Mel Gibson claims he's been sober for 10 years.
Mel Gibson
The 60-year-old was the subject of controversy in 2006 when he was arrested by a policeman in Malibu for drunk driving, and was subsequently filmed giving an anti-Semitic rant.
He then landed himself in trouble again in 2010 when his ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva claimed the 'What Women Want' actor had punched her and broke her teeth. She then released secretly recorded audio in which Mel allegedly went on another racially-charged tirade.
Now, the 'Braveheart' star has credited Alcoholics Anonymous for helping him clean up his life, and insists he's a changed man.
Speaking to Australia's Sunday Night Channel 7, he said: "I am a member of (the) 12-step program and I achieved sobriety like that. I've got 10 years of sobriety under my belt.
"I had other lengths before that like eight years one time, fall off, four years, it's like that, like through a revolving door."
And the star now describes his past outbursts as the "worst moment" of his life, and says what he did "wasn't meant to be public".
He said: "Imagine the worst moment you have even had being recorded and broadcast to the world and it wasn't meant to be public. You didn't stand on a soapbox and do it, but that's what happens, you know."
Despite still being affected by his previous actions, Mel doesn't want to have a "pity party" but hates false reports claiming he has been drinking.
He said: "It is disheartening when you have been like 10 years dry on the wagon, sober and you have to read every year or so that you're loaded so that's disappointing because it is like a public notice that you're loaded but you're not.
"[But] We can all get into to feeling sorry for ourselves, having a pity party about the past or what has happened, it is not worth it because it affects the present and it affects the future."
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