Mel Gibson's 24-year-old girlfriend Rosalind Ross is sick of 'negative attention'

Publish date: 2024-09-29

Rosalind Ross, the 24-year-old girlfriend of Mel Gibson, finds the attention that comes with dating the Australian actor 'unpleasant'.

The former vaulting champ was first spotted with Gibson, 60, in July and has since become a regular fixture at his side – including at Sunday night's Golden Globes.

However, close friend and former vaulting partner Devon Maitozo says the 'private' Ross has found dealing with the 'negative attention' that has accompanied her new relationship difficult and now just wants to 'get on with her life'.

Speaking exclusively to Daily Mail Online, Maitozo, 33, added: 'There's been a lot of very not very nice media that's been written about her. Sifting through it has not been very pleasant at all.

'Sensationalizing her because of her relationships is not what she's looking for.

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Public display: Mel Gibson took Rosalind Ross to the Golden Globes after party, with the couple leaving hand in hand, in their first public outing as an item

Public display: Mel Gibson took Rosalind Ross to the Golden Globes after party, with the couple leaving hand in hand, in their first public outing as an item

Public display: Rosalind Ross, who was a blonde at the time, posed naked for the 2011 EPSN Body Issue with her partner Devon Matiozo

Public display: Rosalind Ross, who was a blonde at the time, posed naked for the 2011 EPSN Body Issue with her partner Devon Matiozo

Preoccupied: The star was busy on his phone, perhaps arranging a ride, as Rosalind could be seen standing off to the side  when they left the black tie event Off home: Ross and Gibson left hand in hand after attending an after-party for the event at the Sunset Tower Hotel 

Preoccupied: The star was busy on his phone, perhaps arranging a ride, as Rosalind could be seen standing off to the side  when they left the black tie event

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'She would probably enjoy it if it was about her and her career instead of her being the girlfriend of a celebrity but it's not and so she'd like to keep her life private.

'She's just a young girl and wants to get on with her life without all the attention.'

Ross and Gibson are believed to have met last spring when she applied for a job at his production company Icon.

According to Radar Online, love then blossomed during a visit to the 60-year-old's 500-acre Costa Rica ranch.

'They started their romantic getaway in Costa Rica, hiding out in Playa Barrigona, where he owns a 500-acre tropical sanctuary in the middle of the jungle, before heading to Panama. It's clear the two of them are really happy together,' a source told the website.

Since then, the two have been virtually inseparable, with Ross joining the actor on vacation in Sydney last August and visiting him on the set of Hacksaw Ridge – a World War II drama – in November.

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But while Ross appears to be blissfully happy with Gibson – and was pictured on Sunday tightly clutching his hand as they left the Sunset Tower Hotel following a Globes after-party – she is certainly not a pliant piece of Tinsel Town arm-candy.

Born in the northern California town of Aptos in July 1990, Ross grew up as part of a happy middle class family and later attended Palo Alto High School.

It was there that she first became involved with equestrian vaulting, one of the toughest of all equine sports and one that Maitozo likens to 'ice skating on horseback'.

'Think of it as gymnastics and dance on horseback,' he explains. 'It's an activity, an art form that's been around for 1,000 years or more. It's been around in Europe since the medieval times.

'The modern sport of vaulting came after World War II and the reconstruction of Germany. It is a bit like ice skating on a horse.

'It has individual components and there is also pas-de-deux vaulting [in which he and Ross competed] which is two people on a horse together.'

Just nine years old when she first took to the show ring, Ross' first international appearance came in 1999 when she competed in Europe with the Sundance Vaulting Club.

Five years later, she was part of the Coast Line team that represented the USA at the World Vaulting Championships in Stadl Paura, Austria – and has the bronze medal to show for it.

In 2006, she went one better and, as part of the FAME team, won a silver medal at the FEI Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany.

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Out and about: Gibson and Ross, who is said to be protective of her privacy, have rarely been seen in public. In August they were seen in Sydney, Australia after apparently going to a popular restaurant (left). In September they went to a screening together in Australia. Out and about: Gibson and Ross, who is said to be protective of her privacy, have rarely been seen in public. In August they were seen in Sydney, Australia after apparently going to a popular restaurant (left). In September they went to a screening together in Australia.

Out and about: Gibson and Ross, who is said to be protective of her privacy, have rarely been seen in public. In August they were seen in Sydney, Australia after apparently going to a popular restaurant (left). In September they went to a screening together in Australia.

Making her way in Hollywood: Rosalind Ross has taken  a writing course at Emerson College in Boston, and now has had writing credits on Matador, a TV thriller which aired last year that charts the double life of soccer player turned CIA agent Tony 'Matador' Bravo. Making her way in Hollywood: Rosalind Ross has taken  a writing course at Emerson College in Boston, and now has had writing credits on Matador, a TV thriller which aired last year that charts the double life of soccer player turned CIA agent Tony 'Matador' Bravo.

Making her way in Hollywood: Rosalind Ross has a BA in creative writing from Emerson College in Boston, and now has had writing credits on Matador, a TV thriller which aired last year that charts the double life of soccer player turned CIA agent Tony 'Matador' Bravo.

Athletic: Devon Maitozo (standing) in action at the World Equestrian Games in Lexington, Kentucky, in 2010, with different sporting partners. He says of the sport: 'It's one of the most difficult sports you could ever find.'

Athletic: Devon Maitozo (standing) in action at the World Equestrian Games in Lexington, Kentucky, in 2010, with different sporting partners. He says of the sport: 'It's one of the most difficult sports you could ever find.'

Two years on, Ross helped the same team take home a bronze at the World Championships in the Czech Republic and, in 2010, picked up a gold medal at the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky.

'It's one of the most difficult sports you could ever find but it's accessible on every level,' adds Maitosko.

'At the highest level, you're having to do acrobatics and dance on a cantering horse while sharing a small space. It means you have to really trust the other person.'

Not content with equestrian success, Ross went on graduate from Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts, with a BA in screenwriting but endured the six-hour flight home to train once a month until graduation in 2012.

Vault training, says Maitosko, is no small commitment with a variety of different exercises required and spread across five or six days a week.

'You have to do cross training, body weight exercises, gymnastics exercises,' he explains. 'Mostly, you train for the routines you're working on. It takes a lot of attention and commitment.'

 'Ambition is channeling desire into relentless pursuit  Rosalind Ross

Yet despite her achievements in vaulting – and being inducted into the USA Vaulting Hall of Fame along with Maitosko – Ross' current plans have little to do with horses.

Always a film fan – ironically, one early favorite was Gibson's Scottish epic Braveheart – the 24-year-old has since set her sights on screen-writing success.

Indeed, it was her pursuit of a writing career that led to her meeting with the actor-turned-director and sparked the current round of media attention that she so dislikes.

It is unclear what her mother, 60, and father, 67, think of her relationship with Gibson, who is also 60. He has three grandchildren.

Gibson has struggled to recover from the disclosure in a police report about a 2008 arrest for DUI that he said: 'F**king Jews. The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.'

But she hasn't always been so averse to publicity. In October 2011, she posed for an eye-catching nude portrait with Maitosko while simultaneously striking a pose and riding a horse for ESPN magazine's body issue. She was a blonde at the time and has since changed to darker hair.

More recently, she featured on Hollywood website The Tracking Board's Young & Hungry List 2014 and was named one of the up-and-coming writers to watch.

So far, her credits include an episode of Matador, a TV thriller aired last year that charts the double life of soccer player turned CIA agent Tony 'Matador' Bravo.

She also co-wrote a short film named Homeward and is currently working on Lioness, an Ellen Page vehicle about a female Marine deployed on an undercover mission to Afghanistan.

When Ross isn't doing that – or attending glitzy parties with Gibson – she spends her time at her $1.3m Santa Monica home and works as a mentor for a charity called AMBITION that encourages underprivileged teenagers to become entrepreneurs.

Her biography on the NGO's website describes her as 'the most decorated US team vaulter to date' and calls her 'one of Hollywood's most ambitious young talents'.

She is also quoted as saying: 'Ambition is channeling desire into relentless pursuit'.

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