Mel Gibson has broken his silence on his domestic violence scandal, calling the leak of personal calls with his then-girlfriend last year a "betrayal."

The Oscar-winning director of Braveheart described the tapes, in which he was heard ranting, swearing and threatening girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, as "terribly humiliating and painful for my family."

Gibson added that he did not care if he ever acted again.

"I've never treated anyone badly or in a discriminatory way based on their gender, race, religion or sexuality," Gibson told Hollywood journalist Allison Hope Weiner in a lengthy interview for website Deadline Hollywood on Friday.

Gibson last month pleaded no contest to a charge of hitting Grigorieva, the mother of his daughter, in early 2010.

He was sentenced to three years probation, a year of counseling and community service.

In his first public comments on the saga, Gibson said the tapes of phone calls leaked a year ago were edited, adding, "It's one awful moment in time, said to one person, and doesn't represent what I truly believe or how I've treated people. Who anticipates being recorded?" Gibson said.

Gibson's manager has since left him, his movie The Beaver was delayed and actors on the comedy Hangover 2 refused to work with him because of the fallout over the sexist and racist remarks on the tapes.

The leak occurred as Gibson was trying to make a comeback after making vicious anti-Semitic remarks during a 2006 drunken driving arrest, and the end of his 28-year marriage.

Actresses Whoopi Goldberg and Jodie Foster were among the few Hollywood stars to publicly defend Gibson at the height of the Grigorieva scandal last year.