Mel Gibson's ex breaks court order to give interview

The Russian singer, who has a 1-year-old daughter Lucia with the Oscar winning actor, defied a judge's orders to not speak with the press.

During her appearance Grigorieva spoke about Gibson's violent ways and explained her decision to record her conversation with the 54-year-old during an alleged assault episode in January.

"I started taping it around 11 o'clock because I thought. I'm actually not going to live through the night. I wanted my mother to be able to prove that if I'm dead that this is who did it," she said.

"On January 6th this year the beating took place. Mel actually assaulted me while I was holding the baby in my arms. It was at his house, our house at that point. I ran into my son's bedroom and told him to hide because Mel is crazy, he's getting really violent," she said.

As well as Lucia, Grigorieva has a 12-year-old son, Alexander, from her previous relationship with actor Timothy Dalton.

Gibson has stated in a legal filing that he slapped his ex-girlfriend once with an open hand but not with a closed fist as she alleged. However, Grigorieva told King that was not the case.

"He wasn't drunk. He hit me and choked me in front of my son and then brandished the gun at me. I left him on the 6th of January," said Grigorieva.

Gibson and Grigorieva went to court together for the first time last week over custody of their daughter, where Los Angeles Court judge Scott Gordon ordered Gibson to pay Grigorieva three months of back child support totalling USD 60,000.

The estranged couple are due back in court on November 22, where more financial and custody issues will be hammered out.

However, now that Grigorieva has gone public with her allegations against Gibson, it could adversely affect her custody rights.