Alec Baldwin berates daughter, 11

LOS ANGELES — As Alec Baldwin's angry words to his daughter were being broadcast around the world, the 49-year-old actor explained himself Friday on his Web site.

"Although I have been told by numerous people not to worry too much, as all parents lose their patience with their kids, I am most saddened that this was released to the media because of what it does to a child," he wrote.

"I'm sorry ... for losing my temper with my child. I have been driven to the edge by parental alienation for many years now. ... I am sorry for what happened. But I am equally sorry that a court order was violated."

The festering bad blood between Baldwin and his former wife, Kim Basinger, erupted Thursday when the voice-mail message from Baldwin to his daughter was made public.

On the recording, Baldwin can be heard berating Ireland, 11: "You are a rude, thoughtless little pig."

He also says, "You don't have the brains or the decency as a human being," apparently upset that she did not answer her phone for a planned call.

"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 ... who doesn't care about what you do as far as I'm concerned. You have humiliated me for the last time with this phone."

He goes on to say that he plans to fly from New York to Los Angeles "for the day just to straighten you out on this issue."

The recording was published Thursday by celebrity news site TMZ.com, which said the call was placed April 11.

Baldwin and Basinger have been engaged in bitter custody disputes over Ireland since the couple divorced in 2002.

"In such public cases, your opponents attempt to take a picture of you on your worst day and insist that this is who you are as a person," Baldwin wrote. "Outside the doors of divorce court, I have friends, I have respect from people I work with and I have a normal relationship with my daughter."

Baldwin's attorney, Vicki Greene, said she filed a court order Friday "to determine how the tape got leaked and to determine whether actions should be taken against Kim Basinger, or her attorneys, or Harvey Levin (who runs TMZ.com) and anybody else associated with the leaking of the tape and the violation of the court orders to keep the proceedings closed."

Basinger's spokeswoman had no comment Friday.