Alec Baldwin confesses: I've 'bullied women', been 'very sexist'

Alec Baldwin has spoken about his role in the situation in Hollywood. Photo / Supplied

Alec Baldwin has "bullied" and been "very sexist" towards women.

The 'Saturday Night Live' star owned up to his own past mistreatment of the opposite sex as he called for a change in Hollywood and beyond in the wake of a number of sexual misconduct allegations against the likes of Harvey Weinstein, Brett Ratner and Kevin Spacey.

Speaking as he received a career honour from The Paley Center for Media, he said: "I certainly have treated women in a very sexist way. I've bullied women. I've overlooked women. I've underestimated women.

"Not as a rule, [but] from time to time I've done what a lot of men do, which is ... when you don't treat women the same way you treat men. You don't. I'm from a generation where you really don't and I'd like that to change. I really would like that to change."

The 59-year-old actor - who has daughter Ireland, 21, with ex-wife Kim Basinger and Carmen, four, Rafael, two, and 13-month-old Leonardo with spouse Hilaria - went on to call for widespread changes to make the workplace "appropriate and productive".

He added: "I think it's important for us to try to make the workplace and beyond not only comfortable and right and fair and appropriate but as productive, as well," he said. "I think a lot of what we're dealing with within this issue is hurting our business. It's making it less productive."

Alec admitted the huge number of allegations against the likes of Weinstein and director James Toback have been "eye-opening" for him.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, he said: "I knew of certain things that there were rumours of things happening to people, but I didn't necessarily know the scope when you hear the hundreds and hundreds of women who are complaining about this.

"It's been a very eye-opening experience for me personally. We've got to be vigilant in a new way to make sure that everybody is comfortable and that we get the job done together that we're there to do."

-Bang! Showbiz