Alec Baldwin called his daughter a "rude, thoughtless, little pig" because he was "frustrated", she has claimed.

The actor famously slammed Ireland, his child with his ex-wife Kim Basinger, on a voicemail message in 2007. He was furious with the then 11-year-old for not answering his call. He blamed his outburst which went viral - on the stress of his divorce and it cost him visitation rights with Ireland for a while.

Ireland has now spoken about the incident, which she thinks is unimportant.

"The only problem with that voice mail was that people made it out to be a way bigger deal than it was," she told Page Six magazine.

"He's said stuff like that before just because he's frustrated. For me it was like, OK, whatever.' I called him back I was like, Sorry Dad, I didn't have my phone.' That was it."

Ireland and Alec can laugh about what happened and even considered creating a promo about it, in which Ireland called Alec and screamed at him.

The Hollywood actor is famed for blasting photographers when they get too close to him, something else Ireland has defended him over. She thinks it's natural to become angry if you're being followed around.

"If acting or modelling takes off, and I make a name for myself, I can see how I might get pretty frustrated," she mused.

Alec has now found love again with Hilaria Thomas, who he married earlier this year. Ireland, 16, is happy about the relationship and has bonded with her new step-mother. She hopes to get to know her better over the coming months.

"Hilaria and I are really close. She's like a big sister to me," Ireland explained. "We joke around, and I call her Mom.' But I respect her, it's not like I'm Parent Trap-ping her, setting up booby traps in her room."