Australian actor Russell Crowe is ditching his aggressive hardman reputation - by reinventing himself as a gay icon.

The GLADIATOR star recently injured Mercer Hotel clerk Nestor Estrada, by throwing his phone at him because he was unable to get Crowe's wife, DANIELLE SPENCER, on the line.

Russell was arrested, put behind bars and charged with second degree assault and criminal possession of a weapon.

But the Hollywood hunk intends to soften his image and simultaneously resurrect his music career, by playing his critically-mauled album MY HAND, MY Heart in gay Los Angeles nightclubs.

He says, "I hear the gays love my music. It should work in their clubs."

14/06/2005 13:51