Alec Baldwin reveals struggle with depression after renewed ‘Rust’ case

Alec Baldwin has spoken candidly about the toll the Rust case took on his mental health after prosecutors charged him for a second time.

The actor faced charges over the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was fatally shot on the New Mexico set of Rust in 2021 when a prop gun Baldwin was holding discharged.

The case collapsed earlier this year, just three days into trial, after a judge ruled prosecutors had failed to share key evidence with the defence.

Speaking on the Dopey: On the Dark Comedy of Drug Addiction podcast, the actor said he slipped into depression and struggled to function when prosecutors revived the case in January 2024, per Cover.

“The people I was most concerned about, the people I had the deepest pain for, were my wife and my kids,” Baldwin told host Dave Manheim. He said his children often saw him sitting silently, unable to move.

“There was a point in time where I took a nap every day for a year, right after they announced they were going to raise the charges again,” he added, highlighting the stress he had to go through for months.

The actor shares seven young children with his wife, Hilaria Baldwin, and also has a 30-year-old daughter, Ireland, from his previous marriage to Kim Basinger.