Mel Gibson`s Slap Scandal; Tiger Woods` First Mistress Breaks Her Silence
A.J. HAMMER, HOST: We`ve got big news breaking today on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT - Mel`s slap scandal. Mel Gibson reportedly admits he did slap his ex- girlfriend. Well, today, Mel`s explosive reason why he says he did it. Tiger`s first mistress breaks her silence. Rachel Uchitel, the first woman Tiger Woods allegedly had an affair with makes a stunning confession today. Will anyone feel sorry for her? The Gosselin kids expelled? Unbelievable new reports today that some of Jon and Kate`s kids have been kicked out of school. Is their reality TV fame to blame? Jessica Simpson engaged. Jessica gets engaged just two weeks after her ex Nick Lachey does. Hmm. Coincidence or is something tuna fishy going on here? TV`s most provocative entertainment news show starts right now.</s>KAREEN WYNTER, CORRESPONDENT, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT: That`s right, A.J. It does. This is truly wild. TMZ reports that Gibson talked about that fight in a court declaration last July. It was part of a long custody war between Mel and Oksana over their baby girl, Lucia. Oksana has claimed that during an explosive argument on January 6th of this year Mel, punched her in the head and mouth and, get this, knocked out two of her teeth. But in Mel`s declaration - TMZ reports today that Mel claims he was just trying to save their baby. In the court documents quoted by TMZ, Gibson reportedly says, and I`m quoting here, "Oksana was acting hysterical and Lucia was screaming as her rapid movements were causing Lucia`s little body to be flung from one side to the other, her head shaking violently." "I could see that Oksana`s behavior had spiraled out of control. I feared the physical risk to Lucia associated with shaking an infant Lucia`s age known as `shaken baby syndrome.`" Gibson goes on to say, quote, "I slapped Oksana one time with an open hand in an attempt to bring her back to reality. I did not slap her hard. I was just trying to shock her so that she would stop screaming, continuing shaking Lucia back and forth." But, A.J., Gibson - and I`m going to make it clear here - he denies - denies he hit Oksana with a closed fist or that he struck their baby, both claims, by the way, Oksana has made in the past.</s>HAMMER: Yes. Mel Gibson saying he`s never, ever hit Oksana ever before. And it`s never happened except for this one slapping incident. Police investigating Gibson for domestic violence charges but no charges have been filed yet. Sunny Hostin, off to you. Mel apparently admitting, yes, he slapped Oksana but it was for his baby`s sake. Is his reasoning a justifiable defense?</s>SUNNY HOSTIN, LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR, "IN SESSION" ON TRU TV: No, no, it`s never a defense to hit another woman. A man should never hit a woman. And quite frankly, nobody should hit anyone else. That`s assaultive behavior. Can it stand up in a court of law? I mean, there is a defense that you can try to protect your child, but I don`t believe that at all. He`s admitted to assaulting her and I think any jury, any woman on a jury, is going to find him guilty of domestic violence just based on that admission alone.</s>HAMMER: But it`s interesting to sort of understand why he would say that because he claims that she was acting so erratically and he needed to calm her down for the safety of their baby. Cooper, what do you make of Mel`s "I hit Oksana to save Lucia" claim?</s>LAWRENCE: No. You take the baby and you leave the house if you think that she`s put the baby in danger.</s>HOSTIN: Right.</s>LAWRENCE: It`s not a movie. You don`t smack somebody and they go - and they`re back, you know. He`s watching too many of his own movies. If he was really concerned with the safety of this child, he could have called 911. He could have taken the baby. He could have left. But the idea you never put your hands on a woman for any reason.</s>HOSTIN: That`s right.</s>HAMMER: I couldn`t agree with both of you more on that. Well, the Mel- Oksana fight in question appears to be this very same fight that we heard the ex-couple mention in those secret recordings that were made by Oksana and, of course, posted on "Radar Online." And at one point in those recordings, you may remember this, Gibson appears to reference having hit Oksana. Let`s listen to that.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (allegedly Oksana Grigorieva): You almost killed us. Did you forget?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE (allegedly Mel Gibson): The last three years has been a</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (allegedly Oksana Grigorieva): You were a hitting a woman with a child in her hands. You - what kind of man is that, hitting a woman when she`s holding a child in her hands, breaking her teeth twice in the face. What kind of man is that?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE (allegedly Mel Gibson): Oh, you`re all angry now. You know what? You</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (allegedly Oksana Grigorieva): You know what? You`re going to answer. One day, boy, you`re going to answer.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE (allegedly Mel Gibson): What, are you threatening me?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (allegedly Oksana Grigorieva): Nothing, nothing. I`m not the one to threaten.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE (allegedly Mel Gibson): I`ll threaten - I`ll put you in the</s>HAMMER: OK. Sunny, understanding, of course, it is never right to hit a woman. You say that wouldn`t be a justifiable defense, even if he was trying, as he claimed, to help or save their child. When you hear that recording now after we`ve heard Mel`s apparent reasoning, again, trying to protect his daughter, do people need to start cutting him a break at all?</s>HOSTIN: No.</s>HAMMER: Not at all?</s>HOSTIN: No, not at all. I mean, he`s admitted to striking her. He admitted it on that tape. Now, he`s admitted it in a court affidavit. You don`t get a break for domestic violence. I mean, that is really just the bottom line here, A.J. He hit Oksana and that`s enough for me and I think it would be enough for a jury and it would be enough for a court of law. He just doesn`t have a justifiable defense.</s>HAMMER: All right. Fair enough. I do want to move on because Mel is not the only one making an explosive admission today. Alleged Tiger Woods mistress, Rachel Uchitel, is breaking her silence and coming as close as she ever has or probably ever will to finally admitting an affair with Tiger. Back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT`s Kareen Wynter in Hollywood. Kareen, what is Rachel Uchitel saying?</s>WYNTER: Well, in an extensive interview with the U.K.`s "Daily Mail," Rachel says that losing her fiance on 9/11 - it actually sent her into a downward spiral. She says, quote, "I plunged head first into relationships which I should never have been in." She didn`t, however, A.J., answer specific questions about you-know-who, Tiger, probably because of that reported multimillion dollar settlement she reached with Tiger. But she was asked, pointblank, if she regrets sleeping with a married man. She says, quote, "Yes, of course. I will never, ever do that again." And correct me if I`m wrong here, A.J., the article left little doubt about which married man Rachel was referring to.</s>HAMMER: Yes. Little at all. Well, this article really goes into this intense detail about how Uchitel says she felt with she lost her fiancee. That is certainly something that people can sympathize with. But Cooper, does this make you at all feel sorry for her knowing what she`s done, allegedly?</s>LAWRENCE: No, because I believe in personal responsibility. And we`ve all lost people. A lot of us have, myself included, we all lost people we were close with on 9/11. To walk around and use that as an excuse for bad behavior is just</s>HAMMER: I don`t know if she was doing that. I think she was trying to give it context. I don`t know that she was saying, well -</s>LAWRENCE: There`s still personal responsibility.</s>HOSTIN: Yes.</s>LAWRENCE: There`s still the idea that she - also, you know, the fact that she was in love with Tiger, then what`s the $10 million for? She says she not a whore? Well, I have ex-boyfriends. I haven`t asked them for money.</s>HAMMER: Right.</s>LAWRENCE: So to me, that`s a whore.</s>HAMMER: And of course, there`s been no confirmation that she was, in fact, paid $10 million. Something else that Rachel says in this article caught my eye about her life now. Listen to what she tells the "Daily Mail," quote, "Women don`t like me because they see me as a threat, but I just want to be loved. And that got me into trouble because I made some bad choices in men. What woman doesn`t understand that?" Sunny, I go to you as a woman, not just a lawyer. Do you understand that?</s>HOSTIN: I don`t understand it. I don`t understand it at all. I`m sorry. Maybe I`m not that woman. Bu you know, she slept with a married man. I agree with Cooper. People - women lose, you know, their loved ones all the time but that doesn`t mean that they end up in the bed of a married man. It`s such complete nonsense and for her to really use the 9/11 excuse is deplorable. It just makes me dislike her even more.</s>HAMMER: All right. We will leave it there. Sunny Hostin, Cooper Lawrence, I thank you both. As we move on today, Sarah Palin`s brand new reality show just premiered. I can tell you millions of people watched this thing. So here`s the big question I`m asking today - will this show help Sarah if she decides to run for president in 2012?</s>FMR. GOV. SARAH PALIN (R-AK): People know me from the political stage or from my book perhaps. But I`m a mother of five and it`s important to me that my kids see everything that Alaska has to offer.</s>HAMMER: A very different side of Sarah Palin. So is this just a big campaign tactic? The Gosselin kids expelled? Wait until you hear this - unbelievable new reports today that some of Jon and Kate`s kids have been kicked out of school. Is their reality TV fame to blame? And it has been one of the longest running reported feuds of all time. I`m talking about Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg. This has been going on for a quarter century. Today, they finally patch things up.</s>OPRAH WINFREY, HOST, "THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW": Whoopi came up to me and she said, "Can I just ask you something?" Really? She said, "Can I just ask you something? Did I do something to you?"</s>HAMMER: These two finally get to the bottom of their mysterious feud. This is SHOWBIZ TONIGHT on HLN news and views. And now, the "SHOWBIZ News Ticker" - more stories from the SHOWBIZ TONIGHT newsroom making news today.</s>TEXT: Oprah, Britney Spears, Beyonce are highest-earning women in showbiz. Russell Brand addresses reports about his wedding to Katy Perry.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here`s another rumor. Twenty-one camels, elephants and horses were part of the wedding procession.</s>RUSSELL BRAND, COMEDIAN: They were not. It was just mostly friends and family.</s>HAMMER: Welcome back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. I`m A.J. Hammer in New York. And right now, Sarah Palin, a rock star? Well, not exactly. But Sarah Palin does go rock climbing on TV. Could this be a presidential campaign tactic? President Clinton`s big hangover today. And today, another brand-new Michael Jackson song is released. All this in "The Buzz Today."</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is this? Oh, my god.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is my tooth.</s>HAMMER: According to "People.com," Clinton plays himself in the comedy. Palin presidential reality? Sarah Palin just debuted her brand-new reality show, "Sarah Palin`s Alaska," on</s>TLC. S. PALIN: Oh, my god!</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You`ve always wanted to be a rock climber, Sarah.</s>S. PALIN: Was it a rock climber or a rock star?</s>HAMMER: The all-access look at Palin`s adventurous side is sparking heated speculation that she`s not just scaling glaciers on the show. She`s actually chipping away at a presidential plot for 2012.</s>S. PALIN: We`re near the top of the world.</s>HAMMER: Palin has been hinting that she would run for president if no one else wants the job.</s>CARLOS DIAZ, SYNDICATED RADIO HOST: A.J., I`m going to kill myself for saying this - Sarah Palin is a genius. I said it, she`s a genius -</s>HAMMER: All right.</s>DIAZ: Because she`s doing everything right. She gets Mark Burnett involved in the show. By the way, numbers are in. Five million people watched the show. It`s the biggest new show ever in the history of TLC. So she`s letting America see herself - letting America see her before she does a run for presidency, and I think it`s a great idea on her part. She`s in her natural environment.</s>HAMMER: Wow.</s>DIAZ: Everything about this is right. I know. I know it`s tough for you to hear this coming from my lips. But I would like to see Sarah Palin`s Washington, D.C. That`s the next show I want to see.</s>HAMMER: All right. That may be a bit away. But it`s interesting, Carlos, and I hope you don`t kill yourself, by the way. You mentioned the five million viewers who tuned in to see the show. It makes it the number one launch in all of TLC`s history. It`s also making some big buzz among our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT iReporters. Cameron Harrelson of Baxley, Georgia tells us the show showed us a different side of Palin. Watch.</s>CAMERON HARRELSON, BAXLEY, GEORGIA: You know, so often we`ve been blinded by the media`s attacks on her and her family that we never get to see who this woman is behind the cameras. And you know, she really is an admirable person. So if you`re someone who`s trying to find out who Sarah Palin is and what she`s all about, this is the show for you to watch.</s>HAMMER: Thanks, Cameron. Now, the show does give us a different look at Sarah Palin. So if it is about boosting Palin`s image, I can see how, by our iReporter`s thinking, it could actually work. Kelli, to you, this show - is it going to make her a bigger star or a bigger politician?</s>KELLI ZINK, HOST, "ACCESS HOLLYWOOD": Bigger star. Here`s the thing, A.J. If you don`t like Sarah Palin, watching the show is not going to make you like her any more. For someone like me who is not the biggest fan of her politics, I laugh. I mean, she`s a character. If anything, it makes me want to travel to Alaska, which is beautiful. But Sarah Palin - this is not going to help her campaign any more than Bristol on "Dancing with the Stars."</s>HAMMER: Well, let`s take a look at this because just handed to me the results of our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT exclusive poll, and here is what we asked - "`Sarah Palin`s Alaska`: Do you think Palin`s reality show will win her more fans?" Now, 22 percent, a pretty low number, said yes, it will. Seventy-eight percent said no. And Carlos, I`m actually thinking, kind of like Kelli, that people who don`t like Sarah Palin - it`s not like they`re going to be tuning into the show, are they?</s>DIAZ: Well, it`s kind of - you almost want to tune in for the train wreck appeal. You know, you`re like - I mean, I`m not a big fan of Sarah Palin, but I watch a little bit because you want to see so you can like go into work the next day and go, oh, my gosh -</s>ZINK: We can`t have a politician who is a train wreck.</s>DIAZ: I know. But that`s the thing. I think we`re beyond Sarah Palin as a serious politician. But in the show, she can sneak in little tidbits like, "Oh, I like this fence in my front yard. We need this on the Mexican border." Or you see that she`s tough on her daughter`s boyfriend, so she`ll be tough with other things.</s>HAMMER: It`s maybe a controlled way of her getting her message out there. She has control over this thing. Carlos Diaz, Kelli Zink, we`re going to leave it there. Thanks, guys. All right. As we move on, there`s big news today from Jessica Simpson. She is engaged. But this is making me go hmm, because just days ago, her ex, Nick Lachey - he got engaged to Vanessa Minnillo. I`ve got to ask, is this a coincidence or is there something tuna fishy going on there? There is something going on with those Gosselin kids. They have reportedly been expelled from school. We`re asking today - is their reality TV fame to blame? Also this -</s>WINFREY: Whoopi came up to me and she said, "Can I just ask you something?" Really. She said, "Can I just ask you something? Did I do something to you?"</s>HAMMER: Oprah and Whoopi`s tearful reunion. These two have reportedly been fighting for 25 years. And today, they settle it once and for all. Wait until we show this to you. This is SHOWBIZ TONIGHT on HLN news and views. And now, it`s the "SHOWBIZ News Ticker" - more stories from the SHOWBIZ TONIGHT newsroom making news today.</s>TEXT: Brad Pitt in talks to make a movie about the trapped Chilean miners. Rihanna and drake debut video for their number one song, "What`s My Name."