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

[abigail1]

wasn't his dad married to gloria steinem?

[CC1]

Yes, as per www.imdb.com

[blastocyst]

Bloody hell! Bollocks! Rubbish!
Can no one man make more than 2 Batman films?
Bugger bloody bollocks!

[WRPrintz]

A) This is none of our business. Didn't stop me from reading it...but it is none of our business.

B) We have no idea on what happened, so before anyone jumps to any conclusion(s), lets look at Christian's past (any arrests for assult?) ...and realise that we don't really have much to go on, oh fellow star detectives.

[JuniorBug]

I think it's indeed our business if one of our most popular celebrities turns out to be a woman-beater. Such a man wouldn't deserve the career we've given Bale.

[marilyn34]

No.....it isn't. Unless you were there .....it's none of your business. Jumping to conclusions about him being a woman beater is also very unfair.

[martinchill]

he's starring as batman for the second time and probably can't turn around without hearing about or seeing a picture of heath ledger as the joker. i imagine the whole thing sucks by this point.

[Eric8869]

Well Christian Bale was a child star - you know how those mothers are.

[hypnus]

Christian Bale mistakes mother and sister for Cat Woman and Poison Ivy. Film at 11:00.

[axt113]

lol

[the964kid]

This seems really odd. Were the mum and sis looking for a pay out???

[erichitchmo]

I love how the immediate response by most here is: the mom is crazy! People, we don't have enough facts to start pointing fingers. Let's wait until we get more info. Won't somebody think of the children!!!!?!?!??!

[trollsbwild]

Well, his mother surely could have resolved this issue by not getting the police involved.
Oh well, in Hollywood, any publicity is good.

[mamazboy]

Soon we'll be hearing about "The Curse of Dark Knight" - Heath Ledger dead, Christian Bale turned sister/mother-beating psycho, all because of a movie...

[GayGrandpa]

Well that is a stretch! Oh my that movie was not psychotic. It was bad but not psychotic. It did merit a pain reliever it was a bit of a headache film but these movies usually are. It was loud. Too loud, too much blow it up and while were at it we might as well blow up the plot and all character development too. Let's remember that Heath Ledger was no Orson Wells. Oh gawd I am showing my age! And as far as Bale beating up his mother...this could be a publicity stunt or worse simple a lie...time will tell...or not.

[GetoffMylawn]

Without knowing anything, I can say, it was Mom's fault.

[thelilywhites]

Why so serious mom?

[Eric8869]

LOL good one

[StanTheManic]

WHO COULD RESIST READING A STORY WITH SUCH A GRIPPING HEADLINE AS ---

Christian Bale Arrested For After His Mom Claims Assault

WHA???

[nanoscare]

Familial dynamics are complex. We don't know what they are too one another besides relatives. It could be a ruse to garner more publicity. A crazy Californian cult may have him under their spell. His mother perhaps kept him chained up as a chimney sweep. We could speculate all day.

The scene where he touches his mother's lips near the end of Empire of the Sun.

[FrictionSoul]

Read the headline, people, "Assault by his own Mother".

Why read any further than that? They arrested the victim.

;-)

[aristippe]

uh "claims of assault, by his own mother" that's how i'd parse it.

[afgail]

If you've had the misfortune to have a mentally ill family member you will recognize the vindictive and most likely unfounded charge aimed at destroying the victim, Bale. The timing is exquisite. They called the police just before the premier on the cusp of of his success and acclaim. Their goal was to blight his moment of joy.

[Aleka4]

I have one - this is so something my own mother would do. Always petty and spiteful and vindictive, but it is never her fault and she will go off for YEARS over imagined slights like a missed phone call when she felt she deserved one. And plot revenge for them too.

Bummer for Christian Bale.

[JuniorBug]

"Most likely unfounded?" Where do you pull that from? And "vindictive?" If I ever hit my mother or my sister, I'd definitely want them to be so "vindictive" as to seek help for themselves and me. I really feel for this "mentally ill" family member of yours now.

[phobophobe]

"Christian Bale Arrested After Claims Of Assault By His Own Mother" -- I too noticed the ambiguous wording, and fully expected to read that Mum had assaulted C.B. Heads up, headline writers!

[HighPriest]

To Quote from
The ReveredCatechism of the Intergalactic Temple of the Great God Bongo

Bongoism #25:
You can sometimes tell what's swimming deep below the
surface, by carefully examining the patterns of the waves.
Other times, of course, you can be completely wrong.

[HighPriest]

To quote Bongoism #30 from
The Catechism of the Intergalactic Temple of the Great God Bongo:

Bongo says:
The world may not behave the way you think it should.
That's your problem.