LOS ANGELES — Mel Gibson says his drunken driving arrest last summer was a blessing — the kind of global public humiliation he needed to get sober.Speaking to ABC television, Gibson, 50, said he now sees the arrest, during which he let fly a torrent of expletives and anti-Semitic remarks, as "kind of a blessing", but also said having to frequently apologise for the incident is "getting old".

Beads of sweat collected on Gibson's upper lip as he denied being an anti-Semite and claimed that alcohol makes people "act, feel and behave in a way that is not you".

In the first segment of a two-part interview, he told ABC's Diane Sawyer: "Sometimes you need a cold bucket of water in the face to sort of snap to, because you're dealing with a sort of malady of the soul, an obsession of the mind and a physical allergy.

"The risk of everything — life, limb, family — it's not enough to keep you from it. That's the hell of it. You are indefensible against it if your nature is one of alcoholism."

Gibson apologised for his remarks soon after his arrest and reached out to Jewish community leaders.

But it was not the first time he faced accusations of anti-Semitism. Some Jewish leaders criticised The Passion of the Christ, which he directed and financed, saying it cast Jews as the killers of Jesus. His father, Hutton Gibson, also has been quoted as saying the Holocaust was mostly "fiction".

But experts — Jewish leaders, addiction experts and publicists — say he hasn't done enough and that Gibson has to accept accountability for his behaviour.

"Today was a double, not a home run," said veteran publicist Michael Levine, who has represented Michael Jackson and Charlton Heston, among others. "He did not reach out as he could have."

Part of the problem, Levine said, is that most people believe alcohol is a "truth serum".

"Even in their most drunken moments, they don't utter something that has never crossed their minds," he said.

Richard Rogg, founder of Promises Treatment Center in Malibu, said he feels Gibson's interview is not part of the actor-director's rehabilitation, but a "well strategised" career move. Rogg has not treated Gibson.

"I don't think it's beneficial toward his recovery," Rogg said. "It's a PR thing."