Actor and producer Alec Baldwin isn’t “a New Year’s resolution person,” but he is being thoughtful about how he’s going into the new year.
In a nearly 13-minute video posted to Instagram on New Year’s Day, the Emmy-winning actor waxed poetic about good and bad. He also shared how he plans to get his life “in a place where things are easier” in the wake of October’s fatal shooting on the “Rust” film set that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza.
Baldwin, 63, who was starring in and producing the low-budget western, didn’t mince words about the incident.
“This has been surely the worst situation I’ve ever been involved with, and I’m very hopeful that the people in charge with investigating this whole thing get to the truth as soon as possible. No one wants the truth more than I do,” he said.
Baldwin is also involved in a New Mexico investigation into the death of Hutchins, who was shot and killed after a prop gun Baldwin was holding went off. Last month, law enforcement obtained a search warrant for Baldwin’s iPhone to allow investigators to seize the phone and download information related to “Rust” and the production’s employees.
Baldwin spoke of the goodwill he’s received in the wake of the tragedy, prompted by a kind note he recently received from a coffee-shop barista.
“I have had more people who have been kind and thoughtful and generous of spirit than I’ve had people who are malignant about the death of Halyna Hutchins,” Baldwin said. “I’m not afraid to say that, and to couch that in some euphemisms — somebody died very tragically. And I’ve gotten so much, I mean so much, goodwill from people. It’s just incredible.”
Still, he noted, he received an “alarming amount of the other stuff” too.
The “30 Rock” and “Saturday Night Live” star also shared his goals for 2022. In fact, he captioned his video with “Another chance to let go of anything that is hurting us. Destroying us.”
“The one thing I do want to consider very carefully in this coming year and to really push myself is … trying to not allow the negativity in my life to affect me,” he said in the video.
“I’ve been having some very interesting phone calls with some very interesting people — who I will not name, but some of them rather well-known — people who deal in all kinds of behavioral, philosophical, religious, spiritual, meditation,” Baldwin added. “All kinds of ways to attain a state of mind where you really short-circuit a lot of the negative in your life. And that’s what I want.”
Baldwin said he is more dialed in to how to manage the negativity in his life better and thanked those who offered him support online (“And those who didn’t, I understand”).
“My goal in the new year is peace, awareness, consciousness, deepening my relationships with the people that I love, pulling them closer to me, and improving relationships with people I care about but maybe I don’t get to see much of them anymore,” he said.
The actor, who appeared to be sitting in a cushy living room chair, also explained why he had a gash on his nose — one of his kids smashed a toy in his face.
His wife, Hilaria Baldwin, who had been embroiled in heated debate about her heritage early last year, also pleaded for less bullying and more kindness in a separate New Year’s post — one that featured her, Baldwin and the chaotic reality of taking a family portrait with six young children.
“Life is naturally flawed. Its beautiful & tragic, happy & sad. There is no magical: it’s just gonna be good,” she wrote, adding, “Which leaves me to this conclusion: dedicate this year to kindness. Kindness nurtures others and the world we inhabit and leave to our children. Kind also just feels good.”
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