At the height of her fame, Kim Basinger was alleged to have a “difficult” reputation
by many of her collaborators. Despite that, the actor has enjoyed a 40-year-old career.
Today we’re looking into her lifelong battle with anxiety and turbulent love life, including
a very unusual favour she asked of her first husband. Hop in and put your seatbelts on,
this ride is about to start!
One of the often-cited pieces of evidence for Kim Basinger’s reputation was the long-standing
rumour that she would only wash her hair with bottles of Evian water. The story came to
be with Premiere magazine’s coverage of The Marrying Man that she was shooting/falling
in love with Alec Baldwin and continued for years afterwards.
The on-set sources were more than happy to provide additional examples of Basinger’s
various indulgences. For instance, the actor was said to have her own umbrella holder on
set to help her stay shaded. Not only that, but he also acted as the de
facto gatekeeper for anyone approaching her trailer. “It was kind of funny, because
I’m the low man on the totem pole, and I have to go up to one of the producers and
say, ‘She doesn’t want you knocking on her door,’” he said at the time. As the
article insinuated, Alec’s regular trips to Kim’s trailer were probably one reason
for that “no-knock” policy. From the beginning, Basinger maintained her
own schedule, frequently arriving to set late and holding up scenes with specific requests.
Other delays were caused by her intense reaction to being observed by extras or other crew
members. “She’d carry on and refuse to do a scene unless they got rid of all the
people,” said the movie’s set decorator, Jim Duffy. Meanwhile, the hair and make-up
team had to be on hand to provide touch-ups after every take, resulting in regular half-hour
delays. Behind the camera, Jerry Rees essentially
ceded directorial control of the film to Basinger. “He’d walk up to Kim and say, ‘I’d
like to do it one more time.’ She’d say, ‘One more time, and that’s it’ or ‘No,
that’s it.’” The star had flexed her muscles earlier in
the shoot when she demanded that the original director of photography, Ian Baker, be replaced
after being unhappy with how she looked in screen tests.
Her then-lover Baldwin quickly stood by his on and off-screen romantic partner, shooting
down the Evian story and explaining the umbrella holder. “They wrote that she had these people
walking around her with umbrellas, like Arabian slaves. But she has it in her contract that
she can’t shoot in the sun, and they know that,” he said. The actor added that Basinger
had a history of sun poisoning and accused Disney of orchestrating a “misinformation”
campaign against two actors who only wanted to make the best movie possible.
People also felt that Basinger was unfairly maligned compared to A-list male stars who
demonstrated equally lousy behaviour. “Everyone thinks she’s a pig with big hair,” a studio
executive told Kim Masters, who then pointedly added: “Gee. Would they say that about Bruce
Willis?” Basinger directly responded to the various
allegations in a 1991 interview. “That’s totally not true,” she said about reports
of her delay. She went on to blame Disney for being a “cheap studio” that didn’t
hire the best talent for the film. She also called out the film industry for routinely
undervaluing female movie stars. “It’s a male world. When it comes to this issue
of money... you can’t stand up and yell, ‘We want the money that Arnold makes.’”
Now, Basinger is one of the world’s most recognized actors, but she used to be the
shyest one yet in her class. When 17-year-old Kim walked on to her high-school
stage to compete in the Junior Miss pageant, her peers were taken aback. She was by far
the shyest pupil in the year — a girl so withdrawn that her parents once tested her
for autism. But surprise turned to silence as Basinger gave a pitch-perfect rendition
of Wouldn’t It Be Loverly from My Fair Lady. “You could hear a pin drop, because they
didn’t know I could talk, much less sing,” she later said. “I didn’t care about winning;
I only cared about not fainting.” Despite her misgivings, she won the pageant
in 1970 in Georgia, Atlanta. Within a year, Kim had signed with The Ford Modeling Agency
in New York, setting in motion a career that’s lasted four decades.
Her mother, Ann, was a model and actor and her father, Donald, was a musician. Yet Basinger,
the third child of five siblings, shared none of their confidence as performers. Cripplingly
shy, she would even slink off alone at her own birthday parties.
Moving to New York in 1971 to model did little to bring her out of her shell. “She was
totally innocent about the ways of the world,” agency owner Eileen Ford revealed later to
Rolling Stone Magazine. Basinger was soon earning $1,000 a day, but
she really wanted to act. So, for three years, she studied in her spare time at the Neighbourhood
Playhouse in New York. In 1976, she and her then-boyfriend moved
to LA — stopping at one point to toss her modelling portfolio into the East River. Within
two weeks, Basinger was booked to appear on Starsky and Hutch. More bit parts followed
until, two years later, she was offered a regular role on Charlie’s Angels.
Surprising everyone, she turned it down, favouring starring in Katie: Portrait Of A Centerfold.
Basinger saw it as a stepping stone to the big screen, and the risk paid off as she landed
her first cinematic role in Hard Country. Although the movie was a commercial flop,
it was on set that she met her first husband, make-up artist Ron Snyder.
Snyder was a Hollywood name himself (his father was Marilyn Monroe’s make-up artist). It
soon became apparent that there was a strong sense of competition between the pair to be
the star in their relationship. In his 1998 memoir Longer Than Forever, Snyder
revealed that Basinger announced the day after their wedding that she wanted him to change
his surname to begin with a letter that matched hers. “I was speechless,” he wrote. And
yet he did it, changing the surname to Britton to keep her happy. Whoa!
Within months, Snyder had given up his career to accompany his wife on film sets, in part
so that they could be together, but also because she suffered from panic attacks. Basinger
had been experiencing them since the age of 27 when they suddenly began while out shopping.
The actor didn’t leave her house for SIX months after that.
Kim continued to summon up the necessary confidence to be on stage, but she struggled to replicate
that in real life. “You’d think with all the magazines and sexy stuff I’ve done that
it’s a huge part of me. But it’s all a pretense,” she once revealed.
Throughout the 80s, Basinger’s career went from strength to strength. In 1983, she landed
the role of Bond girl in Never Say Never Again and also appeared in Playboy. Both jobs catapulted
her into Hollywood’s hottest new sex-symbol list, with frequent comparisons to Marilyn
Monroe and Brigitte Bardot . No surprise, Kim was top of British director
Adrian Lyne’s wish list to star in his new film, 9 ½ Weeks. The movie, about a woman
both sexually awakened and pushed to the brink by her new lover, was notorious even before
the cameras started rolling. It was primed to be one of the most sexually graphic, mainstream
movies ever made. Though, that didn’t bother Basinger, who
again saw it as a vehicle to greater things. American audiences were shown an edited version
that bombed at the box office, but the full-length film earned $100 million globally.
Basinger’s marriage to Britton ended just as 9 ½ Weeks came out in 1986. “I emotionally
neglected Ron for a whole year,” she said. While their divorce was being finalized, she
dated producer Jon Peters, but their affair ended when she starred as reporter Vicki Vale
in Batman in 1989. Kim was introduced to Prince, who produced the soundtrack, and was stunned.
She fell in love with the late star just before meeting her future ex-husband, Alec Baldwin.
To outsiders, their relationship seemed unlikely, but they found common ground in being shy,
private people who loathed industry events. Reportedly, Basinger even gave up Hollywood
and moved to Minneapolis to be with Prince. Not only that, but at the time, they made
a never-released album, Hollywood Affair, including the single Color of Sex, on which
Kim raps, “I like the way you make me feel”. And Prince released a 12-inch extended mix
of Scandalous, called Scandalous Sex Suite, which allegedly included the sounds of him
and Kim actually getting it on in the studio. However, their relationship was cut short
when Basinger’s family, concerned Prince was too controlling, staged an intervention.
They were so unhappy about the two being together that they arrived unannounced at Prince’s
house when he wasn’t there, and flew Basinger away.
The single actor then signed up to make a rom-com with rising star Alec Baldwin. Things
moved quickly, but their relationship was torrid from the outset. Basinger once remarked,
“He has the biggest heart of anybody I’ve ever met. But he has a temper.”
Baldwin’s generosity of spirit was shown after Basinger was sued in 1993 for reneging
on a verbal contract to star in Boxing Helena. A judge ordered the actor to pay a whopping
$8.1m in damages, forcing her into bankruptcy. Baldwin offered to give her the money, which
she declined. But she did accept his marriage proposal, and they wed six weeks later.
Their daughter Ireland was born in 1995, and Basinger returned to work two years later
for her most successful role to date: Lynn Bracken in LA Confidential. Her performance
won her an Oscar, Golden Globe and SAG Award for Best Supporting Actress. She was at the
top of her game career-wise, but behind the scenes, the stress of a turbulent relationship
was taking its toll. Baldwin’s temper and Basinger’s anxiety
made the marriage intolerable, and they split in 2001. A bitter and lengthy custody battle
followed, and the exes remained at loggerheads for years. Basinger’s only film of note
in ten years from 2002 was 8 Mile, in which she played Eminem’s mother.
In 2016, Kim made a comeback when she reunited with LA Confidential co-star Russell Crowe
in The Nice Guys. Now, the star is off her antianxiety medication
and living her best life. “I didn’t want to live on drugs. I wanted to face everything
that I was afraid of,” she said. “Now I enjoy life.”
The actor is also rumoured to be in a happy relationship with hairstylist Mitch Stone.
An older Basinger says what she looks for in a partner has changed. “I’m more reality
based. I’ve been attracted to a lot of different types,” she reveals. “Showing kindness
and humour are the most important things to me now.”
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