Oksana Grigorieva's Complicated History

We're learning more about Mel Gibson's ex-girlfriend, who can be heard fighting back against the actor's rants in the "Mad Mel" tapes.

Oksana Grigorieva:  "I'm not a user, not a gold digger."

Gibson: "You're a ____ using whore."

Grigorieva:  "I am not a whore, or ____, or thief, or prostitute, or anything that you called me."

Oksana Grigorieva is a singer and song writer.  One of her music videos was produced by Gibson. She's come a long way from humble beginnings.

Nicole LaPorte of the Daily Beast said, "Oksana grew up in the Soviet Union, was very poor but was always very beautiful and was modeling when she was in her teens and winning competitions.  She knew from the very beginning that she wanted to get out of the Soviet Union."

She was married and divorced twice by age 22.  In 1996, she shot a low budget movie called A to Zen.

Grigorieva was living in London when a boyfriend took her to a movie premiere and she met actor Timothy Dalton, a one-time James Bond in the movies.  She reportedly dumped her boyfriend for Dalton, and they had a son together, Alexander, now 12-years-old.

"As she's progressed from man to man, they have become more fabulous, more elegant.  She's become a part of Hollywood, first through her relationship with Timothy Dalton, then with Mel," said LaPorte.

In 2006, she got her first big break when she wrote a hit ballad for Josh Grobin.  Around that time she met Gibson.  He left his wife for her, and also produced her album.

In the phone confrontation, Grigorieva said to Gibson:  "Nobody asked you to spend so much money on the videos and everything."

On the tapes, Gibson accuses Grigorieva of leaving him with his career taking a downturn.

Gibson:  "You ____ used me. My career is over and boy when I said that you lit out of here faster than I've ever seen you before."

But she paints a different picture, claiming that her relationship with Gibson ruined her music career.

Grigorieva:  "You made me moneyless. I used to have hundred thousand dollars a year when you met me."

What is clear is that Oksana is a woman with a complicated history.