Alec Baldwin’s been in the spotlight since the tragic shooting accident on the set of his new film “Rust” a couple of weeks ago. It’s not yet been decided if the longtime Hollywood actor will face charges, but he’s been getting support from all corners of the world.
In particular, support from his daughter Ireland might come as a surprise to many, considering that she and her father have had a very tumultuous relationship over the years. When she was a child, Baldwin and Ireland’s mother Kim Basinger were involved in a nasty custody battle that soured things somewhat.
As per reports, things came to a head in 2007, when Ireland, just 11-years of age at the time, received a voicemail from her father.
So who is Ireland Baldwin really, and what does she do for a living? Here’s all you need to know!
Alec Baldwin started working as an actor in his 20s. The Amityville, New York native majored in political science at the George Washington University. At that point, it didn’t look like he was destined to head into the acting business.
But in fact, Baldwin had had a great love for acting since his childhood, and decided to pursue a career in the field. After studying at New York University’s drama department – and working as a busboy at the legendary Studio 54 nightclub – he got his breakthrough in the television series The Doctors in 1980.
Alec Baldwin – career and family
After several years of doing television, Baldwin moved on to work on Broadway in several productions, before once again switching back to the screen. By that stage, however, it wasn’t only television he was concerned with.
Baldwin scored roles in films such as Tim Burton’s 1988 film Beetlejuice, Miami Blues (1990), and Glengarry Glen Ross (1990).
In 2004, he received his first – and still only – Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in The Cooler.
Since then, Baldwin has proven that he’s a wonderful actor able to play all kinds of characters, as well as being the big star on shows such as Saturday Night Live, where he delivered a now-legendary Donald Trump impression.
Many know about his great performances across film, television, and Broadway. At the same time, though, Baldwin has been able to keep his private life relatively quiet, despite various happenings over the years that threatened to blow up.
In fact, his first marriage with Kim Basinger ended in a nasty custody battle over his firstborn daughter Ireland Baldwin – still to this day, he’s reminded of what he did to his daughter.
Let’s take a closer look.
Alec was in the midst of conquering Hollywood when he met his first wife, Kim Basinger, when the two worked on the 1990 film The Marrying Man.
Alec Baldwin – marriage to Kim Basinger
According to the film’s director, Jerry Rees, it seemed like Baldwin and Basinger had a connection even before they met for the first time.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Basinger saw her and Baldwin’s pictures alongside each other in Rees’ office and remarked: “We are going to make a terrific couple.”
As it happened, it didn’t take long before Baldwin and Basinger actually became a couple, though things didn’t go that great at first.
The two were out for dinner, discussing films, when all of a sudden Baldwin took it upon himself to make a rather grand and romantic gesture.
“He kissed me and then asked me if I wanted kids,” Basinger recalled in an interview with People. In response, she called him “psychotic” and said that he should instead focus on the movie.
Baldwin went on to call his friend, saying that Basinger was “driving me insane,” and, “we’re getting married.”
It turned out Baldwin was right. In 1993, the couple married at his Long Island beach house. Two years later, daughter Ireland was born. In 1994, the couple reached the zenith of Hollywood status when they headlined Saturday Night Live together in what became a classic monologue.
“The reason I fell in love with Kim is that she’s so odd,” Baldwin told Variety in 2000. “With that kind of beauty, this is a woman who could have married the head of a studio or a big director or a movie star who gets $20 million a movie.”
Alec Baldwin’s relationship with daughter Ireland Baldwin
“She could have everyone shining her ass 24 hours a day. She could have played ball. But she’s a very odd woman. I’ve done plays by Tennessee Williams; he was really able to enunciate certain southern characters. I’m from Long Island—I never really knew they existed. But my wife is one of those people—an absolutely maddeningly peculiar, exotic, lovely person.”
It seemed like Baldwin and his wife Kim had the greatest of marriages. Then, less than a year after the lovely words from Baldwin in the Variety interview above, Kim filed for divorce.
“I’ve known for a year and a half that she was thinking about this,” Kim’s father, Don Basinger, told People. “I love Alec, he’s the most kind and generous man I’ve ever known in my life, and he’s overcome some very difficult things.
“All but one: his anger,” he added. “This has happened publicly. But it’s when it started happening in front of Ireland that Kim finally said, ‘Well, I’m not going to put up with that.'”
Daughter Ireland was just five years old when her parents went through with the divorce. Unfortunately, she ended up in the middle of a nasty court battle when Kim and Alec fought for custody of her.
Alec and Kim battled for years in court, racking up nearly $3 million in legal costs. Eventually, they agreed on joint custody.
Called daughter Ireland a “thoughtless little pig”
In his 2008 book A Promise to Ourselves: A Journey Through Fatherhood and Divorce, Alec Baldwin described the tough and long-drawn-out separation. He didn’t blame his ex-wife at all, but rather the attorneys and other experts for it taking so long.
At the time, Ireland and Alec had a good daughter-father relationship. That all changed in 2007, when Ireland Baldwin was 11 years of age.
Alec – who himself has described it as a “breaking point” – left an angry and emotional voicemail for his daughter after she’d failed to respond to an unanswered call. On the voicemail, he called Ireland “a rude thoughtless little pig”.
The tape was sold to TMZ and released. It changed the relationship between Alec and his daughter for a very long time.
“I don’t think anybody ever recovers now from things like that,” Alec wrote in his memoir. “It’s a scab that never heals … I thin my daughter, that’s hurt her in a permanent way.”
As of today, Alec and daughter Ireland’s relationship is back to “normal.” However, he still to this day regrets that he never gave his daughter more time as she was growing up.
Ireland responded in a comedy roast
“You look at all the time that was lost … If you did an analysis of the actual days I spent with Ireland [when she was growing up], you’d be appalled at how little it was,” Baldwin said. Back then, the father-of-six was obsessed with work.
“Trying to make it in the business and not getting that right, never getting that right. I married somebody who was successful. She was a very successful actress. Kim was kind of peaking. She was 37 and I was 32. We got married. We both were working all the time. [Ireland] would go with Kim on location and I would go and meet them. Then we got divorced. There was a very acrimonious custody battle. Painful. Painful.”
The voicemail became a very tough thing for Baldwin and his daughter to handle. Today, though, Ireland can look back on it with humor.
When she appeared on the Comedy Central Roast of her father, she once again brought the voicemail up.
“Hi Dad, I’m Ireland. It’s good to be here. I almost didn’t even know about it because I haven’t checked my voice mails from my dad from the last 12 years or something?” she jokingly said.
“I actually have a lot in common with the people in this roast,” she added. “Because like them, I don’t really know you that well either.”
Ireland Baldwin: Age, work, net worth
Ireland Baldwin is now 26 years of age. She gained fame when the voicemail from her father was released, and signed her first modeling contract with IMG Models before her 13th birthday.
She landed her first modeling job in a swimwear editorial for the New York Times, and the same year also appeared in W Magazine. Since then, she’s credited with appearances in magazines such as Vanity Fair and Elle. But she’s also appeared on-screen.
In 2013, she appeared in the film Grudge Match as her younger version of her mother’s character. She’s starred in television movies, as well as the television series Love Advent. Her latest work came via the 2020 flick A Dark Foe.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, she has an estimated net worth of $1 million. Take one look at pictures today and it’s safe to say that she looks just like her father!
Through her Instagram page, Ireland has gained plenty of attention for her pictures. Many of them are quite revealing, leading to her father commenting publicly: “No… just no.”
However, Ireland has been very clear with her reason for posting such pictures. In one Instagram post, the 26-year-old explained that her body-positive photos are there to encourage everyone to be proud of their bodies, no matter what they look like.
Working as a model and actress
“This is who I am, take it or leave,” Baldwin wrote. “I am not going to be body shamed for being pale or not stick thin. I’m not going to spend hours photoshopping my authenticity away, I’m not going to beat myself up for not looking like someone else. I’m not going to be told that I’m damaged goods because of my tattoos.”
“Most days I’m self-conscious, but today I love every curve and edge. Your body should be treated with the dignity and respect it deserves,” she continued. “I want to be as real as possible with everyone that follows me because to be quite honest, what is even the point of social media if you can’t be who you truly are?”
Ireland Baldwin had a tough life growing up, experiencing her parent’s divorce, as well as Alec’s infamously harsh voice mails. We’re just happy to see that she’s been able to move on, as well as reunite with her father.
Let’s share this article on Facebook to wish her all the best in the future!
