MEL Gibson has eclipsed Jennifer Aniston as the world’s most powerful celebrity, according to a poll published yesterday.
The film star and Passion Of The Christ director had a $210 million (£120 million) pay packet last year.
The Forbes Celebrity 100 sees Harry Potter creator JK Rowling - ranked the sixth most powerful celebrity - rocketing up from 15 last year. Sh
e has sold more than 250 million copies of her five Potter books.
Steve Forbes, the magazine’s editor-in-chief, said: "The list changes enormously each year.
"We’ve seen JK Rowling’s latest Potter movie get off to a good start in the US. Everybody expects that her name will have legs on this list."
England captain David Beckham’s status has been propelled from 56th place to 22nd in the annual list.
But the highest-ranking Britons this year are the Rolling Stones at number five. The band are up five places from last year after boosting their mammoth tour revenue with a best-selling DVD.
The Welsh actress Catherine Zeta Jones is at number 56, and has outdone her actor husband Michael Douglas, who does not even make the list. The ranking is a turnaround for the couple - when they married, Ms Zeta Jones was by far the lesser name.
Number one last year, Aniston, the former Friends star, has dropped to 17, but still hovers above her husband, Brad Pitt, who comes in at 37.
When it comes to earnings, Jim Carrey is the highest ranking actor - taking $66 million (£37 million).
Cameron Diaz is the top-earning actress at $32.5 million (£18.5 million), and the Olsen Twins are the top child stars at $28 million (£16 million).
Gisele is the top-earning model at $10 million (£5.7 million), and the former US president, Bill Clinton, the top-earning speaker at $6.3 million (£3.6 million).
Tiger Woods, the top athlete at $80.3 million (£45.7 million), comes second on the overall list, and talk-show host Oprah Winfrey comes third. Pirates of the Caribbean star Johnny Depp makes his debut at ten.
The full article contains 382 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
