Now, we all know that Hollywood isn't exactly a haven for the most sane and well-adjusted members of society, but even in a town that has seen Christian Bale's infamous Terminator: Salvation rant, or Tom Cruise's overly smug couch-surfing incident on the Oprah Winfrey show, Mel Gibson is a whole new level of crazy.

Having collected a litany of anti-Semitic, racist and sexist quotes throughout the course of his career, the Aussie filmmaker has now sent his PR people into a tailspin with his latest attempt at career suicide. Gibson had already done substantial damage to his reputation with his 2006 DUI arrest and subsequent outburst to the arresting officers and, if his grovelling apology on national television wasn't enough to curb his emotionally volatile outbursts, you have to wonder if anything will.

I guess we'll find out shortly. Gibson's now ex-beau, Russian pianist Oksana Grigorieva, has released a recording she made of a telephone 'conversation' with Mel in which he sounds like a crazy person doing karaoke in a mental hospital. Laced with extreme profanity (so much so that it probably doesn't bear repeating here) Gibson accuses her of not having a compatible soul in relation to his (?) and admits to hitting her while she was holding their newborn child and even going on to allude that he would murder her. Mel continues shouting that he "doesn't have any friends" and his "career is over" (Gibson was dropped by his agency William Morris Endeavor recently), sounding like an unruly teenager prone to wearing black nail-polish and slamming bedroom doors because MOM JUST DOESN'T UNDERSTAND!

If you hear the clip (it's on YouTube) it will become crystal clear to you that this man is deeply unhinged and most likely bi-polar. He appears to actually be more crazy in real life than the animated version of himself on South Park was, and when you're worse in real life than how South Park portray you that means it's probably time to check into a facility somewhere and blame it all on 'nervous exhaustion'. That's the Hollywood way, after all.

Words: John Balfe (Sheena is away) Photos via WENN