Rosie Defends Baldwin's Angry Outburst

(CBS)  Rosie O'Donnell defended Alec Baldwin, who landed in hot water last week when an angry message he left for his daughter was released to the public.

"I have to admit I have cursed at my kids sometimes," O'Donnell said on "The View" Monday. She reenacted what she might say to one of her children, which prompted applause and laughs from the audience.

The voice mail Baldwin left for his 12-year-old daughter, Ireland, was released by the Web site TMZ last week and was splashed all over the Web and television. In it the "30 Rock" star called his daughter a "thoughtless little pig."

Baldwin and his ex-wife, actress Kim Basinger, have been in a contentious battle over custody for several years.

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Photos: Rosie O'Donnell

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"After hearing it, tears welled up in my eyes thinking what that girl had to hear," O'Donnell's co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck said on the show Monday.

"He's very much of a tortured father who feels alienated from his own child," O'Donnell said of Baldwin. "When he was doing Broadway he flew out one day a week. He's trying to connect to this kid."

"(Basinger) defies a lot of court orders for him to visit the child, which I think is making him crazy," O'Donnell continued. "Not that that's an excuse."

Hasselbeck worried about the long-term effects of the incident on Baldwin's daughter.

"Hearing something like that from your father could be potentially the worst thing you could ever hear," she said.

"He actually did go to therapy. All the things that Kim asked him to do, he did. He went to anger management. He went to — but if she — (Basinger) defied all the court orders," O'Donnell said.

When one of the hosts posed the question of whether the incident would affect Baldwin's career, O'Donnell responded, "It affects his soul."

[mzking2u]

I don't care for Rosie, but I do agree with her. As one of the chatters said, most of you are lying if you have never gotten so mad that you called your kid a name other than their legal one! It happens every day, all the time, and yes even in my household, and it hasn't done anything to my daughter's self esteem. In fact she thinks she's Miss America and we get along great, but every once in a while they **** you off and you have to put 'em in check and if that's how it came out at the time, then that's how it came out. I've been called worse than a "pig" and me & my mother are like sisters. America is to sensitive today and that's why all these kids are running wild. There's no story here

[logical_pers]

Rosie O'Donnell says the same type of things to her children? Someone call Child Services! I have raised two sons and have been very angry at them at times, but I have NEVER lowered myself to calling them ugly names or threatening them as Alec B. did. Name-calling is so bad for children's self-image. And who knows who leaked this to the press, but no one knows Alec and his temper better than Kim B. I don't blame her if she did it to protect her child. I would do anything to protect my children including breaking court orders, not answering the phone if I saw it was the "horrible father" calling. Bad situation for Kim and Ireland. Alec, shame on you...Nothing excuses your behavior and I'm sure it's not the first time.

[plainspoken1]

It's shame Rosie calls herself a mother, she has no right to verbally abuse her children. She strikes me as a dominating,control freak. That poor woman who calls herself her wife or whatever she is, has to be nuts too to put up with that loud mouth heifer. As for Alex and Kim and their spat over their daughter, someone needs to step in and take control of their child while they go to counseling to figure out what the heck they are so mad at each other for and to be taught they can't use their daughter as a battering ram to get even with each other. That child has a right to grow up HAPPY!

[jdubs63]

Ireland should not be the pawn. The Parents need to grow up.The parents need control and just hug Ireland so Ireland lots of hugs to you.
As for Ms Rosie...... Hugs your kids in silence

[justlookin70]

Just because someone goes to anger management classes or wants to connect with their child, it does not erase the abuse that has occurred in the past. Obviously, Mr. Baldwin has a history of abusive behavior. If he can call his own flesh and blood a "thoughtless little pig", I can only imagine what he has called Ms. Basinger throughout their relationship. I don't think Ms. Basinger has kept her child away from him just to be spiteful. She obviously has seen what he is capable of (and now, so have we), and while she was able to protect herself by divorcing him, she has to allow her child to be subjected to it. I don't blame her for denying court orders - they didn't live with the man and they're not responsible for the well-being of the girl. And even if she did release the tapes, I think it was an opportunity for the public (and courts) to get just a glimpse of the extent of this man's abusive behavior.

So please, stop excusing the abuser. They always have an "excuse" because it's NEVER their fault. And it's quite pathetic that Rosie would justify this kind of behavior. Isn't she supposed to be an advocate for children?

[likeitis5050]

I want to know the slime who leaked it to the press. They get to go on about their business untouched by all this controversy. I'm sure the media agreed to keep their name out of it in exchange for getting their hands on the tape. The two go hand in hand. What he did is inexcusable and he has to live with that and will never be able to totally put it behind him, thanks to the low life snake who sold him out. But what about the morals and integrity of someone who would force a child to have to deal with all the publicity surrounding her and her father over such a personal matter? And for what? Money? Revenge? This is a sicko and probably needs more help than all the Baldwins put together. This person needs to be called out and held accountable for all they have done. No one should be able to cause this kind of public humiliation and walk away with out a scratch. Sickening.

[yoopermom]

It's an invasion of privacy, detrimental to individuals, and not something I even WANT to hear about, much less hear everyone else's OPINIONS on! I say the MEDIA is to blame for this one!
Posted by VaView

Then why are you here? This is the entertainment section. No one is forcing you to read the story!

[yoopermom]

Well now we should all feel so much better. If Rosie approves of calling your 11-year-old daughter a thoughtless pig and telling her that she doesn't have the brains or decency to be a human being, then it must be OK.

[jscribe58]

If everyone who got angry at their child and said something they didn't mean had that child removed from them, no child would be with their parents. Of all the people writing in, I think some of them are human and get angry at their kid, and the rest are lying. No matter what the reasons for their divorce, Kim is obviously using the child for vengeance. Good or bad, anger problem or not, he's that little girls father - the only one she will ever have - the sooner Kim realizes that, the sooner the kid will be able to have a relationship with her father and the lawyers will syop getting all the money.

As far as Rosie's concerned, nothing but swill ever came out of her mouth - but who can blame her when someone is actually willing to pay her to spout that garbage?

[ago5675]

I think that perhaps Baldwin should marry Rosie and find out how it would feel to be berated and verbally abused. That would perhaps save all the children involved with these two lunatics who call themselves parents. Anyone can have or get children, but that doesn't make them parents. The courts in America need to wake up protect our most precious citizens, the children.