News that Britney Spears and Mel Gibson have been dining together came as quite a shock, but reports now cite that meetings between the pair are in fact a frequent occurrence.

The odd couple were spotted entering and leaving a restaurant in Los Angeles within minutes of each other, prompting questions about why they were spotted in each others company.

Sources now claim that the Bravehart actor has met up with Britney many times since her hospitalisation last month to lend a helpful hand to her chaotic life.

One insider tells People: "Mel and his wife Robin clearly saw a woman in crisis and wanted to extend themselves in any way possible.

"There's just a handful of people in the world who understand the kind of intense attention that Britney goes through, and how to raise a family with some semblance of privacy and how to keep one's family intact and out of the limelight."