Mel Gibson and Patricia Heaton are among the celebrities throwing their weight behind Terri Schiavo, urging her husband to sign over the care of his wife to her parents.

The stars are opposed to Michael Schiavo's demand that she should be allowed to die.

Gibson said: "I fully support the efforts of (Terri's parents Bob and Mary Schindler) to save their daughter... from a cruel starvation. Terri's husband should sign the care of his wife over to her parents so she can be properly cared for."

Besides Gibson and Heaton, actor Randy Travis and musician Pat Boone are also on the side of Terri, a 41-year-old woman who has been in a coma for 15 years.

A federal judge has awarded Michael Schiavo the right to remove the feeding tube that has kept the woman clinically alive and let his wife literally starve to death.