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In her first interview in 14 years, Hollywood star Kim Basinger joined her daughter, Ireland Baldwin, to let it all out with the hosts of Red Table Talk.
Speaking to hosts Jada Pinkett Smith, Adrienne Banfield Norris and Willow Smith, the Oscar-winning actress and Alec Baldwin’s ex, chatted about her divorce from the actor as well how they navigated their daughter’s mental health issues.
“I don’t think Alec was emotionally or mentally available for that kind of talk. Alec, you know, operates in a very different way in his life,” she shared.
Kim and Alec met on the set of the rom-com The Marrying Man. They married in 1992 and had their only daughter, Ireland, in 1995.
Their highly publicised divorce saw them locked in a contentious custody battle when they split in 2002. And their family made headlines again when a voicemail in which Alec called his daughter a “rude, thoughtless little pig” went public.
The end of her parents' marriage was what led to her developing anxiety as a child, Ireland believes.
"I didn't really want to call it anxiety for a long time, because I think it kind of makes you feel weak; it makes you feel like you're put in a box of sorts," the 26-year-old model and actress said. "I think I've had it my whole life, since I was a kid."
The struggle with crippling anxiety is something both her parents also deal with. Kim opened up about her battle with agoraphobia, which is defined by the Mayo Clinic as “a type of anxiety disorder in which you fear and avoid places or situations that might cause you to panic and make you feel trapped, helpless or embarrassed”.
Ireland, who’s spent time in a treatment centre for alcoholism and drug addiction, also believes Alec (64) struggles to tap into his emotions because he grew up in a family where suppressing feelings was normalised.
“There’s things I would go to my father for,” Ireland said, adding that Alec is suffering tremendously since the shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of his movie Rust. “But if I ever even try to have this conversation in any way with him, I don’t think he'd be able to really absorb any of it.”
Alec is currently expecting his eighth child, his seventh with wife Hilaria Baldwin.
“You know we’re all fine, we all get along, whatever. But he’s a challenge,” Kim shared, adding that her daughter is a “great teacher and a great healer”.
SOURCES: THEDAILYBEAST.COM; EDITION.CNN.COM; NEWS.COM.AU; HOLLYWOODREPORTER.COM; PAGESIX.COM;
