Alec Baldwin

[baylor]

I think it was wrong to leak the tapes in a public forum. Poor Ireland. She's the only one I feel bad for, not Kim and not Alec. Kim was just as selfish in releasing the tapes because now Ireland will be embarrassed even further and wil be seen as that girl whose father called her a "pig."

[rascal]

He's a jerk...
Because of all the coverage of this and other media stories about him... at least Ireland has the knowledge that he's like this with everyone. I mean that sincerely. I took me well into my twenties to realize my dads verbal abuse wasn't reserved just for me... he was like that with many. Knowing that helped me immensely.
Now, at least Ireland knows that.

[Margo]

dwanollah said:

Some day, both Kim and Alec are going to wonder why their daughter hates them or doesn't want anything to do with them when they LOVE her SO MUCH.

Oh yeah. Generalizing from a sample of one (me), this will happen. Probably the latter, not the former, but your relationship with your parents needs to be a haven of sorts to come back to after you've dealt with all the outside stressors, not a place where your parents work off their own issues on you.

But y'all're right about another thing... this is so much more problematic and deeper than one phone message. Few things piss me off more than when parents -- Adults! Caretakers! -- use their kid(s) as a pawn in break-ups. Poor, poor Ireland.

Yeah. I don't think this one particular message was a huge shock for Ireland - it seems like it was just another thing in a series of parental tantrums. I'm sure that, sadly, she is used to this by now and is constantly on alert for something like this, like a soldier in the front lines or something.

By the way, I honestly haven't been watching their situation, but it feels possible to me that Kim is being a passive-agressive asshole in this as well (being all nice on the surface but really adding more stress to her daughter's life). I don't have factual proof for this, it just comes from watching people all my life.

I'm also on Team Ireland. There's no Team Kim or Team Alec here, just Team Assholes. Regardless of how wrong Alec is and how right Kim may be, she still seems to be dragging Ireland into the middle of this, which is enough in itself.

But, guys, I think Ireland will be OK. Kids are resilient little beings, and hopefully when she grows up she'll be able to see this in the right context and understand why her dad was such an asshole to her.

I never knew the epithet "pig" was so bad! Having been called a "pig" by my mom since as far back as I can remember (in the "selfish", "messy" sense) I eventually came to view it almost as an endearment. There were also hysterical outbursts, telling me that I "behaved like a stranger living in our home" (pulling the guilt trip on me because I wasn't empathetic enough about my parents' problems, which as a child I could do absolutely nothing to fix), being blamed for presenting my mom in a bad light in front of my dad, thus being partially responsible for the breakdown of their marriage (oh yeah), being pulled into all their fights, etc. In retrospect, I had the best reaction possible - after a few years of that I became completely deaf to almost everything my mom was telling me, and wasn't hurt by anything anymore.

To finish playing an armchair psychiatrist, the sad thing is that often parents are being so emotionally abusive with their kids (like Alec on the phone) because they genuinely love the kids a lot. Alec doesn't sound like someone who doesn't give a shit about his daughter or doesn't care about his relationship with her. He sounds like someone who cares about it a lot and views his relationship with his daughter as very important. He wouldn't be so angry and hurt if he didn't. It's a sad situation - he is grasping at straws and trying not to lose this relationship, but in reality he's hurting his daughter (if she hasn't become immune to this yet) and pushing her away.

I'm aware that I'm totally projecting my mom onto Alec, but it just fits so well. It's not like only one aspect is similar, absolutely everything follows the same pattern (except Ireland's not being blamed for their divorce), and I believe that there are certain trends that tend to repeat themselves in people's behaviour. Seriously, Ireland should call me if she needs someone to talk to

[lizzyp]

Does anyone know what Ireland looks like? With such a pretty mom and interesting dad, I'm curious.

[kostgard]

I think I'm pretty much on the same wavelength as Margo. My parents never called me names so I can't exactly identify with Ireland, but my parents definitely have their own issues and I have realized that they are my parents' issues, and not my own. And I also hope that Ireland can come to the same conclusion and will get through this okay.

And I agree on Margo's take of Alec's message - it sounded to me like he was really hurt and frustrated, and due to his own issues, he handled it very, very poorly. I have no doubt that he loves his daughter very much, and I'm sure she knows this, but his own demons keep getting in the way.

And like others have said - this is in no way condoning what he did. I don't think anyone can see that as acceptable behavior. I just think Alec has some serious anger and other emotional problems and needs some serious therapy. And I've always gotten the impression that Kim has a few screws loose and could probably stand a little therapy herself. I think these two have been pushing each other's buttons and poisoning each other since the moment they hooked up. They did the right thing by getting divorced, but they need to pull their heads out of their butts and realize that they aren't the only players in this little game of theirs, and they need to put Ireland before anything else.

So, I guess I'm trying to say that while I don't condone what Alec did, I do kinda see the overall situation from where Margo described. And yeah - there is only Team A-Hole Parents and Team Ireland in this battle, and I think we all land on Team Ireland.

[Deleted]

Yeah, while I think what he did was totally wrong, I'm on the "no perfect parents" train I think. As a single mom of a teenage girl, I certainly know about being so pissed off that it is sometimes hard to hold my tongue. When I heard the whole "pig" thing, I never took it as him calling her fat or anything. I honestly thought he used that word in an attempt to not say something worse, like the b word or something. Which obviously doesn't make it better, but that's how I took it.
I also think there is just a whole lot of frustration on his part about the situation with him having his visitation undercut by Kim. Sounds to me like he just reached the end of his rope and went off. Of course, he should've vented those frustrations at the person who is causing them.
Anyway, rambling here and not making much sense. I think counseling/anger management would be a great thing for him. It is clear that he adores his daughter and is hurt by all that is going on. He just needs to learn how to deal with it better, for sure.

[SluttyMary]

Unpopular opinion, but I don't think he's a very good actor and I've never liked him and never understood why people find him so great.

Just to talk about something else than the voicemail.

[Aspasia]

I never understood why he married her after the runaround she gave him while dating. She is high maintenance and the stories about her not coming out of her trailer on set and needing Perrier to wash her hair were plentiful. They broke up and he supposedly went to a support group for addicts, Kim being his addiction. The only thing that seemed to cement these two was that he stuck by her during her lawsuit for backing out of "Boxing Helena" that supposedly left her bankrupt.

It was no surprise to start reading about the divorce and child custody problems as she was back to per pre-marriage behavior, only this time she had a weapon, visitation rights.

I think she is every man's worst nightmare and it could be why she hasn't found one since.

It doesn't excuse Alec's conversation with his child, he still needs help.

[marleigh]

aspasia said:

I think she is every man's worst nightmare and it could be why she hasn't found one since.

It doesn't excuse Alec's conversation with his child, he still needs help.

I've read that she has been agoraphobic for years. This was brought up in court papers because she would avoid Ireland's school activities. Baldwin also claims that she has a drinking problem. But, yes, even if these allegations were true, they both need some help.

They're reporting this incident all over the news. Allegedly Kim and her attorney leaked the tape which was suppose to be of a sealed court proceeding. I feel really badly for Ireland, having this ugly incident splashed all over the news. I'm not on Team Alec, but it makes me wonder how much Kim wants to win, that she'd be willing to humiliate her daughter like this?

It seems like all of the Baldwin brothers, except for Billy, have become screw-ups. Poor old Ma Baldwin. She must have tons of gray hairs over them.

[Benni]

I have seen Ma Baldwin and heard an awful lot about her. What happened to Pa Baldwin?