Hilaria Baldwin Apologizes for Heritage Controversy in Return to Instagram

Hilaria Baldwin returned to Instagram for the first time since late December to issue an apology for her Spanish heritage controversy. In late December, social media users began digging into Baldwin’s past, and she eventually had to admit that she was not born in Mallorca, Spain, but actually in Boston. In her new post, the 37-year-old Baldwin said her connection to U.S. and Spanish cultures “could have been better explained.”

Baldwin shared a photo with her husband, actor Alec Baldwin, alongside their five children, Carmen, 7, Rafael, 5, Leonardo, 4, Romeo, 2, and Eduardo, 5 months. She spent the last month “listening, reflecting, and asking myself how I can learn and grow,” she wrote. “My parents raised my brother and me with two cultures, American and Spanish, and I feel a true sense of belonging to both.”

“The way I’ve spoken about myself and my deep connection to two cultures could have been better explained – I should have been more clear and I’m sorry,” Baldwin continued. “I’m proud of the way I was raised, and we’re raising our children to share the same love and respect for both. Being vulnerable and pushing ourselves to learn and grow is what we’ve built our community on, and I hope to get back to the supportive and kind environment we’ve built together.”

In late December, a Twitter user shared a video from a Today Show interview, in which Baldwin claimed she did not know the English word for “cucumber.” This inspired Twitter users to examine other interviews with Baldwin, in which her Spanish accent appears to be different from interview to interview. Some of her critics accused her of cultural appropriation since she never corrected media reports that claimed she was born in Spain. Baldwin was even positively covered by Hispanic media. It was also pointed out that Baldwin was born “Hillary,” not “Hilaria.”

On Dec. 27, Baldwin finally responded to the controversy with an Instagram video, in which she claimed she spent part of her childhood in Spain and Massachusetts. She claimed biographies that listed Mallorca as her birthplace were not approved by her. Baldwin noted her parents and brother Jeremy live in Spain now, but she chose to stay in the U.S. Lastly, Baldwin defended her decision to raise her children “bilingual.”

“There’s nothing wrong with me and I’m not going to apologize for the amount of time that I spent in two countries and I’m not going to apologize for the fact that I speak two languages and I’m not going to apologize for the fact that I have two versions of my name,” Baldwin said in December, note E! News. “Leave me alone. I’m not doing anything wrong by being me and maybe that doesn’t look like somebody who you’ve met before, but I mean, isn’t that the beauty of diversity?”

Baldwin’s husband and stepdaughter Ireland Baldwin both defended her. Alec said he was leaving Twitter last month, following the controversy. However, he has since returned, although most of his comments focus on politics. “I don’t know what your cash position is right now. But I’d bet EVERYTHING YOU’VE GOT on the Jewish Space Laser,” he wrote earlier this week, referring to a conspiracy theory that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene reportedly supported.