Batman star Christian Bale was today arrested over claims he attacked his mother and sister before appearing at the launch of his new blockbuster film.
The 34-year-old actor is alleged to have lashed out at mother Jenny, 61, and sister Sharon, 40, in his suite at Park Lane's Dorchester Hotel on Sunday.
The two women, who live in Dorset, went to a Hampshire police station yesterday to make their allegations formally.
Officers at Scotland Yard were then passed the complaint and Bale voluntarily attended a police station this morning.
Speaking from an upstairs window of her home in Bournemouth, Sharon would only say it was a "family matter".
Bale spent several hours in custody at Belgravia police station in central London before being released on police bail this afternoon. He was driven away from the police station, and a pack of photographers, in a silver people carrier, and returned to the Dorchester.
Earlier, a Scotland Yard spokesman said: "We can confirm we have received an allegation from another force in relation to an alleged incident in central London.
"A 34-year-old man attended a central London police station this morning by appointment and was arrested in connection with an allegation of assault."
There was no sign of trouble as Bale attended the first European screening of the new Batman blockbuster, The Dark Knight, on Monday night.
Bale joined co-stars Sir Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Aaron Eckhart at the Odeon West End cinema in Leicester Square.
He also took part in four press conferences on Monday.
The allegations are not the first controversy to surround the film which made record box office sales in its first weekend in the United States.
In January, Heath Ledger, 28, who gave an Oscar-tipped performance as villain The Joker, died from an accidental drugs overdose.
And a special effects technician was killed last September in a stunt car accident.
Bale, a keen environmental activist and martial arts enthusiast, also starred in American Psycho, Empire Of The Sun and Batman Begins.
Bale has been married to Sibi Blazic, a former personal assistant to Winona Ryder, for eight years, and they have a three-year-old daughter Emmaline.
He was born in Haverfordwest in South Wales, to the late David Bale, an activist and businessman, and his second wife Jenny James, a circus performer.
He has two older sisters, Sharon and Louise, and a half-sister Erin from his father's first marriage.
After leaving Wales aged two Bale spent his childhood moving around, including periods in Portugal, the US, and four years in Bournemouth.
He first appeared on the big screen in 1987 aged just 13 in the Spielberg-directed epic Empire Of The Sun.