Mel Gibson: 'I've Been Angry All My Life'

Actor-Director Says He 'Can Murder Inanimate Objects' With His Anger

(CBS)  In the first part of her exclusive interview with Mel Gibson — which aired this morning on "Good Morning America" — Diane Sawyer talked with the actor-director about that fateful night, July 28, 2006, when he was arrested for drunk driving and spewed anti-Semitic remarks that made international headlines.

She began the interview by saying no questions were off-limits.

That day began, he said, "much like any other day." He said he did some work, went to a screening.

"Well, of course, I guess I must have been a little overwrought," Gibson said. "That's what happens. Too much pressure, too much work. You do things that go against good judgment. So that's it. A few drinks later and I was in the back of a police car wailing."

Gibson said he was drinking tequila that night — even took a couple slugs in his car while he drove — but he doesn't know how many he had that night. How drunk was he?

"It's not a question of how drunk you are," he explained. "You're impaired. Your judgment is impaired enough to do insane things like try and drive at high speeds. Even a couple of drinks, you loose all humility."

Sawyer reminded Gibson of some of the powerful words he uttered that night, that he "owned Malibu," that "Jews were the responsible for all the wars in the world," then he asked the arresting officer if he himself was a Jew.

She asked him if he thought those were anti-Semitic words and he replied, "Oh, yes. Absolutely. It sounds horrible. And I'm ashamed that came out of my mouth. I'm not that. That's not who I am."

She asked Gibson what he might have said if the arresting office was black. "Who knows? I'd have to get loaded again and tell you and then be in those conditions again. It's unpredictable what's going to come flying out," he said.

Gibson, who has struggled with alcoholism and drug abuse in the past, described himself as a "happy drunk … until I snap."

"Years go by, you're fine. And then all of a sudden, in a heartbeat, in an instant, on an impulse, somebody shoves a glass of Mescal in front of your nose, and says, 'It's from Oaxaca,' " he said. "And it's burning its way through your esophagus, and you go, 'Oh, man, what did I do that for? I can't put the toothpaste back in the tube.' "

Gibson said he has no idea where this anger inside him came from.

2"I've been angry all my life," he said. "I try not to have it manifest itself. You try and keep a lock on it. It's real, back there someplace, you know. I've talked to people about that. Where is that coming from? I can get really mad about — I can murder inanimate objects. You should see me choking the toaster in the morning. So I'm kind of a work in progress right now. You got me a little green. I mean, I just got out of the straitjacket with the messy hair and everything."

He said the first thing that went through his mind when he had to have his mug shot taken at the precinct was Nick Nolte's infamous 2002 mug shot, so he attempted to fix his hair.

"I did my best with a finger combing in the water fountain to splash a little water on my face to not take one of those hideous mug shots because I knew it would be around. Vanity won out," he said.