The Passion Of The Christ director Mel Gibson has shot to the top of The Forbes Celebrity 100 list, which ranks the world's most powerful personalities by combining their financial pull with their general popularity.
Mel, who has earned £120 million from his Latin/Aramaic depiction of the final hours of Jesus Christ, is followed in the rankings by golfer Tiger Woods, talk show queen Oprah Winfrey, screen star Tom Cruise, The Rolling Stones, and Harry Potter creator JK Rowling.
The 48-year-old actor/director's star performance knocked Jennifer Aniston off the number one slot: the actress was on a roll last year when she was being paid a mind-boggling million dollars per episode for Friends. But it's by no means back to the starting-block for Jen, who this year tops the most powerful couple list with her hunky hubby Brad Pitt. Although Friends has come to an end, Brad's role in the epic Troy has helped propel the Pitts to the peak.
Apart from The Rolling Stones and JK Rowling, other Britons who are cutting it are England captain David Beckham, who has gone from 56th to 22nd place, and Catherine Zeta-Jones, who's taken over the 56th slot, while her husband Michael Douglas doesn't even make it onto the list.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
