Baldwin's Temper a Factor in Divorce

January 18 -- Alec Baldwin's short fuse prompted Kim Basinger to file for divorce, according to the Oscar-winning actress's father.

Don Basinger says Baldwin's verbal abuse of his wife was a problem, especially when he became angry in front of the couple's 5-year-old daughter, Ireland. In the new issue of People, Basinger's dad says that while Baldwin was never physically abusive, his inability to control his temper led to the split.

"I love Alec," Don tells the mag. "He's the most kind and generous man I've ever known in my life, and he's overcome some very difficult things. All but one: his anger."

According to Kim's father, his famous daughter implored her husband to seek counseling for his anger, but it failed because "Alec goes one time, two times, then quits." He adds that Kim was thinking about divorce for a year and a half before finally filing the papers Jan. 12. She claimed "irreconcilable differences" in the petition.

Tabloids had speculated about the couple's demise for months, and one even ran photos of the pair having a nasty public argument outside a restaurant.

Baldwin is "sad" about the separation, one of the actor's friends notes to People.

Baldwin is currently living in New York, where he splits his time between the Hamptons and a Manhattan apartment. Basinger is staying in her Woodland Hills, Calif., home with her daughter, People reports.

Still, her father seems optimistic. "Who knows?" he muses. "They might even get back together a year or two from now."

Back in 1998, Baldwin was fined for negligence in a case following his 1995 tussle with a photographer who tried to snap his family as they came home after Ireland's birth. The actor kicked and hit the paparazzo — who was also found negligent by the jury — but claimed self-defense.