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!

This story is such an excellent guilty pleasure.

I remember reading that Spaniards are more likely to be of North African descendant than any other ancestry because many converted to Christianity around the Time of the inquisition , so maybe Southern Europeans are technically not white

Sorry- when did Spain become non-Hispanic?!

The WASP thing doesn't translate well either

"White Anglo Saxon Protestant". Apparently it was dreamed up by some author or scholar in the 1950's, or maybe a bit earlier? More labels

WASPS are usually more about class and upbringing than religion .so most upper class families , from the northeastern coast of New England are WASPS.
Jackie bouvier Kennedy is a WASP although she was raised a catholic .

Jesus Christ are there some contrary lot on here! The internet exists, stop relying on posters to educate yourself and lift a finger and Google. Even our book club have done a year of books on racism now and we live in the middle of nowhere with shit WiFi!

WASP is an easily understood and recognised shorthand for upper/ruling class in US. There will be other ways to shorthand that and no it doesn't only mean someone is white anglo saxon protestant it's shorthand for aspiring to be or are part of the ruling class. Other ways of describing it will exist as is not to be taking literally, especially in 2020.

It is quite often an aspirational thing too for certain types of people that will copy that lifestyle, or at least it used to be - now see HB other people see advantage in aspiring to another image.

Something that should be taken literally is putting on your bio that you're born in Spain.

To those that don't believe that some Americans get confused about Spain, I came across this little bit on Reddit which I found amusing.

My parents had a villa in Mallorca in the 90's. I went on holiday there every summer from 7 till 18. They now have a house in France. I grew up in Birmingham, born & bread. But maybe I am Spanish/French now too...🤔

@Summerdayshaze

She’s a Spanish person born in the wrong country. Imagine how awful that must feel. I think she’s being very brave. Especially after she got deadnamed.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Robin: it seems the important thing is did you have the money and time to dedicate a significant amount of effort to becoming fluent in either French or Spanish?

If not, then those holidays were just holidays.

If your parents threw loads of money and time at the language lessons and had home help to teach you, then yes it seems that after all those holidays will count towards your new and extra nationality. Easy as that.

(sarcasm alert for those that need warnings)

I'm not bothered what colour yours or anyone elses skin is. I take people as I find them and not judge them on characteristics that cannot be changed

But that’s you. It’s not wider society which historically has judged on sex, race, age etc and frequently still does. You can’t say there’s no race issue because you don’t care about people’s skin colour.

@nickymanchester

To those that don't believe that some Americans get confused about Spain, I came across this little bit on Reddit which I found amusing.

This is interesting. I am Scottish, born and bred (Edinburgh). I lived in North Carolina for two years in the early 2000s. I was astounded and amazed that a) most people thought I was Irish! or couldn't place the accent at ALL, and repeatedly asked me to repeat what I had said (and I speak very clearly) b)furthermore, I was asked many times where I was from. On replying, I was asked what 'state' Scotland was in! I kid you not. I had to resort to 'bagpipes, tartan, shortbread, haggis' descriptions to enable some people to 'get' that I was from a totally different country. This may have been particular to this area of the USA but I remember reading that the percentage of American people who hold a passport is relatively small compared to the size of the population. I think many are quite insular, don't travel much if at all outside of the USA? I'm sure some of our American mumsnetters can confirm or deny this. Was sometimes treated like an interesting specimen once it was discovered I was not from the USA and asked many bizarre questions which I won't bore you with (you probably wouldn't believe them anyway!).

At the end of the day Hilaria is a silly fantasist who got busted. Her exaggerations and outright lies caught up with her. Check out the videos of her heavily Spanish accented conversations which have already appeared online. Mortifying.
And I'm sorry but you don't forget the words of common things in your NATIVE language which you have spoken since birth. She was intentionally trying to portray that English was her second language ('ow you say in Engleeesh....). Silly woman who should have the piss ripped out of her and rightly so.

In our New York hotel, the lady we were sharing a table with took some time to believe we were from London, England. We were in a touristy bit of Manhattan too.

And I'm sorry but you don't forget the words of common things in your NATIVE language which you have spoken since birth.

That's not actually true. I speak French, Italian, bit of German, sometimes words come to me in other languages before English.

However, not convinced that's what happened in the clip and I don't disagree with your other comments.

I forget the names of common things all the time.

Tbf the number of times I say whatchamacallit or similar means it’s quite possible. I have 2 kids and speak one language!

@StanfordPines

I forget the names of common things all the time.

So do I, but when I (English) do, I don’t turn to English DH, friend or colleague and ask “what is this called in English”?

That’s a bizarre question between two native English speakers.

@GreenlandTheMovie

Surely all Americans can't think Spanish people are non-White? Some of them must surely know where Spain is. What about French people? Do Americans consider them white and then there's a sudden dividing line where people become non white??

I've heard of Finnish people being considered non European in the past, but never occurred to me that anyone would consider Spanish people to be non white.

And its a bit iffy to talk about basing race on skin and hair colour, or even being born in a country, when plenty of POC not born here are British.

So that was what I was thinking about with Hilaria, and I still think it's all a bit unclear as to whether she lived there for any extended time or why she speaks such fluent, perfectly accented Spanish.

I wonder if any of the other celebs who make blatant lies about their backgrounds are going to be run through the mill so much. There are plenty of them.

I read an interesting interview with Penelope Cruz just after Vanilla Skies came out, where she talked about people arguing with her about whether or not she was European. She was saying “I am literally from Europe”, and was being told “nope, you are Spanish, that makes you a Woman of Color and non-European”. I have no idea what they think about the Portuguese.

This story is the gift that keeps giving!

The wedding where their vows were in Spanish and English, and she was wearing a mantilla style veil...has she been grifting her husband all this time too?!

ChangeChangeChange I read an interesting interview with Penelope Cruz just after Vanilla Skies came out, where she talked about people arguing with her about whether or not she was European. She was saying “I am literally from Europe”, and was being told “nope, you are Spanish, that makes you a Woman of Color and non-European”. I have no idea what they think about the Portuguese.

How baffling. I would assume they think the same about all Portuguese people too, since they colonised parts of South America as well.

I can't be the only person who has met Spanish or Italian people who are blond and blue eyed. How bizarre it must be for them if they go to the US and suddenly discover that they are non-white.

I had a Portuguese pen pal who had blue eyes... am I dreaming that Celts first came from Spain...?

@Ballstothis148

I had a Portuguese pen pal who had blue eyes... am I dreaming that Celts first came from Spain...?

I heard so too...

My mum is from a part of southern India where a lot of Portuguese people lived.

Bluey - green eyes are very common there. My children managed to inherit them. They are beautiful, lucky things!

Sorry where a lot of Portuguese people emigrated/colonised - I'm very tired.