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WASHINGTON – Alec Baldwin says he is done with public life.
In a 5,000-word essay in New York Magazine, Balwin writes that the media mislabeled him as a homophobic bigot.
He writes:
“Am I a homophobe? Look, I work in show business. I am awash in gay people, as colleagues and as friends. I’m doing Rock of Ages one day, making out with Russell Brand. Soon after that, I’m advocating with Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Cynthia Nixon for marriage equality. I’m officiating at a gay friend’s wedding. I’m not a homophobic person at all. But this is how the world now sees me. I haven’t changed, but public life has.”
He says New York has changed and he’s ready to live behind a gated house in Los Angeles.
Baldwin says he used to engage the media and now loathes the media.
“It’s good-bye to public life in the way that you try to communicate with an audience playfully like we’re friends, beyond the work you are actually paid for,” he writes.
He goes on to say:
“I started out as an actor, where you seek to understand yourself using the words of great writers and collaborating with other creative people. Then I slid into show business, where you seek only an audience’s approval, whether you deserve it or not. I think I want to go back to being an actor now.”
Read the full essay.
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