Alec and Ireland Baldwin in June 2012 (Getty Images)Read any profile on Alec Baldwin and somewhere in there will be a mention of the infamous 2007 voicemail message the "30 Rock" star left for his then-11-year-old daughter, Ireland, calling her "a rude, thoughtless little pig" who needed to have her "ass straightened out" for failing to answer the phone when he called. The explosive voicemail made the rounds on the Internet, and Alec — who was going through a bitter custody battle with his ex-wife, Kim Basinger, at the time — was publicly scorned for the abusive tone in which he spoke to the young girl. While some would think it caused irreparable damage between father and daughter, it didn't. Recently, Ireland — who is now 16 — addressed her father's headline-making tirade for the first time, and also talked about her close relationship with her dad.
"I've always had a really great relationship with my dad," Ireland, who is 6-foot-2 and easily supermodel material, tells Page Six Magazine."The only problem with that voicemail was that people made it out to be a way bigger deal than it was. He's said stuff like that before just because he's frustrated. For me it was like, 'OK, whatever.' I called him back, I was like, 'Sorry, Dad, I didn't have my phone.' That was it."
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Although the voicemail caused major turbulence within the family — Alec lost visitation rights for almost a year and later told Playboy that he contemplated suicide when his rant was made public — Ireland says they actually joke about it now. "We almost did something funny on YouTube, of me calling him and yelling at him," she laughs. "We were just talking about it the other week." And she understands his frustration with the paparazzi. "My dad has been going through it for so long, I can see how he gets frustrated."
Alec, Hilaria Thomas, and Ireland in NYC (Splash News)
Ireland gave away her father when he married 28-year-old yoga instructor Hilaria Thomas earlier this summer. Although the women are close enough in age to be siblings, Ireland says she calls Thomas "mom." "Hilaria and I are really close," Ireland tells the magazine." She's like a big sister to me, but I feel like I haven't spent enough time with her yet. We have a lot more to learn about each other and we have a lot more experiences to have together. We joke around and I call her 'mom.' But I respect her, it's not like I'm 'Parent Trap'-ping her, setting up booby traps in her room."
Coming off as a well-adjusted kid in the interview, Ireland, who resides primarily with her mother in Los Angeles, says she has had a relatively normal life. "I grew up going to school, participating in sports; I had a regular schedule," she says. "I don't live in a five-story mansion, I don't drive a Lamborghini. I live in a modest cottage and my mom cooks for me every night. The only difference being the kid of two celebrities is nothing in your life is going to be kept private and you have to watch your own back. I've had people who I thought were my friends, but it turned out they just wanted concert tickets."
Ireland closely resembles her famous mother, Kim Basinger (Splash News, WireImage)
Now entering her senior year in high school, Ireland will be homeschooled for the first time so that she can spend more time with her father in New York. Looking ahead, she's interested in studying child psychology — largely because of all her court-appointed visits with therapists during her parents' custody battle. However, she's also interested in a career in the spotlight as an actress or a model. She also notes that she's "not a drinker or a smoker" and has "never done drugs." And she's not going to have sex until she's married. "I just believe that sex is important and worth waiting for," Ireland, who has a boyfriend, tells the magazine. "The outcome of that would bring forth a stronger relationship."
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Despite what the public may view as a drama-filled upbringing courtesy of her famous parents, Ireland tells the magazine she loves both her parents and thinks of them as role models. "[They] didn't really have anything handed to them," she says. "They worked hard and that's inspirational to me. I never want to get anything handed to me."
Sounds like her childhood drama is long behind her.
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