Basinger discussed her battle with anxiety, her divorce from Baldwin and more in the latest episode of 'Red Table Talk.'
Kim Basinger is opening up about her battle with anxiety -- specifically agoraphobia. In the latest episode of Red Table Talk, Basinger and her daughter, Ireland Baldwin, sat down to discuss mental health, Basinger's divorce from Alec Baldwin and more.
Basinger's battle with anxiety started as a child but continued into adulthood and manifested into agoraphobia -- which the Mayo Clinic defines as "a type of anxiety disorder in which you fear and avoid places or situations that might cause you to panic and make you feel trapped, helpless or embarrassed."
"I wouldn't leave the house. I would no longer go to dinner," Basinger explained.
"I had to relearn to drive, and for many years I would not go through the tunnels at Malibu," the actress continued. "Everything used to make me nervous, like the glass [sliding] to open the door, or, 'Where do I step to open the door?' Everything became a big job to figure out how to do it."
The disorder not only affected Basinger mentally, it took a toll on her physically too.
"You live with a dry mouth all the time, you're very shaky, you're just so exhausted all the time," she shared.
Her struggles with anxiety also trickled down to her daughter, Ireland, who shared some of her own experiences with anxiety in a one-on-one conversation with Willow Smith.
"I had no control in anything in my life," the 26-year-old model shared. "I was so ashamed of what I had become and how I was living. … I just became this different person. I was emaciated in every way, lifeless, and I don’t mean in like a literal, skinny way, but just my soul. Everything was just shrunk."
It was something Ireland said started at the time of her parents' very public divorce.
"Everything that happens to you, everyone can read about it," Ireland added.
Basinger described her divorce from the 30 Rock actor as "a heavy-duty, very out loud when you're in the public, divorce," and while they get along well now, she said it was a challenge.
"Alec's a funny one," Basinger noted. "We're all fine and we all get along, whatever. But he's been -- but he's a challenge."
Basinger and Baldwin split when Ireland was seven years old and while the L.A. Confidential actress has worked to help their daughter with her anxiety struggles, it wasn't easy seeing "eye to eye" and co-parenting with her ex in those early days.
"We've had our challenges, and I don't think Alec was emotionally or mentally available for that kind of talk," she said.
Basinger continued, "Alec operates in a very different way in his life."
Ireland noted that her father also struggles with anxiety -- though he has dealt with it a different way.
"He deals with anxiety greatly, but he's someone who grew up in a family that would suppress that as well or tell him he's weak for feeling that way," Ireland explained. "There's things I would go to my father for, but if I ever tried to have a conversation in any way with him, I don't think he'd be able to really absorb any of it or understand any of it. He can't really sympathize as much with it, but it's not his fault, and he's gotten way better."
She went on to share that her dad has been dealing with his anxiety more than ever in recent years -- with the past year being a particularly trying one for the 64-year-old actor, who accidentally shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins with a prop gun last October on the set of the film Rust.
"I think he really suppressed his anxiety up until recently," she shared. "He’s really been dealing with things that kind of have been thrown at him. He’s been forced to finally deal with these things."
RELATED CONTENT
