Kim Basinger has praised her ex-husband Alec Baldwin, stating they have a ‘great relationship’ – nearly 18 years after his infamous voicemail blasting daughter Ireland was leaked. 

The exes were married from 1993 to 2002 and recently became grandparents after their daughter Ireland, 29, welcomed daughter Holland with her partner RAC. 

While their marriage was turbulent, nowadays the pair enjoy a much better relationship, with Basinger, 71, raved about Baldwin, 66, in an interview with Variety, stating she has ‘great respect’ for him. 

‘Alec and I have a great relationship. I have great respect for where he is today, and his family. You know, we don’t spend Christmases and holidays or see each other very much. But we talk. 

‘He’ll pick up the phone and call me, and we have a very genuinely cordial and I think loving relationship in a lot of ways, just because we share a daughter, and I don’t wish him anything but everything good. He’s been through a lot lately,’ she said, appearing to reference the death of cinematographer Haylna Hutchins.

Lead Rust actor and co-producer Baldwin, 66, was pointing a gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal on set when the revolver went off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza on October 21, 2021. The involuntary manslaughter case was thrown out last year.

Kim Basinger has broken her silence on co-parenting with her ex-husband Alec Baldwin; the then-couple pictured 1992

Basinger and Baldwin have 29-year-old daughter Ireland together; pictured 2009

Basinger then praised Baldwin’s wife Hilaria Baldwin, adding: ‘But Hilaria seems to have a great handle on that. So more power to her.’ 

The high words come nearly 18 years after Alec infamously left their then 11-year-old Ireland a ranting voicemail, after she did not answer the phone when she knew he was due to call from New York.

Read More ‘It’s a scab that never heals’: Alec Baldwin talks ‘permanent break’ with daughter Ireland after THAT infamous ‘rude, thoughtless pig’ voicemail

The It’s Complicated star called his daughter ‘a rude, thoughtless little pig’ in the leaked voice message and told her: ‘You don’t have the brains or the decency as a human being.’

He went on: ‘I don’t give a damn that you’re 12 years old, or 11 years old, or that you’re a child, or that your mother is a thoughtless pain in the a** who doesn’t care about what you do as far as I’m concerned.

‘Once again I have made an a** of myself trying to get to a phone. You have humiliated me for the last time with this phone.’

The message had surfaced during a bitter custody battle between he and ex wife Kim Basinger. 

Kim said she did not leak the recording and in a statement her rep said ‘the voicemail was not sealed under a court order.’

After the message was leaked, Alec apologized for losing his temper in a statement posted to his website, insisting he and Ireland have a ‘normal’ relationship.

Basinger with Ireland at the Twilight premiere in 2008

‘I have a normal relationship with my daughter,’ he wrote. 

‘I’m sorry, as everyone who knows me is aware, for losing my temper with my child,’ he added. 

‘I have been driven to the edge by parental alienation for many years now. You have to go through this to understand. (Although I hope you never do.) I am sorry for what happened.’

The duo have since put the controversy behind them, and in 2015 Ireland made light of the incident when she shared a pH๏τo of her and her father reading a children’s book called If I Were A Pig.

‘If I Were A Pig… I would be Rude and Thoughtless of course!’ Ireland captioned the post, along with a snout emoji.

But the duo have put the controversy behind them, and in 2015 Ireland made light of the incident when she shared a pH๏τo of her and her father reading a children’s book called If I Were A Pig

Ireland also poked fun at the voicemail two years later during a Spike roast of her father.

She said she and her father ‘are in a much better place now. He would never say something like that – because I’m 6’2″ and I would kick his a**.’

In 2017 Alec revealed it caused a ‘permanent’ break in their relationship.

He didn’t seem to mean ‘break’ in the sense that they are not in each other’s lives but that it will affect them forever as he explained to George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America: ‘It’s thrown in your face every day.’

Alec is now a reality star alongside his family following the release of their show, The Baldwins

‘As I mentioned in the book, there are people who admonish me or attack me and use that as a constant spearhead to do that.

‘It’s a scab that never heals cause it’s being picked at all the time by other people. My daughter, that’s hurt her in a permanent way.’

In the years to follow the controversy, Alec went on to marry his wife Hilaria in 2012 and they welcomed seven children together: Carmen Gabriela, 11, Rafael Thomas, nine, Leonardo Angel Charles, eight, Romeo Alejandro David, six, Eduardo Pao Lucas, four, Maria Lucia ‘Lulu’ Victoria, four, and Ilaria Catalina Irena, two.

Alec has now pivoted from scripted to reality TV alongside his family. Their new reality show, The Baldwins, recently premiered on TLC.