Baldwin/Basinger Spat Continues: Basinger Says She is Innocent of Leaking Alec's Tirade

Another day, another salvo in the current spat between Kim Basinger and former husband Alec Baldwin, this from Basinger's camp.

It all started last Thursday, when a voice-mail explosion from Baldwin, directed at his 11-year-old daughter Ireland, was made public. In the recording, Baldwin can be heard calling the pre-teen a "rude, thoughtless little pig," and threatening to fly out from New York City to Los Angeles to confront Ireland "to straighten your ass out."

After the tape was made public, Baldwin, who has been in a bitter custody battle since he and Basinger divorced in 2001, accused his ex-wife of leaking the message to the media. According to Baldwin, that action would have violated a court order sealing material pertinent to their custody proceedings. Baldwin had his visitation rights temporarily suspended after his temper tantrum was made public. Baldwin's anger was apparently after Ireland missed a scheduled weekly phone call.

In response to the leak, Baldwin's attorneys immediately filed suit, hoping to get at the leaker. Baldwin's spokesman claimed it was Basinger, saying "the mother and her lawyer leaked this sealed material in violation of a court order."

On Monday, Basinger responded through a spokeswoman, who denied the actress had any role in the leaking of the tape, and that the tape was "not sealed under a court order." Annett Wolf, the spokeswoman, said that because of the incident, life would now be more difficult for Ireland, but measures had been taken to ensure her safety.

"Kim did hire security in response to the media attention on her daughter in order to allow Ireland to maintain her regular routine and activities uninterrupted." Wolf added that Basinger hoped her ex-husband would "finally address his unstable and irrational behaviour so he, at some point, can potentially create a relationship with his daughter. Until then," Wolf went on to add, "Kim will continue to protect and safeguard her child's well-being as any parent would."

In fact, Basinger herself is facing a court date for doing just that, possibly with too much enthusiasm and disregard for Baldwin's rights. The Academy Award-winning actress faces a dozen misdemeanor charges for contempt, for apparently not making the former couple's daughter available for outings with Baldwin, as well as failing to keep the scheduled visitations previously agreed upon.

Sources:

http://uk.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUKN2334009320070424
http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=5ad25222-42d8-4661-95ef-2c510c75ec8b