Kim Basinger, the sexy icon behind ‘Nine and a Half Weeks’, turns 70: Her greatest moments
The American actress was a true phenomenon in the 80s and 90s thanks to her performance in a film that made cinema history and today she celebrates her 70th birthday.
Many happy returns to Kim Basinger! The iconic actress and former fashion model, who rose to fame with her roles in films including Batman, L.A. Confidential and 9 1/2 Weeks. The Oscar-winning star has had an illustrious career as well as a fascinating personal life, so we’re taking a walk down memory lane to find out more about the star’s life and achievements as she turns 70…
Kim was a ballet dancer and a cheerleader as a teenager, and won Athens Junior Miss in a Miss Scholarship Pageant. Following that, she became a model with Ford Modelling Agency, and was on the album cover for the band Survivor, as well as appearing in many adverts. Despite her success, she admitted that she wasn’t a fan of the job. She said: “It was very hard to go from one booking to another and always have to deal with the way I looked. I couldn’t stand it. I felt myself choking.”
She eventually quit modelling to go into acting, and had her breakthrough role in the James Bond movies Never Say Never Again, where she played Domino Petachi.
Kim’s two marriages
© GettyKim has been married twice, once to makeup artist Ron Snyder-Britton in 1980, who she met while filming Hard Country, and a second time in 1990 to Alec Baldwin.
Kim and Ron were together for nine years, and divorced in 1989. According to Ron’s memoir, Ron discovered that Kim was having an affair with Pretty Woman actor Richard Gere in 1986 after finding love letters, and followed her to a restaurant where he allegedly saw them kissing. The pair worked out their issues before splitting a few years later. Kim paid $9,000 monthly in alimony for eight years.
Kim’s relationships after first marriage
© GettyDuring that time, Batman producer Jon Peters claimed to have had an affair with Kim, explaining to The Hollywood Reporter: “Kim had a husband who was abusive. And one day I grabbed him, and she connected with me because I protected her, and we became friends and ended up having a big affair.
“Michael Keaton had the eye for Kim Basinger. I remember he got mad at me when she and I hooked up. He felt rejected ’cause he was the star. He’s Batman. Yeah. I was a hairdresser who could talk to women. We lived together on the set. She helped me write the third act.”
Relationship with Prince
© GettyAfter her relationship with Jon Peters, Kim dated Prince as well as fashion designer Alexio Gandara and trainer Phil Walsh. Following Prince’s death in 2016, she told the Daily Beast: “I don’t really have boundaries, so I enjoyed that time of my life. It was a really special moment in time, and I have great memories. I don’t put a lot of restrictions on myself, let’s just put it that way.”
Marriage to Alec Baldwin
© GettyKim met her second husband, actor Alec Baldwin, in 1990 where the met on the set of The Marrying Man and also co-starred in The Getaway and The Simpsons. They also welcomed their daughter, Ireland, in 1995. The couple split in 2000, with the divorce finalised in 2002.
Alec has since spoken at length about their acrimonious split, writing that he had been “through some of the worst of contentious divorce litigation,” in his memoir, A Promise to Ourselves: A Journey Through Fatherhood and Divorce, which details the difficulties he faced in his divorce and custody battle with the star.
Kim with her daughter Ireland
© InstagramKim joined her daughter Ireland on The Red Table Talk back in April 2022 to discuss their split, explaining: “Eye to eye? No, that was not – Alec’s a funny one. We’re all fine and we all get along, whatever. But he’s been — but he’s a challenge. We’ve had our challenges. And I don’t think Alec was emotionally or mentally available for that kind of talk. Alec, you know, operates in a very different way in his life.”
MORE: Alec Baldwin’s daughter Ireland, 26, reveals alarming health condition
Ireland added: “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. There’s things I would go to my father for, but if I ever even tried to have this conversation in any way with him, I don’t think he would be able to really absorb any of it. He can’t really sympathise as much with it, but it’s not his fault, and he’s gotten way better.”
Kim’s dating life now
© InstagramKim is now in a relationship with hairstylist Mitch Stone, who she has been linked to since 2014. The pair have remained private about their relationship, but have reportedly been spotting wearing gold bands.
