Document: Mel Gibson admits slapping Oksana Grigorieva, not punching her

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Mel Gibson says that he slapped Oksana Grigorieva during a heated argument but never hit her with a closed fist and that he did it only because she was out of control and he feared for daughter Lucia’s safety, according to a sworn declaration obtained by TMZ.

‘I slapped Oksana one time with an open hand in an attempt to bring her back to reality,’ he says in the June 23 document. ‘I did not slap her hard, I was just trying to shock her so she would stop screaming.’

In telling his side of the Jan. 6 altercation that’s at the center of a domestic violence investigation, the actor describes an argument that started in the kitchen and escalated after he told Grigorieva to get out of the house and she refused.

He says Oksana grabbed Lucia from her bassinet in the next room and shouted, ‘Stop yelling at me or you will make her into a retarded, brain-damaged idiot.’

‘She continued to scream at me and argue with me while she held Lucia between us,’ he says, ‘literally placing our 2-month-old baby in the middle of our argument.’

In the document filed June 23, he describes his then-girlfriend running barefoot in a bathrobe through her son’s room and out about 75 yards into the backyard at night, then squatting and screaming with the baby to her chest while he yelled at her to bring the child inside. Once she was back in the house, he says, she refused to give Lucia to him and swung the baby to keep her out of his reach.

‘Oksana’s rapid movements were causing Lucia’s little body to be flung from one side to the other, her head shaking violently,’ Gibson says in the declaration.

‘This was the only way I could think of to stop her hysteria,’ he says, explaining that he feared Lucia would be injured, and that his hand never touched the kid.

Grigorieva has accused Gibson of punching her in the temple hard enough that he knocked off a dental veneer and of hitting Lucia while she held the baby.

The couple split up in April, and reports of the fight and of tapes in which Gibson rants at Grigorieva started bubbling up at the end of June.

RELATED:

Mel Gibson’s domestic violence case goes to prosecutors

Like a good ex-boyfriend, Mel Gibson returns Oksana’s CDs (and her music rights) [poll]

Oksana didn’t tell doctor Mel Gibson hit Lucia, says pediatrician who says she saw no sign of injury

— Christie D’Zurilla

Photo: Oksana Grigorieva and Mel Gibson, post-fight but pre-breakup, at the Madrid premiere of ‘Edge of Darkness’ on Feb. 1, 2010. Photo credit: Juan Medina / Reuters.