In his first public interview since his crazed rants to ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva were leaked, Mel Gibson says he regrets what was heard and it doesn't represent who he is.
"Who anticipates being recorded? Who anticipates that? Who could anticipate such a personal betrayal?" the actor tells 'Deadline'.
"I've never treated anyone badly or in a discriminatory way based on their gender, race, religion or sexuality -- period."
"I don't blame some people for thinking that though, from the garbage they heard on those leaked tapes, which have been edited."
"You have to put it all in the proper context of being in an irrationally, heated discussion at the height of a breakdown, trying to get out of a really unhealthy relationship."
"It's one terribly, awful moment in time, said to one person, in the span of one day and doesn't represent what I truly believe or how I've treated people my entire life."
Asked why so few, other than Whoopi Goldberg and Jodie Foster, have gone to bat for him, Gibson says he understands the business.
"Why would anyone want to speak publicly and drag themselves through this crap? It seems to add fuel to the fire. Very many people are supportive, of course, but you find out who your friends are. I have many friends and they've been great."
As for his cancelled cameo in 'The Hangover' sequel and how the incident has affected his career, Gibson says: "You have to let that go. It's okay. You just have to let that go."
"It shows you a few things. You just move on and go okay. I'm not greatly offended by it. It seemed like a good idea at the time and it went south."
"I don't care if I act anymore. I'm beyond people judging, way beyond that. The whole experience has been most unfortunate. And so it's not without all the downside."
"I could easily not act again. It's not a problem. I'm going to do something now because I want to do it and because it's fun. I've already pulled another job and it's going to be fun. I don't know if it's going to get off the ground, but I'm going to go work for Braveheart screenwriter Randy Wallace again."
"He's got this script and he's had it for years. He wrote some book and he's adapted it to a script. And it's almost like Alexander Dumas — like that swashbuckler kind of stuff."
"It's funny and yet it's got really good serious undertones too. Randy writes a decent script. And I responded to it right away. I thought this is hilarious. I've got to do this. And I'm not the main guy in the film -- which is great."
Looking back, Gibson says he may have chosen a less public career, but now has to deal with the downsides of fame.
"It's unfortunate that I was 21 or 22 years old when I made the choice because without benefit of experience or any kind of maturity, one makes a choice in the spur of the moment you realize that it's not anything it appears to be in your imagination and that it has a lot of downside to it."
"There are aspects that you don't necessarily want and sometimes they are completely unavoidable. You get blindsided and try to deal with it in a pragmatic way."
In his first public interview since his 
