Alec Baldwin is one of Hollywood's most esteemed actors, having enjoyed a truly remarkable
career. Sadly, things haven't always been easy, and his life has seen its fair share
of hardship, too. Here are some tragic details about Alec Baldwin.
Alec Baldwin has faced many troubles over the years, but the horrific accident that
took place in October 2021 might just be the most shocking of all. Baldwin was filming
the Western movie Rust when he fired a prop gun that injured both the film's director,
Joel Souza, and its director of photography, Halyna Hutchins. Hutchins later died from
her injuries.
Following the accident, Baldwin seemed to be completely distraught over his involvement
and was seen crying in the parking lot outside of the Santa Fe Sheriff's Office. At the time,
a department official told Deadline:
"Mr. Baldwin was questioned by investigators and released. No arrests or charges have been
filed."
Baldwin himself later tweeted:
"There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that
took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours."
Early in life, Alec Baldwin struggled with an addiction to drugs and alcohol, and these
issues even led to an overdose in his twenties. Years later, during an interview on Good Morning
America, Baldwin revealed that although he had kept his overdose private, he decided
to get sober before he turned 27.
"Boy, that was a tough time. There was really a lot of pain in there."
In the book, Moments of Clarity, Baldwin explained that he would play video games from 9 a.m.
to 11 a.m as a way to "wind down" after long nights of partying. He wrote:
"This was the only way I could go 'beta' and go into that state I needed to be, where I
could calm down and take my mind off everything."
Baldwin told GMA that he had been feeling extra pressure at the time, partly due to
the nature of his upbringing.
"I would go my whole life going, 'I've gotta make money, gotta make money, don't wanna
be like my dad.'"
Eventually, Baldwin realized he couldn't live like that and got sober.
"I'm glad I got it when I did, because not many people get sober when they're young."
If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available. Visit
the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's
National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
Not too long ago, a difference in political views drove an infamous wedge between members
of one of Hollywood's most well-known families. For years, Alec Baldwin portrayed former President
Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live, and while the performance was certainly good for his
career, his brother Stephen Baldwin didn't seem to appreciate it. Stephen, who is an
avowed conservative, told CBS News in 2016:
"I don't wanna be a party pooper here, but I don't think it's very funny."
While the brothers were once known for being close, Alec and Stephen evidently let politics
get between them, and they eventually stopped speaking to one another. Stephen told CBN
News two years later:
"I still haven't talked to my brother Alec since the election. And I'm cool with that."
While he did admit he does "love him to death," Stephen also explained why Alec's Trump impression
bothered him. He explained:
"It goes too far when you're attacking the wife, and you're attacking the kids… don't
pick on peoples' families. That's not cool."
However, in 2019, Alec seemed to extend an olive branch to his estranged brother in the
form of an old photo that he posted of them on Instagram, writing:
"Gonna get the band back together."
Alec Baldwin may be happily married these days, but his previous relationship with actor
Kim Basinger resulted in a devastating divorce. The two got married in 1993 after meeting
on the set of The Marrying Man. Seven years into their marriage, Baldwin described Basinger
as "an exotic, lovely person" in a profile for Vanity Fair. Yet their relationship was
described as "volatile" — and they even argued during the interview. That next year,
Basinger filed for divorce.
Following their split, the famous former couple would often take digs at each other in interviews,
proving that their separation wasn't particularly amicable. When discussing his divorce, Baldwin
told The Guardian:
"That was very painful insofar as someone who I thought wasn't capable of a certain
kind of behavior wound up being the Marquis de Sade."
Basinger didn't hold back either. She told Net-A-Porter in 2016 that she ended up choosing
to do The Marrying Man over Sleeping with the Enemy, joking:
"Isn't it funny that I turned down Sleeping with the Enemy and then I went on to sleep
with the enemy!"
It's clear from his Instagram that actor Alec Baldwin adores his children, but a voicemail
that made headlines in 2007 painted a less-than-savory picture of him as a father. In the message
heard around the world, Alex angrily referred to daughter Ireland Baldwin, who was 11 years
old at the time, as a "rude, thoughtless little pig." The star blamed his ex-wife Kim Basinger
for leaking the voicemail, writing in his memoir, Nevertheless:
"If the goal of my ex [...] was to damage or ruin my relationship with my daughter,
then I certainly gave them the ammunition to do that with."
He added:
"My relationship with my daughter was permanently harmed by that episode."
Appearing on Good Morning America years later, Baldwin called the incident a "permanent break"
in his relationship with Ireland.
"It's a scab that never heals cause it's being picked at all the time by other people."
He also said the public continues to use the incident "as a constant spearhead" to "admonish"
and "attack" him. While Alec still regrets what happened, it seems he and Ireland were
able to repair some of the damage, even poking fun at the whole thing in an Instagram photo
in 2015. Ireland told Page Six in 2012:
"The only problem with that voicemail was that people made it out to be a way bigger
deal than it was."
Alec Baldwin hasn't just had to deal with family-related drama over the years. He also
had some serious health scares that came from contracting Lyme disease. The actor first
mentioned he had contracted the tick-borne illness in a 2011 interview with The New York
Times. He later revealed in 2017 that he believed he had chronic disease after getting bitten
for the first time almost two decades before. Baldwin explained:
"The first time was the worst of all. And I really thought this is it, I'm not going
to live. [...] I was lying in bed saying, 'I'm going to die of Lyme disease.'"
On the podcast Hypochondriactor, Baldwin even said that he and wife Hilaria "live in fear
of Lyme" because of where they live in the Hamptons, and because of Baldwin's history
with the disease. He said:
"I got bit twice, and I probably had it four times over five years where it came back at
the exact same time."
As he told the podcast's hosts, when it has hit him, it's hit him fast — and it's relentless,
too. Baldwin said:
"​I wound up laying in my bed for three days sweating through my sheets and just this
horrible joint pain and soreness [...] I couldn't even get up for like three days."
Alec Baldwin appears to still have a lot of sorrow over the death of his father, Alexander
Rae Baldwin Jr., who passed away in 1983 at the age of 55. In 2019, Alec posted a tribute
to his father on his Instagram on the anniversary of his death, describing him as "a uniquely
caring, dedicated, stern, smart and, at times, funny man." When commemorating his father,
Alec touched on the anguish he felt after losing him, writing:
"The death of my father affected me tremendously and set me on a course of seeking other men
to advise me. To care for me. Mentor me. No one has quite filled that position."
It seems that Alec and his father were close, and the actor makes a point to publicly remember
him often. In 2020, he posted another photo of his father, writing in the caption:
"Happy 93rd birthday, dad."
Alec's father had died of lung cancer, and just a few years later in 1990, his mother,
Carol M. Baldwin, was diagnosed with breast cancer. Not only did Carol survive, however,
but she later founded the Carol M. Baldwin Breast Care Center, which all of her famous
sons have openly supported. On December 15th, 2020, she celebrated her 91st birthday.
Alec Baldwin has had many brushes with the law over the years. For example, he was placed
under citizen's arrest for punching a paparazzi in the nose just days after the birth of his
daughter, Ireland. Alec maintained it was self-defense, while the photographer claimed
it was assault. The jury found both of them to be negligent, and Alec ultimately paid
the pap $4,500 for their injuries.
Then there was his infamous 2011 incident, during which Baldwin was kicked off a flight
for not turning off his cellphone. Alec later quipped on Twitter:
"Last flight w American. Where retired Catholic school gym teachers from the 1950's find jobs
as flight attendants."
From there, he reportedly had several aggressive run-ins with photographers, including one
altercation in 2013 that, according to TMZ, apparently got physical. Then, in 2014, Baldwin
was not only arrested for biking the wrong way down Fifth Avenue in New York but also
for disorderly conduct.
In 2018, Baldwin was nabbed yet again for assault and harassment charges after allegedly
punching a man. He blamed the media for the negative attention surrounding the case, tweeting:
"I realize that it has become a sport to tag people [with] as many negative charges and
defaming allegations as possible for the purposes of clickbait."
Baldwin pled guilty to harassment and agreed to pay a nominal fine and attend anger management
courses.
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