Alec Baldwin apologises for calling daughter, 11, a 'rude thoughtless pig'

Alec Baldwin apologised for his angry voicemail to his daughter, blaming the stress of his custody fight with Kim Basinger and insisting: "I have a normal relationship with my daughter."

"I'm sorry, as everyone who knows me is aware, for losing my temper with my child," the actor wrote on his web site, following the release of the message.

"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," he added.

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• Listen to Alec's phone message here...

The actor has been banned by a court from seeing his 11-year-old daughter, Ireland, after unleashing a string of insults at her on the telephone.

Baldwin was furious when Ireland - who lives with her mother Kim Basinger in Los Angeles - did not answer the phone when she knew he was due to call from New York.

During the call, recorded on the girl's answering machine, Baldwin, 49, ranted: "You are a rude, thoughtless little pig. You don't have the brains or the decency as a human being.

"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 ass who doesn't care about what you do as far as I'm concerned.

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

He then threatened to fly to LA "for the day, just to straighten you out on this issue".

Baldwin, calling on April 11 at 10.30am New York time (7.30am in California), told Ireland he drops everything when it is time for his scheduled phone calls and expects her to do the same.

The message had been contained in a sealed court file in the former couple's three-year custody fight over the girl, who lives with her mother in Los Angeles.

Baldwin's attorneys filed papers asking the court to investigate the source of the leak, saying Basinger was "the only parent with custody, possession and control of the minor child's telephone voicemail message".

Basinger's attorney didn't respond to requests for comment. Her Hollywood representative said only, "The voicemail speaks for itself".

Baldwin, star of 'The Good Shepherd', and Basinger, 53, who won an Oscar for the 1997 film 'L.A. Confidential', divorced in 2002 and have been battling over Ireland for years.