Hilaria Baldwin has confirmed she was born in the US and grew up partially in Spain after she was accused of faking a Spanish accent.
The yoga instructor, 36, who is married to actor Alec Baldwin, responded to a viral thread of tweets about her heritage and said “it’s not something that I’m playing at” when she mixes up Spanish and English words.
Baldwin said she was born Hilary but changed her name to Hilaria because that is what her family in Spain called her.
She captioned a lengthy video on Instagram: “A bit about me. I’ve seen chatter online questioning my identity and culture.
“This is something I take very seriously, and for those who are asking — I’ll reiterate my story, as I’ve done many times before.
“I was born in Boston and grew up spending time with my family between Massachusetts and Spain.
“My parents and sibling live in Spain and I chose to live here, in the USA.
“We celebrate both cultures in our home — Alec and I are raising our children bilingual, just as I was raised.
“This is very important to me. I understand that my story is a little different, but it is mine, and I’m very proud of it.”
She said in the video that she feels lucky that she grew up with “two cultures, speaking two languages.”
Ireland
Ireland Basinger Baldwin, Alec’s daughter from his previous marriage to Kim Basinger, defended her stepmother in videos on her Instagram story.
She said: “Please stop sending me that stupid-ass thread.
“It’s so pathetic that anyone would want to play detective and dig that deep into someone’s life they don’t know anything about, don’t know how they were raised, who they were actually raised by.
“It’s just kind of sad and pathetic. And also, it’s like the holidays, people are depressed, people are going through a lot. I know I’m going through a lot personally.
“The last thing we really need to do is start s**t and gossip about something is just so, so stupid. And about someone that nobody even really knows.”
She added: “She could be a malicious, terrible, horrible human who tears people down but she isn’t. Hilaria is a wonderful mother who takes great care of her kids and she takes great care of my dad and that’s all that really matters to me.”
Comedian Amy Schumer appeared to make fun of Baldwin’s explanation, when she shared a video of herself in a large sun hat and wrote: “I get it. I went to Spain a couple times and loved it too.”
She also included a cucumber emoji, which is thought to be a reference to a viral video of Baldwin unable to recall the word ‘cucumber’ in English.
Alec and Hilaria Baldwin married in 2012 and share five children.
