Mel Gibson Sleeps With Gun: "You've Got To Be Tooled Up"
"In this day and age, you've got to be tooled up," the star said in a recent Hello! Magazine interview.
"If I'm lying in bed and somebody come (sic) into my room, I'll either wake up or I won't. And I'll either hit 'em with my big stick that I've got or my gun. Or they'll hit me."
Gibson has returned to the screen this month after 7½ years with a new movie, "Edge of Darkness."
Gibson has become a cultural firebrand since then, directing the controversial 2004 box-office hit "The Passion of the Christ" and the violent 2006 action epic, "Apocalypto."
Photo: Mel Gibson 2006 DUI Mug Shot.
He also became a cultural pariah in July 2006 when, after being pulled over in Malibu, outside Los Angeles, for speeding and driving under the influence, Gibson made obscene, anti-Semitic remarks to the arresting officer after being handcuffed and put inside a police car. He largely disappeared after the incident.
But Gibson says he's not shirking the spotlight.
"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. And I'm telling you right now, I'm one strong motherf****r because I'm right back at you."
Gibson also insisted his past notoriety will not affect his ability to work with Hollywood studios in the future.
"What scandal?" he says. "That's mostly newspaper hype, OK?! I can get in with the studio, work with them, or work independently as I wish. And I'll go on as I always have."
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