Alec Baldwin's phone meltdown

[Boston_Bill]

Originally Posted by Broadway

The 30 second phone message isn't part of a bitter divorce case. The 30 second phone message is part of a father's relationship with his 11 year old daughter.

This father should be just as concerned about keeping any divorce issues from his daughter. He failed miserably. And considering his 20 year issue with anger management, I find it very, very hard to believe that this was an isolated incident.

I agree. My guess is and this is only a guess that the tirade by Baldwin was more directed at Kim and not Ireland. Ireland is probably a pretty spoiled child. Again I am not defending what Baldwin said but why did it take six days for Kim to release it. As far as Im concerned they are both wrong.

PS Apologies to the mods, I see some posts have been deleted.

[Google]

 

[Krom]

I think the long and short of this is that we have two unfit parents--one with really obvious flaws and one with less obvious ones. My main concern in this is not so much Baldwin (although I wanted to note the POSSIBILITY that at least some of what he said is true, as disgustingly as he said it), but instead a hope that people don't take the easy way here and assume that the opposing force to an obviously bad parent would naturally be a good one. Its so darn easy to listen to Alec's rant and be so overcome with anger at his assiness that you forget the actions of the other parent, or just want to hope against all hope that there's a better option on the other side.

Having known far too many people with a pair of bad parents, I for one know better. And to my mind, there's very little doubt that any parent willing to put their child in the public eye in such an embarrassing fashion is a bad parent--maybe a REALLY bad one. There is no indication--none whatsoever--that there was any valid reason to pre-empt the authority of the courts and the various child protection departments. None. The judge had already put an order into place temporarily canceling Baldwin's visitation rights. I don't see how ignoring the authority of the courts in this case helped "protect" the child further--in fact it appears to me the very opposite happened.

And even if the kid agreed to this... she's a kid. Without an adult sense of judgment or awareness of the real world consequences. Taking advantage of the child's own anger at her father to put the girl firmly in the public crosshairs would make Kim even more unfit, not less since she "listened to her daughter."

Alec and Kim can both go straight to hell. The world (and the kid) would be better without either of them, I think.

[Boston_Bill]

Originally Posted by Krom

I think the long and short of this is that we have two unfit parents--one with really obvious flaws and one with less obvious ones. My main concern in this is not so much Baldwin (although I wanted to note the POSSIBILITY that at least some of what he said is true, as disgustingly as he said it), but instead a hope that people don't take the easy way here and assume that the opposing force to an obviously bad parent would naturally be a good one. Its so darn easy to listen to Alec's rant and be so overcome with anger at his assiness that you forget the actions of the other parent, or just want to hope against all hope that there's a better option on the other side.

Having known far too many people with a pair of bad parents, I for one know better. And to my mind, there's very little doubt that any parent willing to put their child in the public eye in such an embarrassing fashion is a bad parent--maybe a REALLY bad one. There is no indication--none whatsoever--that there was any valid reason to pre-empt the authority of the courts and the various child protection departments. None. The judge had already put an order into place temporarily canceling Baldwin's visitation rights. I don't see how ignoring the authority of the courts in this case helped "protect" the child further--in fact it appears to me the very opposite happened.

And even if the kid agreed to this... she's a kid. Without an adult sense of judgment or awareness of the real world consequences. Taking advantage of the child's own anger at her father to put the girl firmly in the public crosshairs would make Kim even more unfit, not less since she "listened to her daughter."

Alec and Kim can both go straight to hell. The world (and the kid) would be better without either of them, I think.

Well said. I dont buy for a second that an 11 year old put this out there on her own.

[hepcat]

The pig comment was disturbing, I agree. But I also found it odd that his complaint seemed to be so ego-centric. He talks about being "humiliated" and made to look like an ass. His fit of rage seemed to be "I'm Alec Baldwin and you can't duck my phone calls!" more than "I'm your dad and you have to talk to me!" Calling her rude and inconsiderate also fits into this. It's like he's coddled all day by personal assistants and this is the one area of his life where he doesn't have that instant gratification.

How is ducking your dad's phone call "humiliating"? I think he must have a massive ego. It's a shame. I've liked his acting in the past and his politics, and I've always thought Kim Basinger was a bit of a nutcase, but now I don't want to watch him onscreen because of this.

[Broadway]

Originally Posted by Boston_Bill

I agree. My guess is and this is only a guess that the tirade by Baldwin was more directed at Kim and not Ireland. Ireland is probably a pretty spoiled child. Again I am not defending what Baldwin said but why did it take six days for Kim to release it. As far as Im concerned they are both wrong.

That's exactly what it is, Bill, and therein lies the problem. This tirade SHOULD HAVE BEEN directed to Kim, not at an 11 year old. I would find it completely understandable had it been an answering machine message on Kim's cellphone. No one would have even been discussing it.

And I don't think I've seen anyone indicate that Kim is a good parent because Alec is such an ass. I think people have gone out of their way to acknowledge that neither parent would win Parent of the Year awards.

And yeah, hep.. how exactly is not answering her cellphone considered humiliating towards Alec? Yet another stupid comment, especially considering he had just left a taping of the Letterman show where he made fun on national television of the way his daughter danced.

[Critical]

Originally Posted by nilesgirl

I can remember when he was on Celebrity Fit Club and he just had a really rude attitude towards everyone.

Alec was never on the show - it was his brother Daniel.

I've only heard snippets of the tape because I really don't want to hear any more than what I've already heard. It's clear he has serious issues with anger management and has for some time. The way that both he and Kim have handled this custody dispute and divorce has caused me to not want to watch any of their movies, TV work, etc. I think they're both immature, narcissistic idiots who are damaging that child, possibly beyond repair (although I hope not). What good Kim thought would come out of releasing that tape, I don't know. Like someone said upthread, I can't imagine how embarrassed Ireland must be to know that he school friends (and everyone else in the free world) heard that tape. Shame on Alec for saying those things, but shame on Kim too for making sure it went public.

[Veruka]

Originally Posted by hepcat

The pig comment was disturbing, I agree. But I also found it odd that his complaint seemed to be so ego-centric. He talks about being "humiliated" and made to look like an ass. His fit of rage seemed to be "I'm Alec Baldwin and you can't duck my phone calls!" more than "I'm your dad and you have to talk to me!" Calling her rude and inconsiderate also fits into this. It's like he's coddled all day by personal assistants and this is the one area of his life where he doesn't have that instant gratification.

How is ducking your dad's phone call "humiliating"? I think he must have a massive ego. It's a shame. I've liked his acting in the past and his politics, and I've always thought Kim Basinger was a bit of a nutcase, but now I don't want to watch him onscreen because of this.

I think that this sums up the problem, and can apply to both Alec and Kim. Both of them appear to be so caught up in surrounding themselves with yes men, and in considering their public image to be the top concern in life that they've lost total touch with what should be the real priority in their lives - Ireland. I don't care if they hate each other and cringe at the sight of each other. They made a baby together, and that baby is now grown, has eyes and ears, and deserves nothing but love. You have to give up a lot of selfishness when you become a parent, and that's obviously a lesson that neither Kim nor Alec have learned.

[hepcat]

Originally Posted by Broadway

Yet another stupid comment, especially considering he had just left a taping of the Letterman show where he made fun on national television of the way his daughter danced.

Lovely. What a grade-A jerk.

[AJane]

While I deplore the words Alec Baldwin used when speaking with his daughter, I know that I wouldn't want to be judged on my parenting based on a minute-long phone message made in the heat of anger.

The worst offence here is the publicizing of the message itself. If the relationship between Baldwin and his daughter is usually good, this could ruin it. If it's been tenuous, then this could destroy it. Had it been kept private, then the parent and child could have taken steps to repair the damage done, which has just become that much harder.

[Krom]

Originally Posted by AJane

While I deplore the words Alec Baldwin used when speaking with his daughter, I know that I wouldn't want to be judged on my parenting based on a minute-long phone message made in the heat of anger.

The worst offence here is the publicizing of the message itself. If the relationship between Baldwin and his daughter is usually good, this could ruin it. If it's been tenuous, then this could destroy it. Had it been kept private, then the parent and child could have taken steps to repair the damage done, which has just become that much harder.

That's part of my thought process on this too. There have been a lot of "he needs Anger management" comments. But this new status quo has all but assured that all of the Anger management sessions in the world won't be enough to engineer a repair in the relationship now that its become public fodder.

A court may have made Anger management a condition of continued visitation. Now there will never be the chance for that kind of solution, because even if it is still ordered, now a whole new and even more serious bone of contention has been created.