Tina Fey: A superbusy supermom

With a super busy schedule, Tina Fey, 36, sat down long enough to discuss the hardships of being a working mom to daughter Alice Zenobia Richmond, almost 19 months, with Entertainment Weekly. Here are some snippets from the interview:

On prioritizing her life:The former SNL funnywoman (and first female head writer) says she just decided one day that she would do one of three things: 1) Try to get pregnant, 2) Try her hand at screenwriting with her first feature film, Mean Girls, or 3) Get her pilot for 30 Rock green lit. Tina says she ended up getting pregnant with her daughter at the same time that her film blew up and her show was picked up by NBC.  She gave birth to Alice in September 2005, only three months before she and other producers began casting for 30 Rock, where she multitasks as creator, executive producer and star.

Maternity leave: Six months after having her daughter, Tina says they begin to shoot 30 Rock, and that her own transitioning as an actress, writer and new mother affected the show’s initial low ratings and so-so comedy. She says,

People might have this misconception that I had never acted before- my early acting may have given them that impression. I was on stage in Second City for a long time, to a big  live room. [This show] has to be much smaller.  Also, I felt like I was still on maternity leave when we shot [the pilot] – I didn’t feel like myself, I didn’t look like myself.

Being a working mother: During the normal shooting schedule of the show, the comedienne says she leaves her house around six in the morning, when is Alice is just waking up, and doesn’t return until 9 p.m., around Alice’s bedtime.

It’s brutal, At least I can bring my kid to work, which you can’t do when you have a normal job. That might be why, when people say, ‘Aren’t you worried about the ratings?’, I’m always like ‘Nope. If this things goes down, I will see my kid.

Her worst days: On her worst days, Tina says she may spend up to 14 hours on the set and then go home to spend the whole night up with her sick daughter, who like other children has come down with common cold and viruses.Due to days like this, she says she never underestimates the hardships of her fellow working mothers.

That lady next to you at your day job probably got thrown up on last night.

Source: Entertainment Weekly, April, 13, 2007, pgs. 36-40

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Alec Baldwin only regrets that we’ve caught a glimpse of who he REALLY IS

To hear the entire Alec Baldwin tirade live, visit this link: http://www.tmz.com/2007/04/21/alec-baldwins-threatening-message-to-daughter/

He’s quoted as stating, post-incident of being “caught on tape” calling his ‘celebrity baby’ a “rude, thoughtless little pig” that “I have been told by numerous people not to worry too much. . .” – (ME, ME, ME)

Baldwin’s tirade was apparently fueled by Ireland’s failure to switch her mobile phone on for a scheduled call with her father.
Hmmm…it seems to me, a child with a loving relationship with her dear daddy, wouldn’t forget to switch on her phone.
A selfish, self absorbed man said to an 11 or 12 year old (dad’s not sure of her exact age in the heat of the temper tantrum):
Once again I’VE made an ass out of MYSELF trying to get to a phone at a specific time,” (Aka: you’ve inconvenienced ME, also paraphrased as: how dare you ‘stand up’ THE Alec Baldwin – ME, ME, ME)
“I’M tired of playing this game with you. You have insulted ME for the last time.” (ME, ME, ME)
“You don’t have the brains or the decency as a human being – I (ME, ME, ME) don’t give a damn that you are 12 or 11 or a child or that your mother is a thoughtless pain in the ass
(if he’s concerned about manipulation of a child, than perhaps he should have hesitated before telling that child the woman who gave birth to her is a “thoughtless pain in the ass”?)
who doesn’t care what you do,” (he blames the mother for not FORCING the child to speak with him – if this child and he had a loving, respectful relationship, heaven and earth wouldn’t/couldn’t have kept her from keeping her “phone date” with dad, and this is not the first time she’s avoided dad, judging from his earlier statements; “I’M tired of playing this game with you. You have insulted ME for the last time.” (ME, ME, ME)
angered Baldwin said further telling his daughter that he is going to fly to Los Angeles to “straighten” her out. (Threatening!!!)

Alec Baldwin, like Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise and other celebrites in the past year or so, is embarrassed because the public caught a glimpse of his true nature – the one he so carefully hides from the public behind a carefully construed mask.
He’s only concerned about one thing.
Damage control.
How dare we stop him from earning a paycheque once we realize that he compares females who don’t please him to an obese, mud rutting farm animal. Think of your own parents. Can you imagine your own parent(s) calling you a “rude, thoughtless little pig” because you’d disappointed them? Is this his idea of parental discipline? Should do wonders for her self-esteem – that, and dad not actually knowing her age. *roll’s eye’s*

Consider this Alec Baldwin quote:”If we were living in another country, what we, all of us together, would go down to Washington and stone Henry Hyde to death, stone him to death, stone him to death!” said Baldwin. “Then we would go to their house and we’d kill the family, kill the children.”
Source: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=14641

I suspect Kim Basinger is not playing typical ‘custody battle games’ – she is vigilently and thanklessly trying to protect her young from a verbally and physically chauvinistic abusive alcoholic. I applaud whomever leaked the message – for all we know, it was Ireland herself – wanting the world to know who her father REALLY is.
We’ve let him into our lives, and the lives of our children via movies and television and perhaps it’s time to wake up – celebrities are put on pedestals, worshipped from afar for appearing to be someone they are not. I hope Tina Fey of 30 Rock takes his behaviour as seriously as the judge who has has stopped visitation rights. He’s currently riding the star of creativity of a woman on the rise and by association, is accepted as someone women can trust. A man, who physically and mentally abused his wife while married, (and maybe even his children?) and has continued bashing Kim Basinger at every turn, adding insult to injury by playing the victim.
Predators are VERY gifted at that game. They can wear very charming masks. But his wife and his child truly know him best, and who he really is, when the cameras aren’t looking.
Alec Baldwin may be ACTING livid about his voicemail being made public, and it’s potential effect on the child, but he’s pretty hypocritical for someone who’s reportedly writing a tell-all book about her mother. Visit http://oc-divorce.typepad.com/california_divorce_and_fa/2006/04/index.html – see April 6, 2006.
I’m a discerning spender, and will not ever finacially support him in any of his future work efforts, nor would I encourage any woman or child to look upon him as anything other than a manipulative predator. Tina Fey, I would encourage you to seriously consider what message you wish to send to women? Will you continue to associate with a man you’ve chosen as a collegue, knowing what you know now? Just think Tina, if you’d married him instead of just choosing to work with him, you’d be sporting black eyes and blue bruises, at his hands, damaged children and post traumatic stress disorder. Perhaps rather than debating about whom released the tape, and judging the actions of his victims, we should be asking ourselves why Alec Baldwin isn’t in prison.

- Susan Smith on April 21st, 2007