ALEC BALDWIN ISSUES APOLOGY

Kim Basinger and Alec Baldwin in better times !

Alec Baldwin issued an apology for unleashing a volcanic tirade at his 11-year-old daughter and blamed "certain people" for leaking the rant to US media. The Oscar-nominated star of The Departed branded daughter Ireland a "rude, thoughtless, little pig" in a fiery voicemail message that emerged on celebrity websites. It is the latest twist to the bitter legal wrangling between Baldwin and ex-wife Kim Basinger over custody and visitation rights relating to Ireland. The couple split in 2001. Baldwin's tirade was apparently triggered by Ireland's failure to switch her mobile phone on for a scheduled call with her father. "Once again I've made an ass out of myself trying to get to a phone at a specific time," Baldwin says in the message. "I'm tired of playing this game with you. You have insulted me for the last time. "You don't have the brains or the decency as a human being - I don't give a damn that you are 12 or 11 or a child or that your mother is a thoughtless pain in the ass who doesn't care what you do." Baldwin then tells his daughter that he is going to fly to Los Angeles to "straighten" her out. In a statement on his website, alecbaldwin.com, posted today, the actor said he had apologised to his daughter for his actions, suggesting that the stress of legal battles with Basinger had tipped him over the edge. "Naturally, it is not best for a parent to lose their temper with their child," Baldwin said. "Everyone who knows me privately knows that I have endured a great deal over the last several years in my custody litigation. "Everyone who knows me privately knows that certain people will go to any lengths to embarrass me and to disrupt my relationship with my daughter. "I'm sorry, as everyone who knows me is aware, for losing my temper with my child. I have been driven to the edge by parental alienation for many years now." Baldwin's spokesman said in an earlier statement that "in the best interest of the child" the actor would "do what the mother is pathologically incapable of doing - keeping his mouth shut and obeying the court order." The statement said Basinger and her lawyer leaked the tape in violation of a court order, and that Baldwin regretted the choice of language used. Basinger's lawyers hit back at the spokesman's explanation today. In a statement to TMZ.com, celebrity lawyer Neal Hersh said the actor's response showed he was "out of touch". "I am concerned that Mr Baldwin's recent statement, wherein he attempts to shift responsibility to Kim and her lawyers for his issues with Ireland, shows just how out of touch he is with the reality and gravity of the situation," Hersh told the website. Baldwin and Basinger, the star of LA Confidential, split in 2001 but have been locked in bitter legal wrangling related to Ireland's custody and visitation rights. Basinger was charged with contempt of court last year for violating a 2004 custody arrangement. A Los Angeles court rejected a bid by Basinger's lawyers to have the charges dismissed this week.

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