Bodyguard: Oksana Grigorieva Seeking Big Pay Day From Mel Gibson
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Oksana Grigorieva is either making up or grossly exaggerating the violence she says she suffered at the hands of actor Mel Gibson in order to get a big pay day, according to her former bodyguard.
In a series of interviews with CBS 2/KCAL 9 anchorwoman Sharon Tay, Kris Herzog says he has personally seen the photos and videos that the former Russian singer and songwriter has compiled on Gibson in her quest to extract a hefty settlement.
"I absolutely believe she made up -- either grossly exaggerated or simply completely fabricated almost every single charge against Mel Gibson. To get real big money," Herzog said.
Grigorieva, 40, and Gibson, 54, share a young daughter, named Lucia. The couple split in April 2010, and the breakup turned nasty when Grigorieva took out a restraining order on Gibson in June. Since then, pictures of Grigorieva's mangled face and several audio tapes of an angry, ranting Gibson have been released, evidence of Gibson's domestic violence, according to Grigorieva.
Herzog was hired as Grigorieva's bodyguard after she split from Gibson. She told Herzog that on Jan. 6, 2010, she returned home from a basketball game to find Gibson upset with her. She alleged that Gibson choked her, punched her several times, pulled out a gun, threatened her and physically chased her out of the house.
The publicized audio tapes, Herzog says, are not the full picture of the estranged couple's conversations. Herzog says out of four tapes that have been made public, there were more than 40 conversations, many in which Gibson tried to calm Grigorieva down and work things out.
A reported $15 million settlement to Grigorieva wasn't enough, Herzog says.
"She told me explicitly the reasons she said the things she said and the reason she did the things she did were in fact to get some retribution from Mel Gibson for the perceived wrongs he committed against her," Herzog said.
Herzog has been subpeonaed by Mel Gibson's attorney and says he plans to testify because "its the right thing to do."
Sources close to Grigorieva told Tay as she reported the story that Herzog is "a liar with a criminal record." Lawyers for both Oksana Grigorieva and Mel Gibson would not comment.
Part 2 of Sharon Tay's exclusive interview with Kris Herzog airs Friday night at 10 p.m. on KCAL 9 News.
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