By Laurie Sue Brockway

Remember back to the day when Alec Baldwin and Kim Bassinger were the most beautiful couple in Hollywood?

Way before Brad and Jen, Brangelina, Bennifer and the parade of power couples that have come since, there was golden girl Texas-born Bassinger with the dark, slighty brooding Baldwin from Long Island.

They met on a movie set at a time when he was the hot and handomebad boy that every woman desired. She was the beautiful blond people just loved to watch on screen. They were both huge stars. Columnist Liz Smith once said of their match that they are so beautiful and talented, how could they not love each other?

Back then, Bassinger had severe stage fright -- she later went public as having an anxiety disorder -- and Baldwin seemed to be her knight in shinning armor. He even stood by her and held on to her (seemed to be holding her up) when she hosted Saturday Night Live years ago.

His outgoing nature and her nervousness seemed a perfect match. When they had their child, Ireland, back in the day when only a few paparrazi were sitting outside the house waiting for the return from the hospital, Baldwin made the headlines for almost sacking a photographer for coming too close to his wife and daughter.

Over the years he was known as someone with a short temper, and she was known for being shy.

I think she has gotten over her shyness.

How do things go so awry between two people? How do the kids get caught in between. The Baldwin-Bassinger union is just one public example of how nasty it can become when two people, once in love, fall off love's pedastal into the darkness of a nasty break-up.

Some people say Bassinger released the recent ranting phone message Bladwin left for their daughter, Ireland.

We all agree that regardless of the situation with the mother, or father, it is hideous when a frustrated parent lets lose on a child with threats, name calling, insults. Worse, it becomes public and brings even more shame to the child.

Sadly, this family dynamic has already been exposed. But what can we all learn from it?

No one summed this story up better than my friend Dr. Judy Kuriansky, a columnist for the NY Daily News. She's the shrink, so I wanted to share her insights with readers. Check out her column.