As Ireland Baldwin nears her milestone 30th birthday, she’s sharing plans to make some changes in her life.
The daughter of Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger wrote a post on her personal Substack titled “30, Flirty and Surviving,” in which she revealed that she cut ties with family members in a bid to unburden herself from “poisonous” connections for her 2-year-old daughter Holland.
“I move into 30 with a lot less weight on my shoulders,” Ireland wrote to her Substack subscribers in the Oct. 20 post. “This weight that was brought on by the need to continue to carry my narcissistic, unreliable, addict family members who I thought I needed in my life.”
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Ireland is the only daughter of Alec and Kim, who were married from 1993 to 2002, and was seven when her parents divorced. Her relationship with her father has been publicly contentious; in 2007, a vitriol-filled voicemail Alec left for Ireland — in which the 30 Rock actor called his daughter a “rude, thoughtless little pig” — was made public, causing him to temporarily lose visitation rights.
The model reflected on what she described as a “lonely” childhood, claiming she grew up without her parents at home. “I had a lonely childhood at times, which is why I grew up feeling like I needed to win over certain people in my own family,” she wrote. “For whatever reason, their validation and praise was meaningful to me.”
Ireland continued, “Nothing was more freeing than finally realizing how poisonous these people are. So I inch into my thirties with an understanding that this is how you break these cycles. My daughter doesn’t have to know these people and I can protect her from them. I can do my very best to construct my own idea of a family, piece by piece. And show how a real family treats one another.”
Representatives for Alec and Kim did not immediately respond to Entertainment Weekly‘s requests for comment.
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Alec and Kim’s divorce led to a bitter, years-long custody battle over Ireland in the 2000s. While the former couple have since moved on from their relationship — Kim has been with her partner Mitch Stone since 2014 and Alec tied the knot with Hilaria Baldwin in June 2012 — things haven’t always been copacetic.
During a 2022 appearance on the Red Table Talk with Ireland, Kim admitted that she and Alec didn’t always see “eye to eye” when it came to co-parenting.
“Alec’s a funny one. We’re all fine and we all get along, whatever. But … he’s a challenge,” she told host Jada Pinkett Smith at the time. “We’ve had our challenges. And I don’t think Alec was emotionally or mentally available for that kind of talk.”
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Despite their rocky past, Kim and Alec have developed a healthier dynamic through the years. The mom of one recently opened up about the journey it took to get them to a better place, crediting her stepmom for her role in strengthening their bond with her father.
“Hilaria has had a far more complex and chaotic upbringing than she lets on and I think that’s why we’ve maybe bonded in someways? She didn’t always feel safe and seen. Sometimes, she is too loyal to a fault,” Ireland wrote in a post shared to Instagram in September. “She is eccentric and totally bat s— crazy (in a fun way) but she saved my dad’s life. She turned his health around and has shown him the forgiveness and kindness that he needed.”
Ireland wrote that Hilaria “nourishes” parts of Alec that “are the most compassionate and wonderful,” and taught him not to dwell in his past.
“Hilaria is the reason I am able to have the close relationship with my father that I do,” she added. “She is the reason I get to have siblings/a big family that I’ve always wanted. She has always respected me, accepted my flaws, embraced me, and has always shown me kindness. I met her as a teenager and I needed her as an example. I still very much look up to her now.”
