Mel Gibson Is A "More Mellow" Dad With Baby #8

It's not his first foray into fatherhood, but Mel Gibson says his new daughter Lucia has already prompted him to make a very big lifestyle change: He's given up smoking!

"It's been 18 days," the dad-of-eight reveals, adding, "You know, it's not funny. I mean, serious, you bury some serious anger. Most people do it when they're five, they get their security blanket taken away. I did it at 54 and I'd been smoking 45 years. There's a lot of anger underneath it."

Asked why he finally decided to kick the habit, the Lethal Weapon star says, "Well, apart from carrying the garbage up to the top of the driveway and wheezing... I have a three-month-old daughter and (someday) I want to play tennis with her."

So how is he finding fatherhood this time around? Mel says he's "more mellow" now, but admits, "I will be honest, I would say that her mother [Oksana Grigorieva] does the lion's share of that work, but you know, I support her.

The new parents are seen here enjoying a date night at yesterday's LA premiere of his film Edge of Darkness.