Hiding In Hollywood - Kim's Disappearing Act

Is the actress battling her old demons yet again?

The last time Kim Basinger was seen in public, she was holding a disturbing photograph of three dogs hanging from butchers hooks, protesting the cruel trade in dog meat. That was in July 2018, and almost a year later Hollywood is wondering: Whatever happened to Kim?

The 65-year-old star of LA Confidential and 9½ Weeks hasn’t appeared in a film since 2017 and has no future work scheduled. She hasn’t set foot on any red carpets or been seen at any star-studded restaurants or bars.

In a town where celebrities can’t hide from the paparazzi, it’s as if Kim has vanished – sparking fears that she has become a recluse, trapped by a new bout of the crippling agoraphobia that tormented her during her early years in Hollywood.

“I couldn’t leave the house for six months,” she said of the terrifying fear of being out in public. “I literally cried every day.”

Kim has been paralysed by the condition at least twice before, and after the trauma of her bitter divorce from Alec Baldwin in 2002 and the loss of her Malibu home last year in a wildfire, her anxieties may have been exacerbated.

Forced to find a new retreat, the Academy Awardwinning actress seems to have withdrawn into it.

“Kim rarely leaves her home,” claims a source. “She is a prisoner of her own anxiety and fear.”