Actor Christian Bale Faces Assault Charges from His Mother and Sister

While fans flocked to movie theaters this past week to see The Dark Knight, lead actor and heartthrob Christian Bale had to face a barrage of embarrassing publicity after receiving assault allegations from his mother and sister.

According to British media journalists, sister Sharon Bale and mother Jenny Bale told police that the 34-year-old actor attacked them on Sunday night at the Dorchester Hotel in London. Rumor has it that Bale lost his temper at his mother after she made several insulting comments about his wife, Sibi Blazic. Apparently police decided not to question Bale on Monday because they didn't wish to interrupt the film's premier in London where Bale appeared unruffled by the news. On Tuesday, after spending 4 hours questioning the Dark Knight star, authorities released him without making any charges. Although he denied the allegations, Bale was reported to have fully cooperated throughout the questioning. There is no criminal record for Christian Bale in Los Angeles where he lives with his wife and daughter.

Christian Bale has been in the public eye since his lead role in the Steven Spielberg 1987 epic, Empire of the Sun. In the early 1990s he followed up this pivotal role with leads in several girl-friendly films including Newsies, Swing Kids, and Little Women. He broke his teenybopper image when he played a knife-happy egomaniac investment banker in the 2000 cult film, American Psycho. Four years later, Bale again proved his acting chops in The Machinist, dropping over sixty pounds and self-inducing insomnia to better perform the role of Trevor Reznik, an insomniac industrial worker.

Finally, in 2005, Christian Bale struck movie star gold in Chris Nolan's Batman Begins. His brooding version of Bruce Wayne earned him critical and popular praise and helped him to become an A-list actor. Now, at the very apex of his career, with record box office results and wide critical praise for The Dark Knight, he not only faces these assault charges from his family, Bale also must weather new rumors of flying into a rage on July 18th on the set of the new Terminator movie.

The film, The Dark Knight, has faced controversy earlier this year when co-star Heath Ledger, only 28 years old, died from an accidental drug overdose. Bale is reported to have been suffering from depression after the death of Ledger, who was also a close friend.