She sounds reasonable because, between the two of them, she's the only one who knows she's being recorded. I'm not at ALL defending MG's words or actions, but you can tell he's thrown a bit through a loop between events from "last night" and the current conversation. Part of his frustration is stemming from f'ed up context; her actions, words, and recollections on the tape obviously aren't lining up with her actions and words when she wasn't being recorded.
Again, not defending him, but there is a serious mind-fucking going on here. The fact that she made these recordings and released them (I'm assuming?) actually lends a little credibility to his "stop mind-fucking me!" rantings.
Yeh, she's no innocent little flower. I mean, obviously Mel is verbally abusing her, but she eggs him on and clearly is acting like the total victim here with her sweet, calm, almost whispering voice. Clearly, she set him up for these recordings.
That said, it's alleged he hit her when she was holding their 8 m/o child and did something to her teeth. So there, if true, is physical abuse. There is no excuse for that.
Not saying this woman isn't driving him more insane, and that she is reportedly is a gold digger, but I believe Mel is mentally ill. He has even admitted so himself, noting he is bi-polar.