Canadian Actress Denies Stalking Alec Baldwin

A little-known Canadian actress on Monday denied stalking "30 Rock" star Alec Baldwin, her lawyer saying she had "legitimate" reasons to try to contact him.

"My client had a legitimate purpose within the meaning of the law for her efforts to contact Mr. Baldwin," attorney Maurice Sercarz said after a brief pretrial court hearing attended by the accused, Genevieve Sabourin, in New York.

"My client didn't harass anyone, my client is not guilty of stalking," Sercarz added.

Sabourin called the affair a "misunderstanding."

She and Baldwin, a major presence on U.S. television screens through the successful "30 Rock" series, met in 2002 on the set of the Eddie Murphy film "The Adventures of Pluto Nash."

Sabourin was arrested April 8 following a complaint by Baldwin, who said she was harassing him with emails, asking him to marry her and turning up at his Greenwich Village apartment in Manhattan.

Sercarz would not explain "the nature of the relationship" on Monday.

Baldwin was not present at the court hearing and is expected at the Cannes Film Festival in France.