The Tragedy Of Alec Baldwin's Ex Kim Basinger Gets Sadder & Sadder

There was a time when Kim Basinger was one of the hottest actors of the '80s and '90s. She rose to fame as a Bond girl named Domino Petachi in "Never Say Never Again" and cemented herself as a sex symbol when she starred in the steamy film "9½ Weeks." Basinger's fame grew even higher when she married Alec Baldwin in 1993, but sadly, his star power made her feel diminished. "I never want to give up my work, don't get me wrong. But he is my life's focus. After all of this, sometimes I think there would be no Kim Basinger without Alec. Some days, during this insane ordeal, I would look at him and ask, 'Who is Kim Basinger?'" she told the LA Times in 1994.

Basinger and Baldwin divorced in 2002 in one of showbiz's ugliest and drama-filled breakups. Unfortunately, their daughter Ireland was only seven years old at the time and was caught in the middle during her parents' bitter custody battle. Although the two eventually settled, the tragic split was just one of the many hurdles Basinger has had to endure in her life.

In 1991, Kim Basinger became embroiled in a lawsuit when Main Line Pictures accused her of breaching their contract for the film "Boxing Helena." Two years later, the suit went to trial, and a court ordered Basinger to pay the production company over $8 million, even though no written contract was signed, the LA Times reported. Producer Gene Kirkwood said of the outcome, "The amount of money surprised me more than the verdict. That's more than the picture would have made. If I were Kim, I would be kind of nervous now."

Despite being a mega-star, even Basinger couldn't come up with the eye-watering sum. According to Variety, she filed for bankruptcy not long after the judgment was made. "She just didn't have the assets to satisfy this kind of outrageous award," her attorney Howard Weitzman stated. "As of today (Wednesday), her estate is now frozen," he shared. After several legal battles, both parties settled in 1995 after Basinger appealed the judgment. The reduced amount was reportedly around $3.8 million, but both Basinger and Main Line Pictures refused to confirm the final number.

Kim Basinger's divorce from Alec Baldwin in 2002 was highly complicated and messy, and it was made even more difficult because of a custody battle over their daughter, Ireland Baldwin. Years after they finally settled, the "Cool World" star told Net-A-Porter, "Divorce is hard on a kid, no matter how you cut it. And ours was very public and nasty. So I brought up Ireland in a very unconventional way." Although she and Alec are on good terms now, she alluded to why their relationship failed, stating, "When you're young you're attracted to the 'bad boy,' only to find out that they're actually just bullies or insecure — you're attracted to fantasies."

Basinger opened up about the difficulties she faced with Alec all those years ago in a 2022 interview with "Red Table Talk." She told the hosts, "We're all fine, and we all get along — whatever. But he's been ... a challenge." Basinger added, "I mean, come on. We've had our challenges, and I don't think Alec was emotionally or mentally available for that kind of talk." Thankfully, Basinger and Alec's relationship is much more copacetic after their divorce.

Kim Basinger's star seemed to be on the rise during the '90s, but she largely fell out of the public eye. In her 2022 "Red Table Talk" appearance, as she sat alongside her daughter Ireland Baldwin, she opened up about living with anxiety her whole life. Basinger revealed how serious her agoraphobia was as she recalled shopping at a local grocery store one day when a wave of panic overcame her. She ended up leaving her basket, and that was the last time she drove for over six months. "I wouldn't leave the house. I would no longer go to dinner. I could not even have people over for dinner," Basinger explained. She ended up getting help for her anxiety and credited her daughter, who also suffers from anxiety, for helping her through it.

Back in 1999, Basinger shared in the HBO documentary "Panic" (via The Seattle Times) that she had a panic attack during school when she was in the fourth grade. "It's very quiet and kids are raising their hands. But the teacher called on me," she recounted. Basinger stated, "I stood up and I was shaking, and my mouth wouldn't move, and everybody stared at me, and I thought I was going to faint. I ran out of the classroom. It was horrible."

The 1986 movie "9 ½ Weeks" was one of Kim Basinger's most popular roles, but playing the woman who gets seduced into an explosive romance took an emotional toll on her. As reported by The New York Times, director Adrian Lyne incited tension and fear from Basinger to evoke those emotions while acting with her on-screen partner, Micky Rourke. The audition wasn't easy either, and she was made to beg for money as a prostitute for a scene that later ended up on the cutting room floor. "I was going against my total grain. I felt disgust — humiliation, but when you go against your grain, you just know that emotions you never knew you had will surface," she shared.

"9 ½ Weeks" tested Basinger physically as well, and she told Rolling Stone that she had a scar on her arm after being pushed against a brick wall during a scene. "After that movie was over, I didn't want to see anybody I had ever seen on that set. If I ran into the guy who brought the coffee, I was going to kill him," she recalled. Tragically, Basinger's marriage to her then-husband, Ron Brotton, suffered because of the stress of the movie. "Ron suffered because of his emotional abandonment by me, because I couldn't give anything," she admitted.