Baldwin Apologizes For Vicious Voicemail

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."

Baldwin's legal battles with ex-wife Kim Basinger got uglier Thursday, when the angry voice message he left on their 11-year-old daughter's cell phone was leaked on the Web.

The two-minute tirade, filled with expletives, was obtained by TMZ.com and posted on its Web site.

Baldwin and 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."

In the message, which the site said was recorded April 11, Baldwin is furious that Ireland did not answer his call at a pre-arranged time.

"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," Baldwin says. "You have humiliated me for the last time with this phone."

He goes on to say that he plans to fly from New York to Los Angeles "for the day just to straighten you out on this issue."

He tells Ireland, "You are a rude, thoughtless little pig."

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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 The Showbuzz Thursday that she believes the tape "had to come from Kim or Kim's lawyer."

"Whoever did that was not thinking of the child," Greene added.

Levin won't say how he got the voice mail recording, but he insists that Baldwin's daughter didn't mind that it was made public.

"There are lots of ways we could have gotten the tape. I will only say we got it legally and also, based on what I know, Ireland is OK with us putting it on the Web site," Levin told MSN on Friday.

The voice mail was part of the material sealed during a closed court proceeding Wednesday, Greene said.

When she learned that TMZ was planning to post the message, Greene said she contacted Levin and told him that he would be in violation of a court order if he posted it.

"He ignored my advice and decided to run with it anyway," she said.

Baldwin 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.

Basinger was charged with contempt of court in October for violating terms of a 2004 custody agreement. A motion by her lawyers to dismiss the charges was denied Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court. The next hearing on visitation issues is scheduled for May 4.

"He's a wonderful dad," Greene said. "It's been a difficult litigation."
By Judy Faber