Christian Bale at ShoWest on 3/13/08. Credit: Nikki Nelson/ WENN
Note: I wrote this article before realizing Helen had also covered the subject. I like her take on it too, and there are two additional stories here about Bale that I wanted to publish.

Christian Bale was a relatively low-profile actor before hitting it big with Batman and making headlines with an alleged verbal assault on his mother and sister at a London hotel on Sunday. More details are emerging about the the confrontation and perhaps his state of mind at the time. Bale was brought in voluntarily for questioning at a London police station yesterday on allegations of a “Class 4” verbal assault. He was released without charge after five hours talking to police and has released a statment that he did not assault his mother or sister. Bale will return for another round of questioning in September, but that seems relatively common in these type of cases.

Sources say that Bale may have pushed or shoved his mother, but that any physical contact was minor. TMZ reports that it was either a “push” or “brush” but that Bale’s mother didn’t fall and she wasn’t hurt. His mother and sister did not make a report to police at the time and waited until the next day to go to their local precint, which referred the matter to London police. To his family’s credit, they are saying it is a family matter and a sensitive situation and are refusing to comment further.

The Daily Mail says that Bale lashed out verbally at his mother after she insulted Bale’s wife of eight years, and that he’s been depressed due to Heath Ledger’s death. Given the source it’s hard to know if that’s based on anything more than their imagination.

TMZ has a story of Bale’s bad mood on set that may paint a picture of a worn out guy with little patience. They say he was shooting Terminator 4 “last Friday,” which to me means Friday July 19, at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico and that he yelled and screamed a the director for messing up a shot, saying “I will kick your ass” among other things.

Bale has been promoting Dark Knight all over the world and now that I hear he’s been spending long hours on a film set I can see where he might be frustrated and tired. That doesn’t excuse freaking out at his mom, but I’m not about to pass judgment on this guy for getting upset. We don’t know what relations are like between Bale and his family and there’s probably a lot of bad history there. He’s not doing drugs or driving drunk and he didn’t hit anyone or even break any furniture. In my mind this is a family issue and a minor incident. He needs to work on controlling his temper and taking breaks if he’s having trouble coping, but there’s no reason to vilify him based on this first negative report that’s come out about him.