in legal documents to having slapped Grigorieva once ‘with an open hand’ during a dispute over Lucia, who was then two months old.
He maintained in his court filing that Grigorieva had flown into a ‘hysterical’ state and he struck her in an attempt to make her stop ‘shaking Lucia back and forth,’ as he was worried the newborn would develop ‘shaken baby syndrome.’
They ultimately reached an agreement on joint custody in August 2011, as Gibson’s showbiz career lay in ruins over the ‘pack of n*****s’ recording.
The 70-year-old actor welcomed Lucia with Russian musician Oksana Grigorieva, whom he was involved with from 2009 until their explosive 2010 split. Above, in Paris in 2010
Grigorieva accused Gibson of domestic violence, triggering a rancorous legal drama. Above, in 2009
In 2014, Gibson started dating Rosalind Ross, 36, with whom he welcomed a son called Lars, nine, before their split last year. Above, the couple in 2019
Gibson bringing his two youngest children Lucia and Lars to a 2024 screening of his horror movie Monster Summer at the Directors Guild of America
Defended at the time by his friends Jodie Foster and Whoopi Goldberg, he worked at a gradual comeback that flowered by 2017 into a best picture Oscar nod for Hacksaw Ridge, the World War II drama he directed with Andrew Garfield in the lead.
From 2014 until last year, Gibson was dating equestrian vaulter turned screenwriter Rosalind Ross, 36, with whom he welcomed his now nine-year-old son Lars.
The year he began his relationship with Ross, Gibson rhapsodized to Mario Lopez about the experience of raising Lucia, who at that stage was his youngest child.
‘She’s so cool. It’s amazing. It’s full of wonder… and I’m not a youngster any more. It’s my second daughter. I’m getting a chance to do it better,’ he said on Extra.
His principal piece of advice on fatherhood was for parents to ‘listen,’ he remarked, quipping that his own children ‘actually tell me what to do.’
