Alec Baldwin Going Through a ‘Tough Time’ After ‘Rust’ Shooting, He Reveals in New Video

Alec Baldwin is grateful for his fans’ support as he tries to “get through a tough time” following the tragic Rust shooting that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in October. In a new video shared to Instagram Thursday night, just two days before Christmas, the 63-year-old actor shared his thanks to those who “sent me such kind words” in the wake of the tragedy while also opening up about how he is holding up.

In the video message, Baldwin revealed that in the weeks since the on-set tragedy, and amid the ongoing investigation into it, he has received “kind words and best wishes and strength and hope and prayers, thoughts and lots of encouragement. I got hundreds, hundreds of emails from friends, family and colleagues and people I haven’t heard from in quite a while to send me strength and good wishes and so forth. I’m really grateful to them.” The actor went on to speak of the Rust shooting incident, acknowledging that while he is “looking forward to some aspects of this being behind me…for everyone who’s involved in this it’s never going to be behind us because someone died so tragically.” He added that he never loses “sight of that, not a day goes by I don’t think about that. Baldwin went on to share that amid the holiday season, he was “home with my family, the only thing I care about.”

“It’s true, I only care about my wife and my kids and moving forward with my life and trying to get through a tough time, a really tough time,” he said. “I want to say thank you to all the people who sent me good wishes who sent me support. I’m really grateful for that, I feel very awkward going through this, it’s been very difficult.”

The actor ended the video with a message to fans, telling them, “whatever holiday you’re celebrating, happy holidays to everybody. I hope that you’re as lucky as I am in one department, that you’re home with your family; I’m home with my family.” He concluded by sharing, “I don’t have anything smart or original to say, just thank you to the people who sent me these great wishes. Be safe, wear a mask, get the booster. Don’t let Santa Claus down the chimney without a mask.”

The video message came just two months after the tragic shooting on the New Mexico set of Rust, which killed Hutchins and injured the film’s director, Joel Souza, when a prop gun Baldwin was holding fired. An investigation into the incident is ongoing, with the most recent update coming earlier this month when authorities obtained a search warrant for Baldwin’s cell phone as well as “his emails, social media accounts, deleted content, text messages, internet history, access to cloud drives, contacts, phone numbers, addresses, call logs and more.”