February 1999
Car-pooling to public school. Soccer Games. Family Reunions. In between, he's simply the perpetual sexiest-man-alive movie star Mel Gibson
A look of panic crosses Mel Gibson's face. He pauses from attacking his shrimp salad for a second and his lagoon-blue eyes turn steely. It's the same look he had while being torn limb from limb in Braveheart.
He is describing his initial reaction last fall upon hearing the news that his 43-year-old wife, Robyn, was pregnant with their seventh child. "She was seeming a little emotional or something. I said, 'What's up with you? Are you pregnant or something?' I thought I was making a little joke. She said,' " here his voice rises an octave, " 'Yes.' And you know what's the first thing I thought? Oh, no. Another teenager!"
Anyone who has lived through the horror of raising hormonally charged adolescents would understand Gibson's trepidation. But as the father of Hannah, 18 (who's looking at colleges); twins Edward and Christian, 17; Will, 14; Louis, 11; and Milo, 9, Gibson himself is still the biggest kid in the clan.
"Growing up? Not for years. I hope to be a child when they put me away." The brood is raucous, not surprising given the fact that Gibson (the sixth of 11 children) once stapled his sister's head back in Australia and is still fond of giving noogies, playing practical jokes, bending spoons, burping the alphabet, telling gross stories and giving his kids nicknames like Jarhead.
Gibson has driven over in his Toyota Land Cruiser from his Malibu home to a small Santa Monica, Calif., eatery to talk about pregnancy, parenthood and his new thriller, Payback, a venture he calls "risky" given the fact that he plays a rather slimy protagonist - who, after being double-crossed by his wife and best friend, goes on a rampage of violence and vengeance. (The buzz on the film is that Gibson, whose company, Icon, produced it, was unhappy with the original version and had portions reshot.)
He wears baggy pants, a nondescript shirt, woolen clogs and a gold wedding band. His hair is shaggy, he has a scruffy beard with a patch of white and he drinks cup after cup of cappuccino, nervously tugging at his chin hair.