Men's Journal

Pick up the February issue of Men’s Journal to get inside the head of poker nut Mel Gibson as he returns to the big screen, uncover Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s secrets of longevity, and learn about ski-jump aerialist Jeret Peterson’s tumultuous road to the Winter Olympics.

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From Walter Kirn’s profile Mel Gibson Shows His Hand:

But back in his 20s in the Philippines, after playing high-stakes poker late one night, he had another encounter with human suffering, not cinematic but actual, that weighed him down with shame. The way he told it to us around the table, he’d just dropped $12,000 on a card game when he strolled out into the street at 3 am and found himself surrounded by “crawling” beggars, some with missing limbs. Suddenly, he was disgusted with himself. For the money he’d blown on a silly game of chance, he could have helped these gravely tortured souls. The realization haunted him — so much so that once he’d grown a little richer he decided, with his wife, to found and guide a charity, Mending Kids International, devoted to paying the medical expenses of ailing underprivileged children.

So his worst night of poker brought out the best in Gibson. From folly came guilt, from guilt compassion, and from compassion a plan to seek redemption. It’s a cycle that Gibson has since become familiar with: a succession of lows and highs and highs and lows whose spiritual rigors probably account for his acutely careworn face. People magazine’s very first “Sexiest Man Alive,” with the flashing blue eyes and the impish, crooked grin, is not quite so smooth now, not so bright and cocky. He’s also feeling a bit like Rip Van Winkle, now that he’s chosen to rejoin a business that’s changed a lot — for the worse, he feels — during his time off.

From Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s The Completely Doable Guide to Living to 100:

In 2005, I traveled to Okinawa, Japan, to research my first book, Chasing Life. Okinawans live longer than anyone else, and many experts believe that one reason is that they eat far fewer calories — 500 fewer per day — than Americans. That’s why I now practice a version of calorie restriction (see page 47). My visit to Japan was one of several trips where I picked up unexpected life-enhancing tips and realized I’d have to rethink my approach to nutrition, exercise, and mental health.

But as a practicing neurosurgeon and the chief medical correspondent for CNN, I’m a busy guy, so I knew that any changes had to be realistic in order to be sustainable. Here’s the good news: None of the adjustments I’ve made require extra time in my day. I spend the same amount of time in the gym and in the kitchen, but I now focus on upper-body workouts, and I’ve cut most meat out of my diet. These are just a couple of the simple steps outlined in the following pages, all of which will add years to your life. Best of all, you’ll feel better right after you start doing them.

From Aimee Berg’s The Rebirth of Jeret Peterson:

The snow was getting colder, and thus faster. Adrenaline pumping, Peterson started a few inches too high up the hill. That tiny mistake had huge consequences: He rocketed off the kicker, and his momentum caused him to over-rotate the last flip. Amazingly, he landed on his skis — but his hand grazed the ground. Goodbye, gold medal. Hello, seventh place.

“I got spanked,” he says.

That night, he and his friends headed to a mountain bar. “You choked!” a drunk American taunted. Peterson glared — and then someone handed him his first drink in six months. A few hours later, Peterson and his childhood pal Mason Fuller were roaming around with full bottles of wine in each hand. “We were partying ski-team style,” Fuller remembers.

As the sun started to rise, Peterson and Fuller were stumbling around in the streets. When a police officer asked the drunk men for their passports, Peterson refused and started to walk away, but Fuller reached out to stop him. Suddenly Peterson spun around and — bam! — clocked his friend in the mouth, chipping his front teeth. He was immediately remorseful, and no charges were filed, but the U.S. Olympic Committee jumped on his case. Within 24 hours he was on a plane home.

“I acted inappropriately,” Peterson says now. But his post-game outburst reflected deeper trouble than a disappointing result. “Nobody asked, ‘Why is this happening?’ ”