Alec Baldwin's phone meltdown

[Maveno]

The happy couple in 1996

msnbc.com

April 20, 2007 - It may be hard to believe now, but Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger were once madly, deeply in love. You might even say they were fated to be together. The met in 1990 on the set of “The Marrying Man,” and, of course, he acted out the title. They got hitched on Aug. 20, 1993. Among their first high-profile appearances together as man and wife was a 1994 monologue on “Saturday Night Live,” just before Valentine’s Day. “As I’m sure you all know, Kim and I are newlyweds,” Baldwin told the audience, to heavy applause. Basinger had some bad news to report. “I have a confession to make,” she said, in the skit. “I have no respect for you as an actor. Do you hate me now?” Baldwin, as his classic hammy self, said he only loved her more. Basinger continued: “Until two weeks before our wedding, I thought I was marrying your brother Billy. I was going to call it off, but I was afraid of looking like a real idiot. Do you hate me now, darling?”

He may not have right then, but he seems to now. Following their messy divorce in January 2001, Alec and Kim have been feuding like Rosie and Donald, usually over their 11-year-old daughter, Ireland. The latest wrinkle: a leaked phone message from Baldwin to Ireland. Furious that she hasn't returned his calls, Baldwin tells Ireland that she's a “rude, thoughtless little pig,” and goes on to say: “I’m tired of playing this game with you. I’m leaving this message with you to tell you you have insulted me for the last time. You have insulted me. You don’t have the brains or the decency as a human being. I don’t give a damn that you’re 12 years old, or 11 years old, or that you’re a child, or that your mother is a thoughtless pain in the ass who doesn’t care about what you do as far as I’m concerned. You have humiliated me for the last time with this phone.”


Baldwin with his daughter in 1995


As the message spun into Cyberspace, Baldwin’s publicist attempted damage control by attacking Basinger. “In the best interest of the child, [Baldwin] will do what the mother is pathologically incapable of doing ... keeping his mouth shut.” But he didn’t hush up. First, he accused Basinger of leaking the message to the press, an accusation she has yet to deny. What a great mom! Then he put out the word that he’d already apologized to Ireland. What a great dad! Whose side are you on? To help you choose, let’s take a stroll down matrimonial misery lane:

1990: Baldwin meets Basinger over dinner, to talk about “The Marrying Man.” Basinger later said, “He kissed me and then asked me if I wanted a kiss,” adding that she told him he was “psychotic.”

1993: The wedding, in East Hampton. It followed a fight with the town about whether the ceremony could take place on a public beach. (The town backed down.)

1998: Basinger wins the Oscar for best supporting actress for “L.A. Confidential.” That “SNL” crack about her not respecting Baldwin’s acting begins to sting.

2000: Various tabloid reports of ugly fights in public locations around New York.

2001: They announce their divorce. Shortly after, Kim Basinger’s 77-year-old father, Don, gives an interview to People about what happened. “Alec has this anger where he reaches down for something that hurts, something that may have happened a year or two ago, and then he abuses Kim with it,” Don said. “When it started happening in front of Ireland, Kim finally said, ‘Well, I’m not going to put up with that!’”


October 2005: Alec was supposed to hang out with Heather Mills and Paul McCartney in Los Angeles, but it wasn’t his turn for custody, so Basinger wouldn’t let Ireland go. Alec gets revenge by accusing Kim of “child snatching” in court papers after, allegedly, she didn’t return Ireland in time for a visit. He also asks for more custody of Ireland, later telling the New York Post the whole battle is “like being diagnosed with cancer. But I’m keeping things in perspective. Not letting it consume me and eat me up with anger as it used to. I stopped that when one late night I was on the street so unhappy and filled with rage that, in a fit, I smashed my phone against a lamppost.”

November 2005: Kim releases this statement: “Everyone knows about Alec Baldwin’s behavioral problems—his anger, his rages—they are, unfortunately, legendary.”

December 2005: People reports that Alec filed papers alleging that Ireland is “taught fear from her mother” and told to “function as a spy.” The judge's Dec. 15 custody ruling is sealed, but it seems to be favorable for Basinger. Alec gets support from an unexpected ally: Kim’s estranged mom, 79-year-old Ann Basinger. She tells the National Enquirer: “My heart is sad for Ireland. I think Alec is wonderful ... [Kim] is my daughter and I love her, but I hate what she’s doing. She has to turn herself loose from this hatred.”

2006: Alec on love: “If you get married, get a prenup. It’s not about money at all. It’s about having a document that states how you’ll dissolve your marriage while you still have a shred of respect for each other.” In May, Alec is back in court, accusing Kim of violating their custody agreement. “It never ends,” he said. “You’ll go to court and get a court order, but then you have to go to court again to enforce the order.” Baldwin added that he was shocked when, he claims, Basinger once compared him to Saddam Hussein. Baldwin told a reporter : “I thought, ‘Do I hide myself in cramped underground quarters? Do I like to shoot firearms in a celebratory way? I remember lying in bed, thinking I wanted to die on the spot.”

Oct . 12, 2006: Basinger is arraigned on 12 counts of contempt, including the fact that she failed to notify Alec when Ireland suffered an undisclosed injury. The case is still pending, but she faces a $12,000 fine and 60 days in jail if found guilty.

Next: Having spent more than $1.25 million in legal fees, Alec decides to get some of that back by writing a book about his divorce, to be released sometime this year. If you can get each of the former lovebirds to sign the same copy, it will be worth a fortune.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kim may not be anyone's favorite mom (what has she done anyway?), but the issue is how Alec treated Ireland.
IMO, Ireland was at the helm of whether the phone message was released or not. Sure, Kim was probably elated and hit speed dial to the attorney.. but I think it was all Ireland's decision.
I could be wrong, but the way I look at it..it's HER cellphone, and HER message and it was HER decision to let anyone listen to it. We all know how kids are with cellphones. Ain't no way mom or dad are listening, getting, touching or even remotely breathing near it!
I don't see Ireland as cowering in the corner as Kim comes storming in and ripping the cellphone from her hands, going public with it.. She (Ireland) has feelings, emotions, opinions, thoughts and fears.
I give the daughter WAYYYyy more credit than IMO, anybody has. By the sounds of the message, Friday, the TWENTIETH wasn't going to be a fun visit with good 'ole happy-go-lucky Daddio. I still think she wanted it out in the public because she's getting to the age of realizing that she actually CAN stand up for herself.
An eleven year old child has no protections against an abusive parent, especially one who is lauded as a great actor, yadda yadda... By releasing evidence of how he treats her, BAM, instant attention and protection. I bet he'll be thinking twice before he wants to rip into her again.

I also think Kim is taking too much BS from this whole thing. He clearly has issues with his anger, and I think the daughter did the right thing by allowing everyone to hear how he is toward her. He's always claimed he doesn't have anger issues, etc.. well. Now what Alec? Now, instead of owning up to it, he's still blaming Kim. It's always the cwazzzzy wife.

I'm clearly on Team Ireland!

[Google]

 

[Stargazer]

Originally Posted by Maveno

It's always the cwazzzzy wife.

I'm clearly on Team Ireland!

I agree, Maveno. Even if Kim DID snatch away the phone and release it to the press, I don't blame her. If I feared for my daughter's safety, I'd be using every dirty trick I could think of to keep her out of harms way. Kim may or may not be a great parent, but its obvious who Ireland wants to be with. Alec sounds like a freaking psycho to me. No decent parent would speak to their child like that, I don't care how ticked they were. I can see calling their behavior "rude" or "stupid", but "rude little pig"???? Are you kidding me?

[DesertRose]

Originally Posted by Stargazer

Kim may or may not be a great parent, but its obvious who Ireland wants to be with.

I wouldn't be so sure about that. A couple of family friends are getting divorced and the father is completely brainwashing his kids against their mother, who did nothing but leave a loveless marriage. To someone who doesn't know the family, it does look like the kids chose the father over the mother, but to those who do, it is obvious that the choice was made after the father constantly berrated and put down the mother. He also completely isolated them from anyone on the mother's side, which only reinforced his power over them.

I have a feeling Ireland is in the same position. In this case, both parents are idiots and have no consideration for what is in their daughter's best interest.

[Veruka]

Originally Posted by DesertRose

I wouldn't be so sure about that. A couple of family friends are getting divorced and the father is completely brainwashing his kids against their mother, who did nothing but leave a loveless marriage. To someone who doesn't know the family, it does look like the kids chose the father over the mother, but to those who do, it is obvious that the choice was made after the father constantly berrated and put down the mother. He also completely isolated them from anyone on the mother's side, which only reinforced his power over them.

I have a feeling Ireland is in the same position. In this case, both parents are idiots and have no consideration for what is in their daughter's best interest.

I agree. I'd add that we also have no idea what Ireland's maturity level is. Is she the kind of kid who just wants to be loved and will go wherever she finds that? Or, is she the kind of kid who manipulates people she encounters and is always looking for what opportunity has the most in it for her? Or (more likely) is she somewhere in between. The maturity level of an 11 or 12 year old can vary so much that without knowing where she is, it's hard to know just how reliable a possible desire to be with her mom is.

[canuckinchile]

I'm on "team Ireland" too Mav! However, as the mother of a 12 year old, and 2 past that age, I will say that at 11 or 12 years old, a parent is still responsible for monitoring things like computer use, and cell phone use. I am sure the phone is NOT in Ireland's name, and one of her parents is in fact the owner since she is under 18 yrs. old. Would she have the savvy to release the call to the media without help? I doubt it. IMO, her mother bears the responsibility for the phone call being made public. It really comes across as using a child needlessly in a legal battle, and exposing her to the media hordes. In no way am I defending Baldwin either. I have to admit that before this thread I was unaware of his history...silly me for assigning both of them with being "reasonable". They both sound like crappy parents to me, and the real loser in all of this is their daughter.

[katgib13]

Originally Posted by Maveno

no way[/i] mom or dad are listening, getting, touching or even remotely breathing near it!
everyone to hear how he is toward her. He's always claimed he doesn't have anger issues, etc.. well. Now what Alec? Now, instead of owning up to it, he's still blaming Kim. It's always the cwazzzzy wife.

I'm clearly on Team Ireland!

My oldest boys are 17 and 15 and they both have cell phones and myspace accounts. I know their passwords, usernames and message codes on their phones. I do check up on them. They don't argue with me about it either, because I have the power to giveth and taketh away. That was the deal we made when I allowed them to have a myspace account and when I handed them their cell phones. So, I don't agree with you that Ireland had anything to do with the release. Perhaps Kim didn't either. Maybe her lawyer thought it best to publicize it or maybe it was Kim. Who knows? The point is...Ireland is 11. If her mother wanted to check her messages and allow the court access to them, Ireland would have no say in the matter. She is still a minor.

[Krom]

I may be old fashioned, but in my mind an 11 year old is inherently incapable of properly informed life changing decision-making.

Heck, I have a niece that age, who to anyone outside the family observing her would seem very mature and capable of just about anything, but our family isn't prepared to hand her the keys to decisions larger than her clothes(within reason), who her friends are (within reason), her class schedule (within reason), what sports she plays, and the like. She's consulted on most larger decisions, but there's no conceit that it's "her decision". Her opinion is one part of a larger tapestry, and my divorced sister would NEVER in a million years involve her at ALL in any legal matter relating to custody. Even though the divorce was fairly contentious.

That's a hugely unfair burden to place on a child with even run of the mill decisions which could effect her life, muchless the kind of decision its being alleged that this girl "made". She's 11. Her opinions likely change daily on just about everything, and her favorite parent is probably the one who last gave her something.

Of course none of this addresses what should be done in a case with NO reasonable parent around, but I just wanted to establish that I think that the idea that it was "Ireland's idea" or "her decision" is just bunk. And if Kim did this somehow because she feared for her daughter's safety, I'd question why this happened AFTER she'd already gotten the court order she needed to cease visitation. Sure it wasn't permanent, but have we been given any reason to believe that the judge wouldn't have stuck by that? If Kim had reason to think so, why hasn't that been her defense instead of "the tape speaks for itself"?

BTW: My local news just reported that "Kim and Ireland have now hired 24 hour security". Because clearly Alec Baldwin has shown every tendency to abandon his career, kidnap his daughter and then leave the U.S. permanently with her. Right?

[Maveno]

Lemme verify what I meant about Ireland and her cellphone. I agree with anyone who says that they (the kids at 11 y.o) don't have exclusive privacy rights to their cellphones.. my example was more geared toward what any typical teenager feels and acts about "their" cellphone.
My point was...IMO, I think Ireland had her opinion on the releasing of the message.

If not... and if Kim really did listen to it without Ireland's knowledge, and to top it off...had it plastered in the media WITHOUT Ireland knowing.. oy vay. I'd gladly rail on good ole Mom then. Seriously. That would be downright evil, IMO.

But, I'm leaning more toward her knowing and agreeing to have it released. Also, regardless of how and why it was released...it still doesn't take away the fact that he has no qualms whatsoever in mistreating his child.


Yes, opinions on the matter that don't go along with everyone elses...are always bunk. She's eleven, she's not floating in amniotic fluid for petesake. Who says that she's making the legal decisions?!

[Krom]

Maveno, my logic, in my previous post, supposed more that Ireland knew, than that she didn't. The idea is that what an 11 year old says she wants isn't an informed or mature decision. Its up to her mother, who presumably has better than the IQ of a carrot, to establish that releasing the recording to the world at large does nothing that the courts can't do alone, short of there having been some evidence we aren't privy to that the courts weren't doing their job. Given that Basinger already had a court order in force suspending all visitation rights--simply by letting the court have this recording--releasing it also to several billion other people would only make sense if the judge wasn't doing his job.

[katgib13]

Originally Posted by Maveno

My point was...IMO, I think Ireland had her opinion on the releasing of the message.

If not... and if Kim really did listen to it without Ireland's knowledge, and to top it off...had it plastered in the media WITHOUT Ireland knowing.. oy vay. I'd gladly rail on good ole Mom then. Seriously. That would be downright evil, IMO.

But, I'm leaning more toward her knowing and agreeing to have it released. Also, regardless of how and why it was released...it still doesn't take away the fact that he has no qualms whatsoever in mistreating his child.


Yes, opinions on the matter that don't go along with everyone elses...are always bunk. She's eleven, she's not floating in amniotic fluid for petesake. Who says that she's making the legal decisions?!

As a mother, I would hope that Kim had Irelands permission before turning the message over to her attorneys. I'm hoping that she discussed the matter with her daughter and made sure she understood the ins and outs/pros and cons of going public with the matter. I do agree with Krom that kids are fickle. What she may think is okay one day, won't be okay the next. I have a son who one day eats broccoli and the next day swears he hates it. Only to find out next week, he likes it again.

I do agree with you that Alec is an asshat and this probably isn't the first time he has put his daughter squarely in the middle of a bitch fight with his ex.

And I'm not disregarding your opinion. Ireland could very well be tired of her dad's tirades (if this is an ongoing way he deals with her). If it is a regular occurance, then good for her for fighting back. If not, someone needs to get this child into therapy before it's too late. And the parent's need to grow up and learn to get along for their child's sake.