Mel Gibson Porks Up To Play A Professor

Mel Gibson has had a big year — and he's getting bigger, too! The disgraced star made a return to acting in the action movie "Blood Father," and got rave reviews for directing the WWII drama "Hacksaw Ridge." Now a new role has him putting on the pounds — but don't call it a beer belly!

Mel's gotten out of shape for the new "The Professor and the Madman," where he stars as the inventor of the Oxford English Dictionary in the mid-19th century. The beard is historically accurate — and Mel insists the belly isn't from boozing! “I am a member of a 12- step program and I achieved sobriety like that,” the Oscar- winning “Braveheart” star said. “I’ve got 10 years of sobriety under my belt.”

But The National ENQUIRER knows better! An eyewitness caught Mad Mel being “woozy” as he stumbled around a supermarket with a fork in his mouth — adding that the actor “tripped a couple of times.”

In 2009, The ENQUIRER  reported that his (very vengeful) then-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva told Mel to “go to rehab — or we’re through!” That same year, we also reported Mel planned a “liquor-laden St. Patrick’s Day bash” at his Agoura Hills, Calif., church.

But Mel insists that he's been on the wagon since his profanity-laced 2006 DUI arrest — when he exploded in an anti-Semitic rant and called a lady cop “sugar t-ts.” The star complained: “It’s disheartening when you have been like 10 years dry on the wagon, sober and you have to read every year that you’re loaded!”

But even an out-of-shape Mel gets the girls, with sources telling The ENQUIRER that the 60-year-old star is pushing girlfriend Rosalind Ross, 25, towards the altar! She’s younger than six of his eight kids, but Mel looks ready to give marriage another try — with insiders saying she's a good-luck charm! "He’s in a much better place because of her," said a source.