Once two of America's most beloved celebrities, golfer Tiger Woods and Mel Gibson have taken similar approaches to combating massive scandals in their personal lives by maintaining silence despite intense public scrutiny.

Last year, when news of Tiger Woods' affairs broke, the disgraced pro-golfer kept his silence even as mistress after mistress came forward with salacious details of their alleged affair.

It wasn't until almost five months after the news of his infidelity became public that the then-billionaire came out of hiding and finally faced the music with a press conference.

In a scandal of similar gravity, as accusations of domestic abuse and profanity-filled tapes from actor Mel Gibson are leaked onto the web, the high-profile actor (who was also dumped by his agents at William Morris/Endeavor) has kept quiet and simply disappeared into obscurity.

While Gibson's attorneys have been firing back at his former girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva's disturbing allegations, Gibson himself hasn't argued back.