Alec Baldwin claims his custody battle with ex-wife Kim Basinger is like having cancer.

The Hollywood actor, who has been fighting for custody of the couple's nine-year-old daughter, Ireland, has confessed he has been so frustrated by the ordeal that he once smashed his mobile phone against a lamppost.

He admitted to America's New York Post newspaper: "It's like being diagnosed with cancer. Something I realize I have to live with."

"But I'm keeping things in perspective. Not letting it consume me and eat me up with anger as it used to. I stopped that when one late night I was on the street so unhappy and filled with rage that, in a fit, I smashed my phone against a lamppost. A lady walking by said to me, 'Alec Baldwin, you got to get hold of yourself.' So I have."

Last month, Baldwin filed legal papers demanding more custody rights. He reportedly claimed Basinger, who he split from in 2002, had no respect for his rights as a parent - and demanded more access to, and time with, his child.

He stated at the time: "I believe the child lives in a constant state of tension, wherein she must never display or divulge her true feelings for her father because of the mother's all-consuming and bitter feelings toward me."