Christian Bale Arrested After Claims Of Assault By His Own Mother

BARCELONA, Spain — Christian Bale swept into Barcelona on Wednesday night to attend a glittering Spanish premiere of "The Dark Knight," appearing calm as he greeted fans a day after reports surfaced that his mother and sister had accused him of assault.

A 15-car motorcade delivered Bale and his co-stars to the red carpet, where the 34-year-old actor greeted hundreds of fans outside the city's Coliseum Theater. Bale spent half an hour signing autographs, looking relaxed in a tailored dark blue suit and asking each autograph seeker's name.

About 25 camera crews waited outside the theater. Bale did not speak to reporters and made no comment about the allegations that he assaulted his mother and one of his three sisters at a London hotel on Sunday.

The actor's wife, Sibi, smiling broadly, and actress Maggie Gyllenhaal stood by Bale as he attended to fans. Then the Welsh-born actor, who plays millionaire recluse Bruce Wayne and his bat winged alter-ego, entered the theater to watch the film.

"We expected some excitement but have truly been taken aback by all the media attention," Warner Bros. representative Gernot Dudda said.

Bale said through his lawyers the assault allegations were false Tuesday, hours after he was arrested, questioned by London police and released on bail. He spent four hours talking with authorities but was not charged.

British media reported that Bale's mother and sister told police he assaulted them at the Dorchester Hotel in London on Sunday night, a day before attending the European premiere of "The Dark Knight." The Sun newspaper said the complaint was filed by sister Sharon Bale and mother Jenny Bale.

Wednesday night outside the Coliseum's elegant baroque facade, built in 1923 and inspired by the Opera in Paris, bat lights flickered as fans dressed as The Joker waited to go in. Fellow actor Aaron Eckhart and director Christopher Nolan also spent time greeting fans and signing autographs.

Bale first made a splash as the child star of Steven Spielberg's "Empire of the Sun" in 1987. His screen credits also include "American Psycho," "The Machinist" and "Batman Begins."

The film set a box-office record with $158.4 during its opening weekend in the U.S. last week.

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Associated Press correspondent Paul Haven in Madrid contributed to this story.

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Warner Bros. is a unit of Time Warner Inc.

Comments

[TroubleNYC]

With all the coverage you would think he murdered someone.

[johnnygoodwud]

'HOLY COW batman, can you say anger management'

[GallopingCat]

I heard Michael Caine opened a voodoo ketchup pack which caused his eyelids to swell up to twice their size. Halfway around the world, Anthony Michael Hall's pet hedgehog reported mild stomach discomfort after licking a marshmallow soaked in tequila. This movie is cursed.

[andvoodoo2]

I LIKE Michael Caine, I repect him as an actor and categorically deny any involvement in the alleged voodoo-ketchup-pack incident. (I refer all questions to my attorney, Sal Blowmeno and requests for interviews should be forwarded to my publicist at the firm of Scrape, Scrabble and Moan.)

[walk0nwalls]

Here's one: WHO CARES?

[AryanMjolnir]

Maybe he was possesed by the spirit of Patrick Bateman...

[Trueheart]

Hi Raphael Satter,
There's a word for someone who is "Wales-bor­n." It's Welsh.
Like someone who is "England-born" is English or "France-born" is French.

[shengirl]

I'm America-bo­rn...

[jalapeno]

Bale seems a little " prickish" in interviews.

[StephenJK]

Jalapeno seems a little "subjective" in his comments.

[KaylaL]

Take it with a grain of salt.

Apparently the abuse was classified "verbal abuse." Also note that his parents were divorced and he lived with his dad, not his mom, so they're probably not close.

[RedDogBear]

Where did you see that? I didn't see it in the story. The police arrested him. They don't arrest people for verbal abuse.

[liberation4life]

Hear hear RDB.....I just had an argument with my divorced mom..she called the cops on me, and they immediately proceeded to arrest her on their arrival.

[KaylaL]

I read about his father in a magazine -- his father was Gloria Steinem's husband and pretty famous, I heard about the "verbal assault" classification on Perezhilton.com. Apparently the classification exists in the UK or something.

[AliHajiSheik]

They do in England.

[liberation4life]

Am I the only one who hasn't watch "The Dark Knight"??

This is sad if true. Always put thought before springing into action is what I say. ALWAYS!

[CynicalGirl23]

I think it's just a publicity stunt to keep reporters from asking, "How about Heath?" on the red carpet this week. The cast must be totally sick of that.

[liberation4life]

If that's the case, this guy's not wrapped too tight....t­his can't be good for publicity.­.its nothing but a bad stigma. I'd rather show up drunk to a premier than get into a verbal spat with family..or better yet, with anyone in my opinion.

[realist333]

Has everyone noticed that there is no charge of assault, only a rumor. In fact one account calls it "verbal assault," which must be something like "oral violence."

This sounds like a garden variety family fist-shaking contest.

[Seven7s]

Who does he think he is? EMINEM?

what Mother goes around lying about their son assaulting them? But what son goes around assaulting his mother? BUT what Mother called the police on her own son?

Oh what the hell too many questions; I'm leaving it alone.

[Aleka4]

Being a "mom" doesn't make you either a good person or a sane person automatically. Why do people think this? Mine would lie about it, and in fact she has - when I was in my 20's she would get drunk, picks fights with me, swing her fists - and then tell dad that *I* started it.

It is some kind of mental disorder where she can't take blame for anything because she can't face herself - so she "redoes" events and memories so that it is never her fault and she is ALWAYS a victim. She has a narcissitic personality disorder, is petty and nasty and vindictive and holds grudges for YEARS over imagined or made up slights.

Just this year, she informed me that she would refuse to help my elderly father (who was about to end up homeless) because my -sister- didn't visit her on the day she demanded it two years ago. And she honestly did not see anything wrong with this - in her mind they both "deserved" it.

[StephenBarry]

You're Mom sounds exactly like my brother. Sp much so in fact that your description senttingle down my spine. I am 47 and he still rages over things from 3 decades ago. He swears evryone around him has "ruined his life". He evn cursed my father, who was lying in his casket at the time, for "ruining his life". His brain is a Gordian Not. I ended any and all contact with him years ago. The game is not worth the candle with some people, even if they are "family".

[Agentlady007]

Maybe his mother is a nutcase.

[masha2008]

An account of what happened: (caveat not sure if accurate)

"The Dark Knight star allegedly lashed out and assaulted his mother and sister at London’s Dorchester hotel on Sunday, where he has a suite. Bale’s mother Jenny, 61, and sister Sharon, 40, went to a police station on Monday to lodge a formal complaint against him.
My father works security at the hotel, and he said it was a mess. His mom and sister wanted the front desk worker to let them into his room to wait for him. When they were told no they started cussing and yelling. They sat in front of his door for an hour until he finally arrived.
His mom and sister are alcoholics and drug addicts, they showed up at his hotel uninvited and highly intoxicated. They were calling him big shot and that he needs to take care of his own. His mom was yelling that he would be nothing without her and he owed her. His sister was begging for money and when he was pushing her toward the door his mother came from behind and started hitting him on his head and kicking him. He managed to push them both out the door and his mom fell, they called the police and wanted him arrested. I believe that Chirstian is the victim here not his mom or sister. "

[RobertAndropolis]

I had the pleasure of working with Mr. Bale and Mr. Depp on "Public Enemies". Even though Bale is given top billing, indicating the Dillinger story is really about his FBI character Melvin Purvis' hunt for Dillinger, Johnnie Depp as Dillinger got more of the public adulation (albeit primarily from junior high school girls and their mothers).

Then Bale headlines "The Dark Knight" only to have another antagonist, this time portrayed by Heath Ledger, get all the attention.

Ma Bale: "All I hear about is Heath Ledger-Heath Ledger-Heath Ledger. What about you? Aren't you supposed to be the star of this stupid movie?"

Christian Bale: "He's dead Ma."

Ma Bale: "So why's everyone still talking about him?"

Sis Bale (sibling taunt): "Because he out-acted l'il Chrissy...­"

(Christian Bale's eyes flare red and it's not a computer graphic thing. He pics up a table lets out a primative roar that shakes the windows).

Ma Bale (to Sis): "Quick Sis, call somebody! He's still got his Batman muscles! It's not like last time he snapped when he was the Machinist!"

Sis Bale (dialing the police): "I really wish he would do a romantic comedy just once..."

[TJoad]

Why has HuffPo devolved into wasting preious space on such "entertaiment" tripe?

There are limitless sites whose entire existence is to feed the masses with the latest calorie-dense, nutritionaly deviod paparazzi processed nonsense, so why does Huffpo believe it must fill this "need"?

[blastocyst]

Ma!!!!!!!

[anastasiabeaverhousen]

Are you kidding? This story is UPTOWN compared to the usual daily drivel that came out of one of the View's panelist's mouth!!

[SeanOcali]

I wonder what happened. Maybe his mom and sis told him that they do NOT like Huey Lewis & The News.

[brakmaster]

HAHAHAHA

Maybe their business cards were better, too.

[WRPrintz]

Hey, they don't need money, and they don't need fame. They don't need a credit card to ride this train....