Ahead of her 30th birthday, Ireland Baldwin is taking a look back at her childhood. The daughter of Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger shared her thoughts about the trials and tribulations of growing up a Baldwin on her personal Substack page, revealing that she had a “lonely childhood” in a post titled “30, Flirty and Surviving.”
“I grew up without two parents in my home and no siblings to turn to. I had a lonely childhood at times, which is why I grew up feeling like I needed to win over certain people in my own family,” she wrote. “For whatever reason, their validation and praise was meaningful to me.”
Baldwin, 67, and Basinger, 71, got married in 1993 before separating in 2000 and finalizing their divorce in 2002. As she heads into her third decade, Baldwin shared that there’s a “lot less weight” on her shoulders, in part because she let go of “the need to continue to carry my narcissistic, unreliable, addict family members who I thought I needed in my life.”
Baldwin never specifies exactly which members of her famous extended family, which includes uncles Danny Baldwin, Billy Baldwin, Stephen Baldwin, and cousin Hailey Bieber, she is referring to in the post. “Nothing was more freeing than finally realizing how poisonous these people are,” she continued. “So I inch into my thirties with an understanding that this is how you break these cycles. My daughter doesn’t have to know these people and I can protect her from them. I can do my very best to construct my own idea of a family, piece by piece. And show how a real family treats one another.”
Baldwin is mother to two-year-old Holland, whom she shares with musician RAC (real name: André Allen Anjos). In recent months, Ireland has posted positively about her immediate family. In April, Ireland shared a photo of Alec and her daughter on Instagram for his birthday. “Happy birthday to Peepaw. I’m so glad you were born. Because of your born-ness, I was born-ed. I love you!,” she captioned the photo. In September, Ireland dedicated an Instagram to Hilaria Baldwin, her step mother, after Hilaria was voted off Dancing with the Stars.
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“I wanted to take a second to talk about my step mom @hilariabaldwin. I think if people actually knew her the way I do, they would be quite surprised,” she wrote. “Hilaria has had a far more complex and chaotic upbringing than she lets on and I think that’s why we’ve maybe bonded in someways? She didn’t always feel safe and seen. Sometimes, she is too loyal to a fault. She is eccentric and totally bat sh-t crazy (in a fun way) but she saved my dad’s life. She turned his health around and has shown him the forgiveness and kindness that he needed. She also recognizes and nourishes the parts of my father that are the most compassionate and wonderful.”
In the post, Ireland also also addressed her relationship with her mother, the Oscar-winning Kim Basinger. “Tell your mom you love her every single day,” she wrote. “Text her when you get to where you’re going. You will soon understand her in ways you never had.”
Original story appeared in VF España.
The post Ireland Baldwin Says She Had a “Lonely Childhood” appeared first on Vanity Fair.
