MEL GIBSON - GIBSON FACING PATERNITY SUIT?

Movie star MEL GIBSON is allegedly facing a legal battle from a young Australian woman who insists she is his love-child. CARMEL SLOANE, 29, claims her mother MARILYN was picked up by Gibson when she was hitchhiking in Australia in 1976. Gibson, who then worked at an orange juice factory in Adelaide, apparently then romanced her in the back of his wagon - but Marilyn, who alleges she then fell pregnant with Carmel, never saw him again after their steamy interlude. Legal papers will be served on the Hollywood actor this week (begs18DEC06). The star will have to either admit paternity or face a DNA test. Carmel tells British newspaper the News of the World, "I'm not doing it for his money. I just want to meet the man I've always known was my dad - and for him to get to know his grandson." Marilyn recalls, "I was a slim young woman in tight-fitting jeans on the side of the road when a station wagon stopped. "Mel turned to look at me with those amazing blue eyes and I was mesmerised. He said, 'Where are you going?' I said, 'A long way from here.' "When we stopped for the night he persuaded me to join him in the back. I told him, 'If anything happens and I get pregnant I'm going to come looking for you.' "He replied, 'I'm going to be famous, you'll always know where to find me.'" Carmel adds, "We have no choice but to go legal so that we can get to the bottom of this once and for all. "A simple DNA test will sort it out."