According to the Associated Press, Mel Gibson's former girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva, dropped allegations that the actor hit her during an argument last year. Grigorieva said after the incident that Gibson hit her in the face, pulled a gun on her, and placed her in fear of her life.

Prior to the hearing, which took place on Wednesday, Grigorieva had been using those allegations to change their current child custody arrangement with their young daughter.

Grigorieva reportedly withdrew all allegation of domestic violence against the actor and told the judge she wanted to lift her restraining order against Gibson. The news comes from an anonymous source, who said Grigorieva "wanted to demonstrate she's a responsible, good, co-parent and she did this for the sake of the child." Most of the case is under seal since it involved a custody battle over their one-year-old daughter.

Grigorieva's withdrawal of the accusations doesn't affect the charge of misdemeanor battery to which Gibson pleaded no contest in March. Gibson is currently on probation for a period of 52 for that charge, and will have to attend anger management counseling.

Sources said it isn't clear whether Grigorieva would pursue a civil suit against Gibson concerning the accusations of domestic violence. If she did, however, Gibson's no contest plea couldn't be used against him since he didn't actually admit guilt.

Lawyers for Gibson and Grigorieva have not comment publicly on the matter, which is still under seal.

The interesting thing about these celebrity cases is that the types of issues they deal with are not at all uncommon among the average population, and yet people find them so fascinating. Perhaps, as a society, we try to learn our lessons through our celebrities just as we try to live our fantasies through them.

Source: CNN, "Mel Gibson's ex-girlfriend drops domestic violence accusations," Alan Duke, 5 May 2011.