Celebrity News April 26, 2007
Alec Baldwin: 'I Want to Say I'm Sorry'
His telephone tirade lit a firestorm, and now “Extra” has your first look at Alec Baldwin's interview on Friday's “The View.”
“I want to say that I'm sorry to anyone who was offended by what happened,” Alec said. “I'm sad about the way it all played out.”
After his on-air apology, Alec also dropped this bomb: he wants to quit “30 Rock” to save his TV family from getting dragged into the controversy. However, for now, NBC is standing by his contract.
While you will have to wait until tomorrow to see Alec on the record about his voicemail rant, “Extra” sat down for an exclusive one on one with Alec's brother, Billy Baldwin.
“I will come on camera to defend my brother,” Billy said, before giving his reaction only to “Extra” about the phone call that started it all. “He went overboard. He apologized for it. It was a private matter that should not have been become public.”
Billy also had these strong words about his former sister-in-law, Kim Basinger: “I think she has gone to great lengths to hurt her daughter's relationship with her father and to hurt her relationships with others in my family.”
Billy continued, “This is my brother's only child, and imagine that you live in fear that this one child, your only child, the greatest blessing in your life, the greatest gift God has ever bestowed on you, you fear that the mother is trying to poison the well and is trying to turn the child against you.”
Billy invited “Extra” into his New York home to talk about his new ABC pilot, “Dirty Sexy Money.”
“Great ensemble cast: Donald Sutherland, Jill Clayburgh, Peter Krause, myself,” he dished. “It's sort of about this dysfunctional New York society family. Each member of the family on multiple fronts is like a train wreck in waiting.”
But talk quickly turned back to Billy's brother, Alec.
“You're making these phone calls, and they're not being returned and you become paranoid,” Billy said. “Given those circumstances and seeing it from that perspective I hope that people will understand more why someone has the potential, the capacity, to fly off the handle like that.”
Despite the media storm surrounding the outburst, Billy insisted that Alec and Ireland remain close.
“She's got a great relationship with her dad,” he said. “They're absolutely mad for one another; every time they're together they have a great time, and I just wish this stuff was past.”
Both Alec and Kim are expected in court a custody hearing next week.