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As part of our ongoing commitment to bring you incremental updates in the Christian Bale Acting Huffy Towards Some Female Relatives story, we now have word on the actor's first public acknowledgment of The Incident at a Spanish press conference:

The Welsh-born actor brushed off questions about the alleged family dispute, saying he preferred to focus on the blockbuster movie "The Dark Knight," which had its premiere in Spain on Wednesday.

"It's a deeply personal matter," Bale told The Associated Press at a news conference at a luxury hotel in Barcelona. "I would ask you to respect my privacy in the matter."

Would that we could—but the Daily Mail thinks they have gotten to the bottom of what caused the ugly row:

According to sources, the blowup came after his sister Sharon had asked the actor for £100,000 "to help raise her children." They report:

The 34-year-old Batman star is reported to have snubbed the plea and allegedly 'pushed and shoved' Sharon and his mother Jenny, 61, during a row in his suite at the Dorchester Hotel on Sunday night.

Jenny Bale is also said to have made highly disparaging comments about the star's glamorous wife of eight years, Sibi, 38, a former make-up artist and model.

If it came down to money—and so many squabbles involving celebrities and their families do—then that could explain why his relatives would seek to humiliate the actor by pressing assault charges. It certainly sounds like a more plausible scenario than the one circulating earlier in the week, in which Bale flew off the handle after being squirted in the face with a trick flower by his rainbow-wig-wearing Momzo one too many times.