A 29 year-old woman has come forward claiming to be Mel Gibson’s daughter. She says her mother was just 17 while she met the then 30 year-old Gibson while hitchhiking in Australia. She said Mel went home to get a mattress and a pillow for the back of his station wagon just in case they, you know, got tired, and that he got her mom pregnant during their brief encounter. Although he had yet to make the Mad Max movies, Mel was quite sure of himself at that age and bragged to the teen hitchhiker that he was going to be a famous actor:

Carmel, 29, said: “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.”

The paternity suit is the latest blow for the Braveheart star. Earlier this year he was arrested for drink-driving and launched an anti-Jewish tirade against cops.

Legal papers will be served on Gibson, 50, this week and he will either have to admit he’s the father or have a swab taken from inside his mouth for DNA testing.

Carmel — who has seen every film he’s made — added: “I’d love it if he recognised us as family. I’m not looking for a meal ticket. I am happy with my life.”

Her amazing story began in 1976 when Mel, then a young Australian wannabe actor in Adelaide, picked up Carmel’s mum Marilyn as she was hitch-hiking.

The aspiring star — who now has seven children with his wife of 26 years, Robyn — hadn’t even made his first movie when he stopped for the blonde 17-year-old thumbing a lift to Sydney.

Carmel’s mum Marilyn, now 47, 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.’

“He told me his name was Mel. He said he would take me all the way but first he had to go home and get some petrol money.

“He made me hide under a blanket in the back of the car, saying something about his mother being in town. We stopped outside a house and he came out with a mattress and a couple of pillows and some petrol money.

“He said he had brought the mattress in case we had to stop for the night. We got on really well. He was charming and funny. He told me he was going to be a famous movie star.

“He said he was going to change his name but I told him not to. I said Mel Gibson was a really nice name and it suited him.

“When we stopped for the night Mel got in the back on the mattress but I stayed in the front. I said I didn’t trust him but to be honest I didn’t trust myself either! He was so sexy. I didn’t have any contraceptives with me and I hadn’t had much to do with guys.

“Eventually he persuaded me to join him in the back. I told him, ‘If anything happens and I get pregnant I’ll come looking for you’. He replied, ‘I am going to be famous. You will always know where to find me.’

“We spent the night making love and talking. But when it got light Mel said he had to be back at work — in an orange juice factory in Adelaide.

“I got out of the car and never saw him again. It broke my heart to walk away.

The 29 year-old has a ten year old son, who could be Gibson’s grandson. She claims that she is not looking for money, but that sounds unlikely.

It seems like Gibson has some powerful sperm if this is true. He has a whopping seven children with his wife of 27 years, Robyn Moore.

Gibson’s gross-out tale Apocalypto is inexplicably first at the box office. That could explain this woman’s motivation.