Actor Alec Baldwin considered suicide after an infamous voicemail rant in which he described his daughter as a "rude, thoughtless, little pig" became public two years ago.The Oscar-nominated star of The Departed and hit television series 30 Rock made the admission in the July/August issue of Playboy magazine due to go on sale in the US tomorrow.
Baldwin revealed he was mortified after the April 2007 leak of the voicemail, in which he could be heard shouting at daughter Ireland, then aged 11, and threatening to "straighten her out."
The voicemail surfaced as Baldwin was embroiled in bitter legal wrangling with ex-wife Kim Basinger over custody arrangements and visitation rights.
Asked about his suicidal thoughts, Baldwin told Playboy: "I [was] very serious. I spoke to a lot of professionals, who helped me. If I committed suicide, they [Kim Basinger's team] would have considered that a victory. Destroying me was their avowed goal."
Baldwin also criticized the rise of celebrity news television shows and web-based social networking phenomena such as Twitter.
"I would be so happy if those shows went off the air. It is a huge problem in our business - this microcosmic analysis and elevation of people who are just witless and talentless, or people with talent, like Lindsay Lohan, who struggle.
"This society is very wired together, and it's the most neurotic a society has ever been. Twitter, all this stuff, I don't view as anything good." AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
