Alec Baldwin's phone meltdown

[Maveno]

Exactly!
Yes, we're all just talkative Forters, and all opinions on the Alec 'N Kim Devo should be respected.

[Google]

 

[Boston_Bill]

Originally Posted by Maveno

Exactly!
Yes, we're all just talkative Forters, and all opinions on the Alec 'N Kim Devo should be respected.

The only reason I say I feel sorry for Baldwin is that this is dirty pool and no one deserves it. Im sorry if my earlier posts were taken as having no sympathy for Ireland. I also dont like that Kim is getting a free pass in this at least in my opinion.

[Maveno]

Originally Posted by Boston_Bill

The only reason I say I feel sorry for Baldwin is that this is dirty pool and no one deserves it. Im sorry if my earlier posts were taken as having no sympathy for Ireland. I also dont like that Kim is getting a free pass in this at least in my opinion.

No apologies necessary Bill! Just didn't understand what Rev Sharpton was doing in the thread.

[Boston_Bill]

Originally Posted by Maveno

No apologies necessary Bill! Just didn't understand what Rev Sharpton was doing in the thread.

Bad attempt at humor on my part

[anemone]

JMO, but for me the biggest shame is that these two "adults" seem more concerned with their hate for eachother and how they look in the press than their (I hope) love for the child they created together and how all this affects her.

[Uncle David]

Alec Baldwin explains tirade
POSTED: 9:40 p.m. EDT, April 20, 2007


Story Highlights
• NEW: Alec Baldwin explains tirade against daughter
• NEW: Baldwin "sorry for what happened"
• Baldwin, ex-wife Kim Basinger have longtime custody disputes
• Message run on TMZ.com; how site got it is unknown


LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- 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. (Watch for what Baldwin said during his rant Video)

"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.

TMZ is a part of the AOL network of Internet properties. AOL is a unit of Time Warner, as is CNN.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The problem with this article is summed up in the 'Story Highlights' section at the top of the article. We see that we'll be informed there was a tirade, Baldwin is sorry, and there's a custody dispute. In the article we're treated to Baldwin's delusional attempts to excuse what he did. That’s it? That’s the meat of the story?

What is never even mentioned is the way Baldwin threatened his daughter. I've listened to the message and I wouldn't use that language with an adult I didn't like, let alone my 11 year old daughter.

Frankly, I don't see any real repentance here. It seems to me Baldwin is more upset he was exposed than he is for his actions.

[2boysmom]

Most of the kids I know that are Ireland's age are extremely adept at technology and know how to either delete a message on a cellphone, save that message, or even send it on to another person. Had Ireland not wanted her mom to hear this message, I would think she would have probably deleted it.
There are so many different scenarios in which the release of this voicemail could have happened. The truth is, as the daughter of divorced parents, at 11 I would have shared this voicemail with some of my friends. It definitely is a shame that the voicemail was released, but even if Kim was behind it, if Alec hadn't said it, there would have been nothing to release!

I understand anger and rage. We all say things that we shouldn't. But the language used in this voicemail was directed towards a CHILD. Ireland is this man's daughter, and the undertones of female inferiority and rage within this voicemail do sound frightening, in my opinion. My father got angry with me and the decisions I made about visiting on more than one occasion. But, he never called me such hateful names.

I feel sorry for Ireland that she is probably growing up really quickly while she listens to both parents rant about each other. I know how it is to grow up in the middle of that part, and to be honest, I would have probably skipped some phone calls to avoid it all!

[cricketeen]

2boyzmom, I agree with everything you posted - But let's suppose Ireland had been laughing and playing the message to anyone who wanted to listen, saying: "Listen to what a jerk my dad is"; it still should not have been released, for her sake (not saying you feel that way, just making a point). I think Krom is right on this point: an 11 year old is not equipped to make or even help with that kind of decision.

[2boysmom]

Cricketeen,
Oh I completely agree with you! It should not have been released for her sake, but my point was that although it probably was Kim, there was a possibility that someone else that Ireland sent the voicemail to could have sent it. I just wanted to mention all of the different possibilities that COULD have happened.
But, there are no excuses for either parent in putting a child in the middle of this ugly dispute.

[Krom]

Had Ireland not wanted her mom to hear this message, I would think she would have probably deleted it.

Many of the arguments I've seen seem to presuppose a few things:

--That Ireland was deeply traumatized, and that her only possible motive for letting Kim hear the message would be because of that.
--That if Ireland voluntarily played the message for Kim, and if Kim then acted on it, that then everything is alright.

My counter for that is that of course the kid, even if she knew Dad was just venting, would quite naturally play the message to her mom. Many kids in the midst of a situation like this don't want, or expect, peace. They want attention. So setting the parents against each other is a natural and predictable reaction.

That's one explanation. Another could be that yes, indeed, she was genuinely upset. Or played it thinking it was amusing. Or any number of other reasons.

To me it doesn't matter--at least in analyzing whether or not it was right to then take the message anywhere but to a judge. Which did indeed happen, but was not the end of it. The fact that the kid did not delete the message--that she permitted her mom to hear it--means nothing in terms of what was the proper follow-up action. The mom, the supposed "responsible adult" had her part to play and it was NOT to let her daughter become public fodder, even if it also indicted her hated ex even worse.

There are so many different scenarios in which the release of this voicemail could have happened. The truth is, as the daughter of divorced parents, at 11 I would have shared this voicemail with some of my friends. It definitely is a shame that the voicemail was released, but even if Kim was behind it, if Alec hadn't said it, there would have been nothing to release!

I understand that its possible that it got released another way, but given that we already know that Kim and her lawyers gave the recording to the court specifically with the intent of getting an emergency court order to stop visitation (which she GOT), we then would have to be dealing with two separate parties who both "used" the same recording. And its unlikely. Plus, there's the fact that Kim and her people have not bothered to deny releasing it, when they've had a thousand opportunities to do so.

As for the "if Alec didn't say it" logic, that's true. But what does that have to do with publicly humiliating the daughter? Alec's just desserts for being a frothing mad dog would have been for the courts to deny him visitation, as they'd already started doing. That fact keeps getting lost in the outrage over his spleen venting. If Alec somehow bamboozled the legal system and regained visitation, then and only then would the notion of making the whole thing public seem like a necessary step.