Mel Gibson has recovered from coronavirus bout
Actor and director Mel Gibson was hospitalized in April after testing positive for the coronavirus but has since recovered, his representative said Thursday.
Gibson, 64, spent a week in a California hospital, the representative said. He was treated with remdesivir, the first drug shown to be effective against the virus, and has since tested negative several times, the representative said.
The actor joined a lengthy list of celebrities, politicians, sports stars and other well-known figures, including actors Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, to reveal their own struggles with the virus, which has infected more than 4 million Americans.
Perhaps best known for his 1995 film “Braveheart,” for which he won a pair of Academy Awards, Gibson fell out of favor in Hollywood in the early 2000s for his drunken anti-Semitic and misogynist rants. In 2006, he apologized for what he described as “despicable” remarks he had made when he was arrested on a drunken-driving charge.
He has pulled off something of a comeback in Hollywood after expressing repentance for his past behavior.
In 2017, he landed six Oscar nominations, including for best director, for “Hacksaw Ridge,” a World War II feature he directed. He said in 2016 that he had been sober for 10 years.
His history of offensive comments resurfaced in June, when Winona Ryder told The Sunday Times of London that he had made bigoted remarks to her at a party over a decade ago. Gibson’s representative denied that he had made the comments.
Besides Gibson, Hanks and Wilson, celebrities who have tested positive for the coronavirus include Idris Elba, Daniel Dae Kim, Tony Shalhoub and his wife Brooke Adams, Placido Domingo, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Pink, Jackson Browne, Sara Bareilles, Sturgill Simpson, Lesley Stahl, George Stephanopoulos and his wife Ali Wentworth, D.L. Hughley and Andy Cohen.