London's Daily Mail reported yesterday that the actor was planning to flee to Australia to escape the storm surrounding allegations he verbally and physically abused ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, 40.

The 54-year-old actor's representative Alan Nierob told The Today Show in the US: "There's no truth to the Mail story."

The newspaper had claimed that Gibson sold his Old Mill Farm mansion in New York for $17 million less than the asking price and had also put up his home in Malibu for sale.

The report quoted an unnamed friend as saying Gibson's soon-to-be ex-wife, Robyn, with whom he has seven children, had persuaded him to turn his back on Hollywood.

"She has persuaded him that he needs to get away from Hollywood and find peace on his ranch and she will go with him along with some of the children," the "friend" said.

But Nierob confirmed Gibson had been filming in New York on a project with Jodie Foster as recently as two weeks ago.

There was no release date for the project, a film called The Beaver, which Foster will direct and star in with Gibson, the Today Show reported.

Meanwhile, Grigorieva's camp has slammed what it calls a "smear campaign" designed to discredit the mother of Gibson's eighth child.

The singer's spokesman Stephen Jaffe slammed celebrity gossip website TMZ.com for running claims that Grigorieva's injuries were self-inflicted.

"While Mr Gibson's camp has floated a variety of false claims in the press to try to distract the public from the true facts at hand, it is telling that his camp has not once denied that it is Mr Gibson's voice on the published recordings," Jaffe told the site.

"It is common in such cases for those who perpetrate domestic violence to vilify the victim of that domestic violence.

"One would hope that those who are close to Mr Gibson would take a more constructive approach."

Gibson and Grigorieva are fighting over custody of their eight-month-old daughter, Lucia.

An explosive series of audio recordings allegedly featuring an enraged and abusive Gibson have been leaked during the past two weeks.

Photos allegedly showing Grigorieva's injuries following arguments with the Braveheart star have also surfaced.

Police are investigating allegations Gibson assaulted Grigorieva in January.

Experts have cast doubt on the tapes' authenticity.