Baldwin calls press 'a cancer'

Alec Baldwin has had a somewhat 'complicated' relationship with the press in recent years.

His latest outburst, targeting certain corners of the news media, is unlikely to change this, as he unleashes another barrage of invective against those he feels are besieging him.

“Now it's a lot harder to protect yourself,” he told the BBC.

“The shell you have to wear to get through this business - I go out the door everyday and I've got the New York Post and Fox News trying to destroy my reputation, making false accusations against me and things like that.

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“You look at Leo [DiCaprio] or Russell Crowe or anybody who really is at the top of the pile; they avoid the press as much as possible. You avoid the press, you treat the press like cancer because the press's goal is out to illuminate."

Baldwin has recently completed a documentary called 'Seduced and Abandoned', which aims to lift the lid on the reality of the movie business.

It features interviews with the likes of Martin Scorsese, Roman Polanski, Francis Ford Coppola and Ryan Gosling, with Baldwin and director James Toback pitching various ludicrous movie ideas at the Cannes Film Festival.

And it appears he's using the media opportunities surround the movie as an outlet to vent his spleen about the tabloid press.

“The tabloid press was like a little section of seats in a theatre and the rest was legitimate press, and now it's divided in half. Half the press are malicious and out to destroy you. They want to trip you and when you fall down the stairs, they want to cheer,” he added.

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“That's a very, very, very haunting reality for someone in my position to deal with. The way you survive is by avoiding the press. You don't see Leo DiCaprio go on Letterman - he does as much of that as he needs to. The press should be avoided like a disease.”

Baldwin's war with the tabloid press has been raging for some time now.

Over the summer, he was snapped in New York restraining a photographer who had reportedly attempted to follow he and his wife into a cafe.