Latest Baldwin/Basinger Exchange Raises a Question

Ask yourself a quick question while trying to take out of the equation that the "combatants" are Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger. Would there ever be a good circumstance under which airing your custody battle through the media would be a good idea? I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that your answer would be an emphatic NO!

Well, we are definitely in agreement there, but the ugliness over the latest "round of blows" between Baldwin and Basinger that comes on the heels of Basinger's attempt to get contempt of court charges dismissed form an October 2004 violation of custody agreement terms on Wednesday April 18th has raised in my mind just what was worse, Baldwin's angry berating of his 12 year old daughter via a cell phone message, or the fact that Basinger and her legal team saw an opportunity to gain an advantage by taking the rant public?

Now I'm not as sure how you are going to vote here, but I am coming down on the side of Basinger making a bad situation worse not only for the entire custody battle process, but for the daughter caught square in the crossbow as well.

There is no question that Baldwin's very angry, which seemed to come out of sheer frustration, phone message was harsh and probably devastating to the daughter, but ask yourself one very simple question, what parent at one time or another hasn't said something to a child of theirs that they later regretted horribly? No matter what the circumstances of his call, which apparently was because the daughter missed a scheduled phone appointment, it should have remained at first between a father and his daughter, and then after the daughter let her mother her, it then should have remained between the father, mother and the daughter to iron out. It never, and I mean never should have been added to one side of this increasingly sad and ugly custody battles side as a weapon to be used to gain an advantage.

I'm also pretty sure that when the daughter played the message for her mother it was not accompanied by the comment "here is something we can use against daddy in court." So now, not only do father and daughter have some relationship repair work to do, it will come while the ugliness of the circumstance is debated in court as to its intentions while most likely never considering the opinion of those involved. This means simply that a court should not be made to "interpret" what was meant to be a conversation between a parent and their child.

If that isn't enough for you to at least see my point, consider that the fact that Basinger and her lawyer "leaked" the sealed information in direct violation of a court order, which has put Baldwin in the uncomfortable position of not only apologizing to his daughter, but defending himself to the media, the courts and even fans over this latest episode in a bitter and sometimes seeming bizarre custody battle that has gone on for six agonizing years.

Can there, or is there a potential winner(s) here? I bet you know where I'm going with this. From a family perspective "winner" isn't the right term because no matter what the eventual outcome, time is going to have to d its thing and heal all wounds, but yes, you guessed it, short and long term the only sure winners are the lawyers whose meters are running at full tilt with no signs of slowing down and that my friends is just another unfortunate piece of this sad affair.

I for one hope for the child's sake at least that her personal privacy is maintained because she didn't ask, nor deserves to be used as a "weapon", she is just a 12 year old girl caught in the middle who probably wishes it would just go away.