Kenny Guido
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Baldwin apologizes for voice-mail rant
‘I have been driven to the edge,’ actor says in wake of tirade with daughter
• A father's fury
April 20: A phone message the actor Alec Baldwin left his daughter has been leaked online. TODAY's Natalie Morales reports.
Today show
LOS ANGELES - 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.”
A voice mail Baldwin left for his 11-year-old daughter, in which he can be heard calling her “a rude, thoughtless little pig,” was published Thursday by celebrity news site TMZ.com.
Baldwin and his ex-wife, Kim Basinger, have been engaged in bitter custody disputes over their daughter, Ireland, since the couple divorced in 2002.
“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 courtroom.”
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 against 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.”
In a letter Greene sent to Levin on Thursday included in the court order, the attorney said she called Levin at 12:30 p.m. that day after learning he intended to go public with the tape.
“I cautioned you against taking any action, especially when what you disclosed to me could only have been obtained from an improper source, was sealed by the Court and should not be in your possession, let alone disclosed to the public,” she said in the letter.
Levin told The Associated Press on Friday that he obtained the tape legally.
“I’m not going to talk about sources. I’m not going to say who we obtained it from,” he said. “We obtained this legally. We discussed it, and felt it was an important story, and published it. If she disagrees, that’s her opinion.”
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.
Basinger’s spokeswoman had no comment Friday.
‘I have been driven to the edge,’ actor says in wake of tirade with daughter
• A father's fury
April 20: A phone message the actor Alec Baldwin left his daughter has been leaked online. TODAY's Natalie Morales reports.
Today show
LOS ANGELES - 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.”
A voice mail Baldwin left for his 11-year-old daughter, in which he can be heard calling her “a rude, thoughtless little pig,” was published Thursday by celebrity news site TMZ.com.
Baldwin and his ex-wife, Kim Basinger, have been engaged in bitter custody disputes over their daughter, Ireland, since the couple divorced in 2002.
“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 courtroom.”
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 against 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.”
In a letter Greene sent to Levin on Thursday included in the court order, the attorney said she called Levin at 12:30 p.m. that day after learning he intended to go public with the tape.
“I cautioned you against taking any action, especially when what you disclosed to me could only have been obtained from an improper source, was sealed by the Court and should not be in your possession, let alone disclosed to the public,” she said in the letter.
Levin told The Associated Press on Friday that he obtained the tape legally.
“I’m not going to talk about sources. I’m not going to say who we obtained it from,” he said. “We obtained this legally. We discussed it, and felt it was an important story, and published it. If she disagrees, that’s her opinion.”
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.
Basinger’s spokeswoman had no comment Friday.
