Emmy Award winning actor Alec Baldwin shared a lengthy video of himself on New Year's Day, in which he looked back at 2021 and the "worst situation" he had ever been following his fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film "Rust." In the 13-minute video, the 63 year old revealed that he had been seeking "religious" and "spiritual" help in dealing with the aftermath of the fatal accident.
"It's New Year's Day, and I'm hopeful that this year will be better than last year," Baldwin said in the video, as reported by Faithwire. "I can't imagine it being as bad or worse than last year. Although, I look at last year and my daughter, Lucia, was born in February. So last year was a great year in spite of the problems we are facing."
Those problems include two lawsuits filed by "Rust" gaffer Serge Svetnoy, who held an injured Hutchins after Baldwin shot her. His lawsuit was filed in November, followed by another lawsuit from "Rust" script supervisor Mamie Mitchell, Showbiz Cheat Sheet reported. In a conversation with ABC's George Stephanopoulos aired in December 2021, Baldwin said that it's "it's highly unlikely that I would be charged with anything criminally."
In the New Year's Day video, Baldwin admitted that he was still struggling with the aftermath of Hutchin's fatal shooting, admitting that he is currently seeking help from religious and spiritual advisers to help him "manage [his] feelings better."
Baldwin said he was in talks with "well-known people who deal in all kinds of behavioral, philosophical, religious, spiritual, meditation, all kinds of ways to attain a state of mind where you really short circuit all of the negative in your life."
Baldwin remarked, "We live in a world where there's just oceans of negativity, online and so forth, and one must find a way to manage that." The actor deleted his Twitter account just days after the ABC interview aired.
But Baldwin admitted that he "understands" where his critics are coming from, acknowledging that people are "traumatized" and possibly want to pass on their trauma to others. However, he also thanked his fans and supporters for offering him thoughts during the difficult aftermath of Hutchin's fatal shooting.
Fox News reported that according to Baldwin, one young woman even handed him a note of support that had been written on a Splenda packet at a restaurant and a letter and a drawing from a friend's daughter in which the child said she was praying for the families involved in the tragic accident.
Meanwhile, Hutchins' father Anatoly Androsovych remains steadfast in his belief that Baldwin is "partly responsible" for his daughter's death. Yahoo! News reported that Androsovych remarked, "I can't understand the behavior of Alec."
Androsovych also questioned why Baldwin fired the shot during the preparations, as the gun was held and fired by Baldwin during rehearsal, while Hutchins was setting up the camera for the shot. Mitchell's lawsuit claimed that the script did not even call for Baldwin to fire a gun in the first place. Baldwin claims that he was not responsible for Hutchin's death during the shooting accident on October 21, which also injured director Joel Souza.
But Androsovych remarked, "It is clear to me Baldwin fired the shot from his hand so it's hard for me to understand how he cannot be held partly responsible for my daughter's death."
