Hilaria Baldwin has addressed her ‘identity and culture’ in an Instagram video. The video was posted on Sunday after Alec Baldwin ’s wife saw the “chatter online questioning” her Spanish heritage. “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,” she captioned the post. “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.”
© Getty ImagesIn the video, Hilaria clarified, “I’ve tried in the past to be clear, but sometimes people don’t always report and write what you say and I’ve kind of just put my hands up.” “I’m born in Boston and then I spent some of my childhood in Boston, some of my childhood in Spain,” she continued, noting that her brother and parents are in Spain. “Everybody is over there in Spain now and I’m here. So there was a lot of back and forth my entire life.”
The mom of five feels “lucky” to have grown up “speaking two languages” and is “trying to raise [her] kids so that they speak two languages too.” As for her accent, Hilaria explained, “I am that person that if I’ve been speaking a lot of Spanish, I tend to mix them and if I’m speaking a lot of English then I mix that, it’s one of those things that I’ve always been a little insecure about.”
Hilaria admitted that when she gets “nervous or upset” she starts to “mix the two” languages, which is something that she has always been a “little bit insecure about.” The author stressed that it’s not something she is “playing at.” “I want that to be very, very, very clear.”
Alec’s wife also revealed that growing up in the US she would use the name Hilary, and use Hilaria in Spain. Years before meeting her husband, whom she wed in 2012, Hilaria decided to consolidate the two names. “I think we can all be really clear that it’s the same name, just like a few letters difference,” she said. “I think we shouldn’t be so upset about it. Whatever you guys want to call me, I will respond to both.”
