Hilaria Baldwin insists her infamous accent changes are completely organic.
The wellness guru and wife of actor Alec Baldwin defended herself in Sunday’s episode of “The Baldwins” as she explained that her multicultural background has helped her become a “chameleon.”
“Growing up in a way where you have multiple cultural influences on you means that you’re never going to be able to fit in. You can try,” she said. “You know, people who code-switch, we’re very good at chameleon-ing … and you don’t even think — you’re not even thinking about it. It’s just normal. It’s just natural.”
Hilaria, 41, claimed her experience with “code-switching” — the practice of adapting mannerisms or dialect to fit in different social groups — is a result of backlash she has received.
“I had to learn about it because the whole world was mean to me, and so I had to learn it. It’s code-switching,” she said.
The mother of seven compared “code-switching” to speaking to an elderly individual.
“If you ever talk to a really old person who cannot hear … I’m gonna emphasize. I’m gonna speak slower,” she said. “And you’re not even really thinking about it. You just start to do it.”
Hilaria went on to discuss how she deals with “mean” comments as a public figure.
“You never get used to people being mean. But you take a deep breath, and I think you learn to distance yourself from it,” she shared. “And so, you know, [I] just try turning down the volume in my head a bit … and I’m not gonna take it personally.”
Social media sleuths first discovered inconsistencies in Hilaria’s heritage — including the fact that she was born and raised in Boston rather than Mallorca, Spain, as she had previously claimed — in late 2020.
Fans also speculated that she faked her Spanish accent as clips resurfaced of her irregularly exaggerating certain inflections.
In an Instagram post in February 2021, Hilaria responded to the controversy.
“My parents raised my brother and me with two cultures, American and Spanish, and I feel a true sense of belonging to both,” she wrote in the now-deleted post. “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. I’m proud of the way I was raised, and we’re raising our children to share the same love and respect for both.”
During the season premiere of “The Baldwins” last month, the former yoga instructor addressed how the scandal impacted her.
“I love English, I also love Spanish, and when I mix the two, it doesn’t make me inauthentic, and when I mix the two, that makes me normal,” she said. “I’d be lying if I said [the controversy] didn’t make me sad, and it didn’t hurt, and it didn’t put me in dark places.”
Hilaria and 66-year-old Alec’s TLC reality show follows the high-profile couple as they raise their seven children: Carmen, 11, Rafael, 9, Leonardo, 8, Romeo, 6, Eduardo, 4, María, also 4, and Ilaria, 2.
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