Friday, April 20, 2007

Alec Baldwin explains tirade against daughter

As Alec Baldwin's angry words to his daughter were being broadcast around the world, the 49-year-old actor explained himself Friday on his Web site.
"Although I have been told by numerous people not to worry too much, as all parents lose their patience with their kids, I am most saddened that this was released to the media because of what it does to a child," he wrote. "I'm sorry, as everyone who knows me is aware, for losing my temper with my child. I have been driven to the edge by parental alienation for many years now. You have to go through this to understand. (Although I hope you never do.) I am sorry for what happened. But I am equally sorry that a court order was violated, which had deliberately been put under seal in this case."
The tension between Baldwin and his ex-wife, Kim Basinger, had erupted earlier when an angry phone message from Baldwin to his daughter was made public. The couple has been involved in bitter custody disputes over their daughter, Ireland, since their divorce in 2002.
The recording was published Thursday by celebrity news site TMZ.com, which said the call was placed on April 11.
"In such public cases, your opponents attempt to take a picture of you on your worst day and insist that this is who you are as a person," Baldwin wrote. "Outside the doors of divorce court, I have friends, I have respect from people I work with and I have a normal relationship with my daughter. All of that is threatened whenever one enters a court room."
Meanwhile, Baldwin's attorney, Vicki Greene, said she filed a court order Friday "to determine how the tape got leaked and to determine whether actions should be taken again Kim Basinger, or her attorneys, or Harvey Levin (who runs TMZ.com) and anybody else associated with the leaking of the tape and the violation of the court orders to keep the proceedings closed."
Greene told TV's "The Insider" that "anyone involved in this case should want to protect Ireland, so whatever happened was either intentional, reckless or negligent."
The matter is set for a hearing June 5, Greene said.
Basinger's attorney, Neal Hersh, weighed in the family saga Friday on TMZ.com.
"I am concerned that Mr. Baldwin's recent statement, wherein he attempts to shift responsibility to Kim and her lawyers for his issues with Ireland, shows just how out of touch he is with the reality and gravity of the situation," Hersh said.
On the recording, Baldwin can be heard admonishing his 11-year-old daughter, Ireland, "You are a rude, thoughtless little pig."
"You don't have the brains or the decency as a human being," he says, apparently upset that she did not answer her phone for a planned call.
"The mother and her lawyer leaked this sealed material in violation of a court order," Baldwin's spokesperson said Thursday. "Although Alec acknowledges that he should have used different language in parenting his child, everyone who knows him privately knows what he has been put through for the past six years."
"The voice mail speaks for itself," Basinger's spokeswoman said.
Baldwin, 49, and Basinger, 53, were married in 1993. They have been involved in prolonged legal disputes over custody and other issues since she filed for divorce in 2001, which was granted in 2002. The couple's differences have been aired several times in public.

No comments: