Kim Basinger, Alec Baldwin. Getty Images (2)
Kim Basinger and Alec Baldwin are on better terms now following their messy 2002 divorce.
“Alec and I have a great relationship,” Basinger, 71, told Variety in an interview published on Thursday, February 27. “I have great respect for where he is today, and his family. You know, we don’t spend Christmases and holidays or see each other very much. But we talk.”
Basinger, who was married to Alec, 66, from 1993 to 2002, noted that the former couple have a “genuinely cordial” and “loving relationship” because of their daughter, Ireland Baldwin, 29.
“I don’t wish him anything but everything good. He’s been through a lot lately,” the L.A. Confidential actress shared with the outlet, seemingly referencing Alec’s trial for involuntary manslaughter, which was thrown out in December. “But [his wife] Hilaria [Baldwin] seems to have a great handle on that. So more power to her.”
Alec Baldwin and his eldest child, Ireland Baldwin, have spoken candidly about their evolving father-daughter relationship over the years. The 30 Rock alum welcomed Ireland in October 1995 with his then-wife Kim Basinger. While the couple split in 2002 and experienced a contentious custody battle, Basinger told The Edit in April 2016 that she and […]
After their divorce in 2002, Basinger moved on with hairstylist Mitch Stone in 2014 while Alec tied the knot with Hilaria, 41, in 2012. Alec and Hilaria share seven children together: Carmen, 11, Rafael, 9, Leonardo, 8, Romeo, 6, Eduardo, 4, María, 4 and Ilaria, 2.
Basinger rarely speaks out, but she reflected on her split from Alec several years ago, noting how the breakup was very difficult for Ireland.
Kim Basinger and Alec Baldwin, 1999. Ron Wolfson/Liaison Agency
“Divorce is hard on a kid,” she told The Edit in April 2016. “Ours was very public and nasty. So I brought up Ireland in a very unconventional way. I just wanted her to be free. If she wanted to have her friends over and write over the walls with pen, that was fine. I wanted her childhood to be full of love and light and animals and friends.”
Alec, for his part, previously shared that his life was a “blur” for six years after his split from Basinger. Though their divorce was finalized in 2002, they remained in a bitter custody dispute for several years.
“That was very painful in so far as someone who I thought wasn’t capable of a certain kind of behavior wound up being the Marquis de Sade,” he told The Guardian in November 2013. “That point of my life is a blur. I know exactly what projects I was doing from 1986 to 2000. And then from 2000 to 2006, during the Dien Bien Phu of my divorce litigation … I can barely tell you what I did for those six years. It was a period that was so painful, I was staring off a cliff for six years.”
Like Basinger’s challenging relationship with Alec, Ireland similarly had a strained relationship with Alec for several years especially after his infamous 2007 voicemail where he called his daughter a “rude, thoughtless little pig.”
“It took a lot of time and a lot of therapy. We were both in really dark places in our lives,” Ireland told Entertainment Tonight in February 2020. “I think things being publicized the way that they were made things seem more heightened and escalated than it really was.”
