Hilaria Baldwin pretended to be Spanish wtf?!

[Ballstothis148]

This is the least important and most weird story of 2020.... this woman comes up on my Instagram a lot as a suggested page. Tbh I don’t find her interesting but know she’s Spanish and is into health, having babies with Alec Baldwin and that’s pretty much it. She speaks with a Spanish accent, on her IG page she calls her children “Baldwinitos” I do remember an article saying when she speaks Spanish to her kids people confuse her for a nanny so I thought an interesting take on a European mum in the States.

Except it’s all a lie. She’s not remotely Spanish. Her wealthy Boston parents (no Spanish ancestry) now have a holiday home there.

What is wrong with people?! I include me for being too interested :) why pretend to be Spanish? In one interview she even pretended she didn’t know the word for cucumber as her English isn’t that good

Oh and she’s not even called Hilaria, she’s called Hilary. This year I swear... what an odd story!! I did know a girl who went very French after a romance there one year... maybe it’s a thing!

@nickymanchester

The thing with her specifically saying now that she is "white" is that, for many Americans, yes, Spanish people are seen as being Hispanic.

Hispanic is a term that is used in the USA to cover a broad range of people from south and central America and, crucially, also any other Spanish culture regardless of race.

So, yes, many Americans do perceive Spanish people to be hispanic.

This is further confounded by the fact that on the US census, being hispanic is a separate thing to ethnicity. So there is one question on hispanic/non-hispanic and a separate question on ethnicity eg white/black/mixed etc.

So, for example, a person in the USA could be "black hispanic" or they could be "black non-hispanic".

Hilary was admitting that she was "white". What she saying was shorthand for being "white non-hispanic".

Whereas a lot of Americans would say that Spanish people are "white hispanic" or simply just "hispanic" which is often perceived in the USA as being different from "white" (non-hispanic)

Didn’t Miriam Durantes (Nick Clegg’s wife) have this problem when she moved to US? She had to fill in a form or something id as Spanish as her mother tongue and then ticked white, so they in turn assumed she had not understood (as second language) and rang to tell her that she should have ticked hispanic but she isn’t.

Americans seem to think of European Spanish people as not white and therefore oppressed and I’ve even seen really crazy US people suggesting that non-Spanish people learning Spanish is “appropriation”

All of this is laughable when you think of the significant role Spain played in colonising the New World. Not oppressed.

Re British people looking down on Europeans, I think, very specifically, it’s Romanians and Poles that some British people are wary of/automatically dislike. The Romanians, possibly because of the Roma/gypsy connection and I think (might be wrong) that the perception of Polish immigrants coming over here looking for work and thereby denying a job to a British person still lingers. Don’t think it was ever true, given the documentary showing British people refusing to pick veg when offered at a job centre but Eastern European’s happily taking it up.

Cherrysoup, EE citizens don't only work in blue collar jobs. This perception in itself is incorrect, most are highly educated and some work in well paid professions - that's if they get access to these jobs which in reality prefer the British and most foreigner would tell you they have had to work twice as hard. Amongst the British overall, there's far too little real knowledge of foreign people and far too many stereotypes, unfortunately. Until this circle breaks, there will be lingering superiority and bad feelings.

Love how all the dailyfail comments pointing out the hypocrisy with self identification got deleted. One group must be allowed to identify, but people like this woman can't, apparentl, self ID as another culture. H.y.p.o.c.r.i.t.e.s.

Spain is only ranked a couple of places below the UK & Japan in the list of the world's richest countries. There are plenty of extremely privileged people in its wealthiest regions and Majorca isn't doing too badly for itself. Spain was a global power when it colonised parts of south and central America. It's really interesting that in the US people from Spain are not seen as white and therefore as less privileged and as a poster on a separate thread pointed out, it highlights how different race relations in the US are to Europe and the UK.

Hecates I think that might be because Americans associate Spanish speaking people with Mexicans and Puerto Ricans. Who are marginalised and not seen as white.

@FortunesFave

Hecates I think that might be because Americans associate Spanish speaking people with Mexicans and Puerto Ricans. Who are marginalised and not seen as white.

Yes, it is. But I think it's interesting that Americans see anyone who is non Northern European as non white and how narrow their definition of white is. It's also interesting to compare it with our idea of racial identities when thinking about the far reaching influence of US identity politics. Spain is a wealthy European country and former colonial power, in the UK we'd view Spanish people as white, it's not such a big deal then is it? I just find it interesting.

@Ozgirl75

It’s quite Hilarias.

😂 boom tish!

Ethnically British is just from all the other countries in the world that have invaded or been invaded by the 'British' we're a mush

That's true of most places to some extent, and many places have a very very mixed bunch of genetic swishing around in them.

I think people need to leave her alone. She's a mother to five very young children. I don't care how rich she is or how much help she has, she must be under a lot of pressure and even more so with the pandemic situation Hilaria is clearly someone who cares a lot about what other people think of her.

Who has she harmed? Her husband surely met her parents before he married her, right? Any media opportunities she's been afforded are as a result of her being Mrs Baldwin, not her supposed Spanish heritage. She hasn't defrauded anyone.

Don't get the mocking of her children's names either. They're lovely and will probably be among the most conventional in the midst of their LA peers growing up.

She is married to a famous Hollywood actor. You don’t have to be on Instagram to have heard of her. hmm
I've never hear of her either - I don't follow this sort of celebrity rubbish, even though I am on Instagram

"I think people need to leave her alone. She's a mother to five very young children. I don't care how rich she is or how much help she has, she must be under a lot of pressure and even more so with the pandemic situation Hilaria is clearly someone who cares a lot about what other people think of her.

Who has she harmed? Her husband surely met her parents before he married her, right? Any media opportunities she's been afforded are as a result of her being Mrs Baldwin, not her supposed Spanish heritage. She hasn't defrauded anyone.

Don't get the mocking of her children's names either. They're lovely and will probably be among the most conventional in the midst of their LA peers growing up."

She has made her entire living off of selling a lifestyle. When it turns out that part of that is not real, she's going to have to expect a bit of a kicking. Of course people don't have to be horrible, but it is totally unrealistic to expect to make your living from being in the public eye but not expect to be criticised. She might be a mum, but let's face it, she has plenty of help and she's not short of a bob or two so how is she above criticism.

She has been on Spanish media pretending to be Spanish - she has stolen opportunities who are actually Spanish/Spanish speaking so yeah, I think she has harmed people. Should we just be able to go around lying without consequence? Even if it doesn't harm people, it's not generally considered ok. And I'm sure it has a big impact on her children - she is pretending they have heritage they don't have.

Of course people are going to laugh at someone naming their children with Spanish names because they are pretending to be Spanish. That is a really odd thing to do. Appreciating the culture is one thing. Going so far as to name your children Spanish names to make it seem like your Spanish is WAY too far.

"I've never hear of her either - I don't follow this sort of celebrity rubbish, even though I am on Instagram"

Why are you commenting on a thread about her then? Don't you have some Voltaire to read or something?

Eh, what's this Spanish people are not white? What are they then?

@FunkBus It doesn't matter how many nannies Hilaria employs, those young children need their Mum to be OK. The level of mocking of her is beyond uncomfortable.

What do people want to see. Five young children dragged through a divorce? This family need to be left alone.

As far as her wealth goes, that surely came from marriage and that's Hilaria and Alec's business.

She speaks fluent Spanish to her children, they'll benefit from growing up bilingual. Their grandparents do now live in Spain. Lots of people give their children names from a country they don't have ancestry from. Carmen, for example, is a beautiful name. How is it going to harm or hold back their daughter in any way! Some of the social media comments I've read are ridiculous.

Most of the stuff I’ve seen about it is mild piss taking and thinking it’s really funny rather than true hostility. I mean it’s Twitter so the default setting is “insane righteousness” so really I think she’s getting off fairly lightly for pretending to be a totally different nationality for a good portion of her life.

"It doesn't matter how many nannies Hilaria employs, those young children need their Mum to be OK. The level of mocking of her is beyond uncomfortable."

You live by the sword, you die by the sword. She's the one who dragged her children into this.

I couldn't care less if they get divorced or not, how is that my business?

No one is disputing the beauty of her children's names, but it is a very odd thing to do.

those young children need their Mum to be OK

I agree. You should have advised HB to get off SM and stop feeding lies to the public and selling her most intimate events involving children. This wasn't good for her MH for many years. The current backlash might make her finally come off SM, something she should have done for her own sake and her children's a long time ago.

I saw this in the news today and her video explaining herself seemed pretty simple. She said she was born in Boston and family are American but now all live in Spain, and that she libed between Spain and America throughout her childhood, travelling back and forth between the countries. Spoke fluent Spanish and English all jer life, went by Hillary in US and Hilaria in Spain, and family called her Hilaria, so eventually she decided to settle on one name as it was getting confusing using both. She said she grew up bilingual and thats why she sometimes gets confused with words or has an accent.

As a mum of bilingual kids i think this is kind of believable. My kids are called a insert country here version of their name by their friends and acquired family here, and called their Christened name by British family. One isnt old enough to talk yet but one gets a bit confused between languages sometimes and when they speak English can sound like they have a bit of an accent sometimes (although obvs he is very small so this might change). Of course she might be making excuses but if she genuinely lived her life between two countries, two cultures, and two languages, i guess it could be true.

@SmeleanorSmellstrop

I saw this in the news today and her video explaining herself seemed pretty simple. She said she was born in Boston and family are American but now all live in Spain, and that she libed between Spain and America throughout her childhood, travelling back and forth between the countries. Spoke fluent Spanish and English all jer life, went by Hillary in US and Hilaria in Spain, and family called her Hilaria, so eventually she decided to settle on one name as it was getting confusing using both. She said she grew up bilingual and thats why she sometimes gets confused with words or has an accent.

As a mum of bilingual kids i think this is kind of believable. My kids are called a insert country here version of their name by their friends and acquired family here, and called their Christened name by British family. One isnt old enough to talk yet but one gets a bit confused between languages sometimes and when they speak English can sound like they have a bit of an accent sometimes (although obvs he is very small so this might change). Of course she might be making excuses but if she genuinely lived her life between two countries, two cultures, and two languages, i guess it could be true.

Makes sense to me to, your explanation.

Just RTFT first.

@14ScottsRoad thank you for your reply, it made sense to me too - seemed like a very simple explanation to clear up all the confusion, although of course not as exciting as a whole fake made up life so I expect most people will ignore it and get back to the more dramatic and exciting explanation that she is a crazed liar

Don't get me wrong, i'd never heard of the woman before all this, so i could be totally wrong. But I love a good scandal as much as the next person and must admit I was a bit disapponted to see it seemed like a very clear explanation without the drama i'd have enjoyed! Haha.

I mean i am not saying she isnt a terrible person in every other way that has been listed on the thread! Just the 'fake spanish' thing seems to have been sort of twisted and blown out of proportion.