Hilaria Baldwin has taken to Instagram to share the story of her mixed accent after rumors started on Twitter.
A Twitter post from someone about her “commitment” to “impersonating a Spanish accent” for the last decade prompted others to speculate about her heritage and where her accent — which is known to fluctuate — is really from.
According to the biography on her agent’s website, Hilaria Baldwin, who is married to actor Alec Baldwin, was apparently born on the Spanish island of Mallorca.
It also states she was raised in Boston. Other sources note Spanish as her first language. Comments on Twitter soon began to suggest otherwise, with some claiming they went to school with her and she was a “white girl from Cambridge.”
Others said she grew up in Massachusetts with her brother, Jeremy, and is really called Hillary Hayward-Thomas.
In an Instagram video, where Hilaria Baldwin said she felt the need to address the rumors because they were attacking her authenticity, she tells followers that she was born in Boston and spent some of her childhood there.
However, she says she also spent some of her childhood in Mallorca, where her parents, brother, and other family members live now — having moved from the United States.
Baldwin also said that she grew up speaking both Spanish and English and has also raised her own children this way.
Growing up, she used the name Hillary in the United States but Hilaria while in Spain — the name which her family calls her by.
She also explained her changing accent in interviews and TV appearances is often due to being nervous or upset.
In another video, Hilaria Baldwin says she cares about being authentic and will not apologize for having two cultures.
Alec Baldwin has been forced to write several statements and released videos defending his wife, Hilaria, as the allegations that she has faked her heritage and her accent run wild on social media.
The actor said in one post: “I understood, from day one, that you were born here and raised, for many years, in both the US and Spain. You never claimed you were from Spain. You always maintained you were born here. It is troubling to watch people lie about what you have said and not said. You are the most principled and decent woman I have ever known. You have shared so many valuable insights here and on other sites regarding health, nutrition, fitness, maternity, and wellness on all levels. To say you are fake, in any way, is unbelievable. You are a woman born in America, raised for many years in another land, and proud of your dual upbringing. You haven’t faked anything. Ever. It is difficult in our society to be falsely accused. Painful. Because the first strike appears to be all that matters, true or not.”
He went on to add: “We will go in with our lives. A life I wouldn’t trade for anything. And, as is often the case in a society such as the US is right now, the ravenous appetite for scandal will consume someone else. And we are left to know the truth and appreciate those others who do as well. You are my life. And as hard as it is now the dog barks, but the parade goes on. I love you.”
Ireland Baldwin, the daughter of Kim Basinger and Alec Baldwin, also came out to show support for her stepmother, Hilaria.
The young model said: “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, don’t know who they were actually raised by,” the 27-year-old model said in an Instagram Story. “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. And the last thing we really need to do is start shit and gossip about something is just so, so stupid. And about someone that nobody even really knows.”
Ireland 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.”
PR experts are trying to evaluate the aftermath of the Hilaria controversy.
