Hilaria Baldwin.Photo: Taylor Hill/FilmMagic
Hilaria Baldwinhas shared a lengthy post about what she calls her “fluid” cultural expression, seven months after acontroversy over her backgroundfirst unfolded.
The 37-year-old mom of six was accused in late December of misrepresenting her heritage. Social media users at the time alleged she had frequently, and for years, falsely claimed to have Spanish roots and often took on a fake Spanish accent despite being born and raised in the United States. She laterapologizedfor not being “more clear” about her cultural background.
Now, in anInstagram poston Thursday, the yoga instructor and wife ofAlec Baldwinsaid she recently reunited with her side of the family for the first time in almost two years due to the pandemic, and that they discussed “how we grew up, our languages, our cultures — multi [and] very valid.”
“When you are multi, it can feel hard to belong,” she continued. “You are constantly going back and forth, trying to be more this or more that. You feel you have to explain why you are the way you are, trying to fit into a world of labels when there might not be one that perfectly defines you. You will never quite fit in because the other parts of you shape and influence all your parts.”
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When the controversy first arose, Hilaria clarified that she was born in Boston, and that her birth name is Hillary. She said she grew up spending time with her family between Massachusetts and Spain, where her parents live.
Inher subsequent apologyin February, she said her parents raised her and her brother “with two cultures, American and Spanish,” and that she feels “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,” she added at the time.
On Thursday, she asserted that “we all get to curate our individual expressions of our cultures, languages, who we love, what we believe in, how we dress, present ourselves,” and that “this is the right that each person should have.”
She also declared that culture, languages, sexual orientations, religions and political beliefs are things that “are ALLOWED TO BE FLUID.”
Some Twitter users are taking issue with the claim that culture and heritage can be “fluid,” with one personwriting, “Hilaria Baldwin doesn’t get to hijack the LGBTQ+ experience with her multi/fluid/race/ethnicity creation.” (Fluid is a term often used to describe sexuality.)
Hilaria shared the message alongside a photo of her eldest child, daughterCarmen Gabriela, 7½, holding up a painting she made that blended various colors together. She and Alec share six kids: daughters Carmen andMaría Lucía Victoria, 4 months, plus sonsRafael Thomas, 6,Leonardo Ángel Charles, 4½,Romeo Alejandro David, 3, andEduardo “Edu” Pao Lucas, 10 months.
Lars Niki/Getty
She claimed she never read the multipleHola!stories about her that identified her as Spanish, and said she found it “disappointing” thather biographyon the website of her agency, the Creative Artists Agency, stated she was born in Mallorca, Spain, where her parents now reside. (It was changed amid the controversy.)
Ahead of theTimesinterview, social media users had pointed out that Hilaria had claimed she moved to the U.S. from Spain at age 19 to attend New York University in an April 2020 appearance onthe #MomTruths podcast.
She had also frequently mademedia appearances using a Spanish accent, including one onTodaywhere she appeared toforget the English word for “cucumber.”
She was thus accused of impersonating a culture that is not her own, with Reveal reporter Aura Bogadotweetingin December, “The fact that @hilariabaldwin pretended to be from Spain with that ridiculous accent, while some of us have been denied opportunities for our actual accents, is disgusting.”
source: people.com
