My bold.
I figure that every kid deserves a father. It’s not their fault we chose someone that we couldn’t get along with. People that use their kids as weapons make me sick.
So what? She’s not with him anymore.
Of course, the same article goes on to say that other sources maintain that there was no abuse (or rather, that the “abuse” comprised Baldwin attempting to restrain Basinger while she attacked him). Any particular reason you choose to believe Basinger over Baldwin?
My first guess would be that they’re both crazy, and that their child deserves better. But as I know next to nothing about the situation, I could be wrong, too.
I saw this on another message board and had to come look and see what you folks were thinking.
As usual, I am not disappointed that the dopers are able to see both sides of the issue and not totally flame this guy because he screwed up and lost his temper.
This little brat had an obligation to talk to her father at a certain time. SHE turned off the phone or was on it hence totally ignorning what was obviously a prearranged conversation. From the message, this was NOT the first time this has happened. He’s over jumping through hopes and being disrespected and I for one, don’t blame him for losing his temper. As a parent, I have done it out of frustration and unless you are a saint, you have too. Yes, he should apologize for the “pig” comment or anything else negative he may have said. However, he SHOULD fly out to have a talk and there should be consequences to her rude behavior and disrespect of her father. I don’t even know her and I think she needs to be grounded for not being available as arranged and thinking that she can do whatever she wants. She is obviously a spoiled brat and this incident and the attention she is getting isn’t going to help that.
I have left angry messages on my son’s vm that go something like this:
“Son, I PAY FOR THIS CELL PHONE IN ORDER TO REACH YOU. I DO NOT PAY FOR IT SO YOU CAN TALK WITH YOUR FRIENDS OR IGNORE MY CALLS WHEN YOU ARE TOO BUSY. I AM TIRED OF YOU BEING SUCH A SPOILED LITTLE SHIT WITH NO CONSIDERATION FOR YOUR PARENTS. IF THIS DOESN’T STOP, YOU WILL LOSE THE CELL PHONE AS IT DOESN’T SEEM TO BE BEING USED FOR ITS INTENDED PURPOSE ANYWAY.”
I am only glad my family isn’t worth media attention.
If Baldwin’s spokesperson, quoted at the end of the OP’s linked article, is to be believed:
Discipline Rule #1: Criticize the behavior, not the child.
Scolding your daughter for being rude to you: Good parenting.
Calling your daughter a pig: Bad parenting.
Hopefully Ms. Basinger is doing a better job.
Considering she’s the one who apparently released the tape, I doubt it. Now, all of her daughter’s friends have heard it, as have millions of strangers who are posting on message boards about either (1) how terrible it is for her, poor kid, or (2) what a terrible spoiled brat she is for not talking to her father as she is supposed to, or (3) how crazy her father is. Her mother should be protecting her from those things, not throwing her bodily into the fray like that.
What ever happened to just getting your lawyer to take it to court? Why is this our concern? What kind of parent pushes their 11-year old into the public realm like this?
I think they both suck.
Baldwin’s a known near psycho asshole. When Lewinsky was in the news he called for the death of Henry Hyde in a famous meltdown that’s probably on YouTube. I never had any trouble believing he was at least emotionally abusive at home.
That said, I think it was shitty of Basinger to leak this. And in defense of Baldwin, Ireland is a selfish little pig: she’s NEVER been on time or returned calls when it was my weekend to keep her (and how I got roped into it is something I’m still trying to figure out- I think it started when Basinger bought that town in Georgia and I made a wrong turn).
Yah, ditto. I heard this tape on the radio this morning and couldn’t figure out what everyone was so het up about. And 11 is plenty old to manipulate your parents, particularly if they’ve been using you as a pawn for x number of years.
Whoa up there. Where do you get the idea she’s a “spoiled brat?” Because her parents are celebrities? How do we know she was deliberately dissing her dad?
It’s quite possible she was somewhere and her phone was somewhere else. It’s also quite possible she saw who was calling her and tossed the phone down and continued IMing her friends. There is still NO excuse for Baldwin’s behavior. You can be angry at your children, but calling them names is crossing the line.
Personally, I think both Baldwin and Basinger should be slapped upside the head. Whatever gripes they have with each other, their daughter has to come first, and what they’re doing, both publically and privately, is not healthy for her.
The number of people who thought this was acceptable behavior is pathetic. I only hope you either don’t have children or don’t think your own children are ‘thoughtless’ or pig-like enough to deserve being chewed out like this. I assumed he was speaking to his ex at first, and even then I thought it was abusive. So you suspect the kid may really be a brat or an asshole? Where the hell do you think she’d learn that sort of behaviour? He’s a grown up. He should act like one.
And yet, Alec is still the least screwed-up Baldwin.
The reason why I assumed that the daughter was disrespecting the father was because he indicated on the tape it wasn’t the first time she wasn’t around to take the prearranged phone call. (“Once again I made an ass of myself…”) Not that there is ever an excuse for a parent to lose it towards a child but I can sense his frustration with her blowing off his call.
She’s 11. If she’s a spoiled brat blame the parents. Blame Kim for not making sure her daughter is around to take Daddy’s phone call. But calling Ireland a pig? Uh-uh. No way.
I’ve noticed the message is all about him. About how she’s making an ass of him, how she’s insulting him, what *he * does to make sure he’s available to call her.
2 comments:
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What a horrible situation for this child. She can’t win because her parents are screw ups who cannot work together for the sake of their innocent child.
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I am so glad that I am not famous. I really try to be a good parent, but there have been times when my German blood got riled and the results weren’t pretty. I’m soooo glad that the world didn’t get to hear me becoming unglued. (And, yes, I apologized to my children afterward for losing my temper. NOT for disciplining them, which they deserved.)
And the smartest. I was watching his recently born again brother Stephen (who’s going around the country in a Jesus Bus for some reason that I’m sure makes sense to him) on some entertainment newsblip. He was trying to argue religion and it was just absolutely painful. Even other Fundamentalists who don’t know what they’re talking about would have to cringe.
I wonder- has there ever been a celebrity ex-couple that lost custody of their child? I know that Ryan O’Neal and Farrah Fawcett had social workers involved for a while and it was threatened (and Tatum lost custody of her children to McEnroe) but I wonder if a kid’s every been removed from both parents.
I know! He’s such a freak show! I absolutely had Stephen in mind when I said Alec was the good Baldwin. At least Daniel can say he once was part of one of TV’s great ensemble casts before he became a crack fiend.
Stephen only turned good when his career went into the toilet, not that he was ever a star anyway. He still clings to “I was in the Usual Suspects!”, 10 years later. Yeah, and you were the least intersting of the six leads. I’d rather be an (alleged) asshole like Alec than a born again douchebag like Stephen. Turning to religion to make a buck is more pathetic than anything Alec could say or do to his daughter.