More than six years after the demise of their marriage and subsequent bitter battle over the custody of their daughter, actress Kim Basinger and ex-husband, Alec Baldwin are once again heading back to court. The reason: According to news reports, Baldwin filed charges against Basinger in Los Angeles Superior Court alleging that she interfered with his rights as a father.
And so it continues… the ongoing custody battle over 10-year-old daughter Ireland. Honestly, my heart bleeds for this child. For years I have (irregularly) followed the contentious relationship between Basinger and Baldwin. Whereas, I was never interested in either parent’s position, I couldn’t help but wonder what effect all of the media hype surrounding the custody battle had on young Ireland.
According to court papers, the most recent allegations brought forward by Baldwin maintains that Basigner violated their child custody agreement in multiple ways over the last two years, including failing to make their daughter available for visits and not informing him that Ireland was injured and required medical help.
“The charges are outrageous and my client is not guilty,” the actress’s attorney told PEOPLE magazine. “She will be vindicated.” Basinger’s attorney also added: “It is a sad state of affairs when a father wants to imprison his daughter’s mother and that they can’t work things out among themselves.”
The Academy Award-winning actress faces a maximum penalty of $12,000 or 60 days in jail for all the counts. The trial is set to get under way early next year.
The couple separated in 2000 after seven years of marriage and the visitation issue had originally been resolved in March 2004, with the two agreeing to share custody, but as you know, contentious marriages often beget contentious divorces, hence the drama with the visitation issue. After learning that Baldwin filed contempt papers what came to my mind is, first, why did he wait for Basinger to allegedly violate the court order more than a dozen times before taking action? Second, if the maximum penalty is $12,000—that’s chump change for someone like Basinger. Even if she’s found guilty on all charges she could easily pay the fine and go about her business. What incentive is there for her to follow the order in the future? What’s more, Basinger could easily rationalize that shelling out $12,000 is nothing compared to keeping Ireland away from a person she despises. What do you think?