Mel Gibson has gone on the record about reaching out to Britney Spears during her troubled days last year.
While serving as the special guest on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” following the Oscars Sunday evening, Gibson explained why he got in touch with the pop star.
“Well, she’s a nice kid… She was just going through a rough patch, so I figured… you look around and you see kids that, you know, in the industry and poor Heath,” Gibson said. “I just felt like this poor kid, she’s lining up to be stoned. The press was going at her and everything. I just thought, ‘I wonder if anyone is actually reaching out to her,’ so I just called her and she’s doing great now.”
When asked by Kimmel if Heath Ledger’s death by accidental overdose in January 2008 at the age of 28 contributed to Gibson reaching out to Spears, Gibson hinted that it may have.
“Well I thought I should’ve called him years before… I didn’t really know the ins and outs of what was up with him…” Gibson said. “I could have called him and said, ‘Hey!’ Anything. It’s just when you see sort of an impending tragedy or something that might go wrong, I felt like I should just do something about it, but actually she… it’s got nothing to do with me, actually she pulled herself out of it and her dad [helped too].”