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.”
Alec 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, Ireland 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 did not specify which members of her famous extended family, which includes uncles Danny Baldwin, Billy Baldwin, and Stephen Baldwin, as well as cousin Hailey Bieber, she was 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, she has posted positively about her immediate family. In April, Baldwin 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, she dedicated an Instagram post to Hilaria Baldwin, her stepmother, ahead of Hilaria’s appearance on Dancing With the Stars.
