Before the 'Rust' tragedy: Alec Baldwin's life has been overshadowed by scandals before

Alec Baldwin had a drinking problem and was arrested for assault

Alec Baldwin grew up with five siblings. His younger brothers Stephen Baldwin, William Baldwin and Daniel Baldwin also became actors like him. From an early age, Alec battled alcohol and drug problems. In 1985 he vowed not to touch a drop of alcohol again.

Five years later, Baldwin had his big break as an actor with the film The Hunt for Red October. But things didn't go well privately. In 1995 Alec was arrested for allegedly beating paparazzo Alan Zanger in front of his home in California. Alec and his then-wife Kim Basinger were just bringing their newborn daughter Ireland home from the hospital and were bothered by the photographer filming.

Baldwin was acquitted of the assault charge, but lost a civil lawsuit against Zanger and had to pay the photographer $4,500 in damages.

'Little Pig!' Voice message to daughter Ireland Baldwin caused a scandal

A voice message Alec Baldwin left his then 11-year-old daughter Ireland in 2007, made headlines around the world. In it, Alec refers to his eldest daughter as a 'rude, thoughtless little pig' for not answering a scheduled call. They 'humiliated him for the last time,' he rants in the recording. He called his ex Kim Basinger a 'bitch'.

'Anyone who knows me knows I'm sorry I lost my temper in front of my child,' the actor wrote in a statement on his website at the time. But to this day the “little pig” hangs after him.

Alec Baldwin is notorious for his verbal lapses

Not the only verbal lapse on Baldwin's list of scandals. In December 2011, he was thrown from a plane because he didn't want to turn off his cell phone. A statement on American Airlines' Facebook page said, 'The passenger was extremely rude to the crew, inappropriately verbally abused them and used offensive language.' After being removed from the plane, Alec continued his journey with a later one American Airlines flight departed 'Now on the 3am American flight. The flight attendants are looking... smarter,' he tweeted at the time.

In November 2013 Alec Baldwin was filmed by TMZ addressing a photographer during an argument homophobic offended. 'My apologies and I will remove this insult from my vocabulary,' he later tweeted. However, his interview show Up Late was canceled less than two weeks later.

Whether on the bike or in the car, Baldwin always found a reason for a fight

In 2014, Alec Baldwin was arrested because he was riding his bike in the wrong direction on a street. When the police stopped him, he took on the cops. Alec later posted the incident on Twitter, writing that New York City officials were 'desperate for revenue and anxious to criminalize behavior once considered harmless.' The actor was cleared of the charges after a court hearing in July 2014.

In November 2018 Baldwin got into an argument with a man named Wojciech Cieszkowski over a parking space in front of his apartment. Cieszkowski claimed the actor hit him. Alec was arrested again. He sued Cieszkowski in 2019, accusing him of lying. It wasn't until January 2022 that the two men settled their claims against each other. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Shot dead on the 'Rust' film set

In October 2021, Alec Baldwin's life changed in an instant. On the set of Rust, a western he co-produced, cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was shot and died. Instead of blank ammunition, the prop revolver that Baldwin used during a set rehearsal was loaded with live ammunition. It is still unclear how the real bullet got into the gun.

'There are no words that can express my shock and sadness at the tragic accident that claimed the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and colleague we value very much. I fully support the police investigation into the cause of this tragedy and am in contact with her husband to offer my support to him and his family,' Alec Baldwin wrote on Twitter shortly after the shooting.

In an ABC special in December 2021, however, he claimed that he did not pull the trigger on the gun. 'Someone put a live bullet in a gun, a bullet that shouldn't even have been on the set. Someone is responsible for what happened and I can't say who it is, but I know I'm not.'

Reading tips: Alec Baldwin's 'Rust' continues to be filmed - despite the fatal accident

In the video above, we show why the FBI doesn't want to buy Baldwin's version of the story.