I Defend Alec Baldwin on CNN, Lalama Gives Inside View of Case (Video Available)

I appeared along with celebrity journalist Pat Lalama on CNN Headline News’ Showbiz Tonight yesterday to discuss the Alec Baldwin case. To watch the video, click here.

While I condemn Baldwin’s angry phone message to his daughter, I defend Baldwin’s overall position in this case. I consider Kim Basinger’s long, well-documented Parental Alienation campaign against Baldwin to be far more damaging to their daughter Ireland than Baldwin’s angry outburst, and believe that Basinger has put Baldwin in an extremely difficult and painful position. On the show I said:

“Parental Alienation campaigns such as what Kim has done to Alec Baldwin are very common. This campaign that she has done for the past six years has been so bad that even Basinger’s mother has come out and condemned her daughter, and said that Alec is a good father, that he loves his daughter, that she loves him, and that Kim has done everything she could to drive him out of her life.

“This tape, what he did is wrong, there’s no question that it’s wrong, he should apologize, he has apologized. He lost his temper but let’s look at this tape in context–for six years his fatherhood has been hanging by a thread. He’s been trying to stay in his daughter’s life against every attempt by Basinger to drive him out.”

Regarding Basinger’s mother’s description of the alienation campaign, the Irish Examiner reported:

“Kim Basinger’s mother has blasted her own daughter for wrecking relations between her ex-husband Alec Baldwin and the couple’s daughter. Baldwin recently took Basinger to court in a bid to extend his custody terms after the actress allegedly violated a court imposed settlement, and now little Ireland’s grandmother is speaking out about the court battle…she calls [Baldwin] ‘wonderful,’ adding, ‘My heart is sad for Ireland. She’s the one that’s suffering the most. All this is killing her. I think Kim has tried to alienate Ireland from her father. Alec loves his daughter with all his heart. He really is a family man…I hate what [Kim] is doing.’”

I also believe that Basinger was very wrong to leak this tape to the media in violation of a court order. Had Basinger never leaked the tape to the media, Baldwin would’ve apologized to Ireland and the incident would’ve been soon forgotten. Instead Ireland is branded by the incident for the rest of her childhood and, to some degree, the rest of her life.

I was very impressed with celebrity journalist Pat Lalama, the other guest on the show. She’s followed the Basinger-Baldwin case form the beginning, and had several interesting observations. As a child of divorce herself, she has some insights as to how it must feel for Ireland to be caught in the middle of this.

To watch the video, click here.

To learn more about the case, see my recent blog entry In Defense of Alec Baldwin.

Help for Los Angeles/Ventura County Dads Peter M. Walzer, Certified Family Law Specialist www.California-Divorce.com