A complete timeline of Hilaria Baldwin's contradictory and misleading public life, and how it all blew up

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Kim RenfroDec 30, 2020, 23:00 IST
A complete timeline of Hilaria Baldwin's contradictory and misleading public life, and how it all blew up

Actor Alec Baldwin, left, and Hilaria Thomas arrive for the opening ceremony and screening of Moonrise Kingdom at the 65th international film festival, in Cannes, southern France, Wednesday, May 16, 2012.Lionel Cironneau/AP

  • Hilaria Baldwin was born Hillary Lynn Thomas to white American parents in Boston, Massachusetts.
  • But since her 2012 marriage to actor Alec Baldwin, most of Hilaria's social media posts and interviews have led people to believe she was from Spain, and that Spanish was her "native language."
  • Insider compiled a comprehensive timeline of Hilaria's public posts, interview clips, and other statements about where she was born and grew up.
  • Baldwin did not respond to Insider's request for comment.

Hilaria Baldwin, born Hillary Lynn Thomas in Boston, Massachusetts, was boosted further into the spotlight when a viral Twitter thread claimed she had spent the better part of a decade leading people to believe she was from Spain.

Hilaria, the wife of actor Alec Baldwin, recently said she was indeed born in Massachusetts and that her birth name is Hillary. But her previous public life on social media and in interviews led many to believe a completely different picture of her familial background.

"The things I have shared about myself are very clear," she told the New York Times in her first public interview about the scandal. "I was born in Boston. I spent time in Boston and in Spain. My family now lives in Spain. I moved to New York when I was 19 years old and I have lived here ever since. For me, I feel like I have spent 10 years sharing that story over and over again. And now it seems like it's not enough."

Insider went through Hilaria's full Instagram post history, tweets, her family's blog posts, and seven years' worth of public interviews to see how Hilaria's statements on her background have evolved since she married Alec and joined the public spotlight. Neither Hilaria nor her representatives responded to Insider's request for comment.

Many of the following examples were highlighted in Twitter user @lenibriscoe's viral thread here, while others were discovered by Insider in our research on Hilaria's background and her parent's blog posts.

Let's dive in.

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August 2011: Hilaria begins dating Alec Baldwin after meeting him at a restaurant. She says on Twitter that she "spent a lot of [her] childhood in Spain."

August 2011: Hilaria begins dating Alec Baldwin after meeting him at a restaurant. She says on Twitter that she "spent a lot of [her] childhood in Spain."
Alec Baldwin, right, and Hilaria Thomas arrive at the 65th annual Tony Awards, Sunday, June 12, 2011, in New York. Charles Sykes/AP

When one of her followers asked why she frequently tweets in Spanish, Hilaria responded: "Because I spend a lot of my childhood in Spain — my fam lives here."

In her 2020 New York Times interview, Hilaria said she refers to Spain as her "home" because that's where her parents live: "Home is where my parents are going to be. If my parents move to China, I am going to go to China and say, 'I'm going home.'"

June 2012: Hilaria marries Alec Baldwin, and the New York Times announcement says "she was raised in Boston and Spain."

June 2012: Hilaria marries Alec Baldwin, and the New York Times announcement says "she was raised in Boston and Spain."
Alec and Hilaria Baldwin arrive for the screening of "Moonrise Kingdom" at the Cannes film festival in 2012. Francois Mori/AP

Hilaria, 28, and Alec, 54, had their nuptials announced in the New York Times in 2012.

"She graduated from New York University," the article says. "She was raised in Boston and Spain; her parents now reside on Mallorca."

The Times also describes her full name as "Hilaria Lynn Thomas."

According to a People Magazine story at the time (archived by the website CeleBuzz), Hilaria wore a "Spanish veil" and said, "I liked that I brought in a bit of my culture."

In 2012, Hilaria told Vanity Fair España that her family couldn't pronounce her new surname.

"A mi familia se lo tuve que repetir tres veces: 'Baldddwinnn.' Y a la tercera me dijeron 'Ah, ¡ya sabemos quién es! ¿Por qué no lo pronunciaste bien la primera vez?'"

The statement roughly translates to: "I had to repeat it to my family three times: 'Baldddwinnn.' And the third time they said 'Oh, we already know who it is! Why didn't you pronounce it right the first time?'"

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July 2012: Hilaria tells "Extra" that "35 or 40 of her family members" came from Spain for the wedding.

July 2012: Hilaria tells "Extra" that "35 or 40 of her family members" came from Spain for the wedding.
Hilaria Baldwin speaking with AJ Calloway for a web feature via "Extra." Extra TV

"It was the best party," Hilaria says in the video interview. "I had like 35 or 40 of my family members come from Spain, which equals a really good party."

When asked where their honeymoon will be, Hilaria says she hopes to go to "Espana" soon with Alec to see her family.

July 2012: Hilaria appears on "Good Morning America" with exclusive photos from the wedding.

July 2012: Hilaria appears on "Good Morning America" with exclusive photos from the wedding.
Hilaria Baldwin on "Good Morning America" in 2012. "Good Morning America"/ABC

You can view the full interview on YouTube here, where Hilaria speaks with a distinct accent.

ABC's article about the exclusive interview and photos from the wedding says "Hilaria's veil was inspired by her Spanish roots."

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September 2012: After their wedding, Hilaria started an Instagram account, frequently captioning photos in both Spanish and English.

A post shared by Hilaria Thomas Baldwin (@hilariabaldwin)

 

One showed Alec Baldwin and Richard Gere on stage together with the caption: "Hubby and Senor Gere." In another, a blurry image of former US president Bill Clinton speaking was captioned "Senor Clinton."

Another post appears to show Hilaria posing with her brother, nephew, and father in Mallorca, Spain. "Mi familia," she wrote in the caption.

And yet another Instagram post from that period of time appears to be a photo of Hilaria as a child, with the caption: "La vida en Espana."

November 2012: Hilaria replies to someone on Twitter and says she was "born in Boston."

November 2012: Hilaria replies to someone on Twitter and says she was "born in Boston."
Alec and Hilaria Baldwin arrive at the Kennedy Center Honors in 2012. Kevin Wolf/AP

Though the tweet she was replying to has since been deleted, Hilaria's response is still online.

"Born in Boston and spent much of my childhood there," she said.

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November 2012: Hilaria posts a throwback photo of her wearing a Spain soccer jersey, seemingly responding to people doubting her "cultura."

A post shared by Hilaria Thomas Baldwin (@hilariabaldwin)

 

"Incase [sic] there was any question about mi cultura upbringing," the caption read. Then she added the hashtag #iftherewereamiddlefingeremojiwouldbeinsertedhere. 

(Note: This was before the middle-finger emoji was added to Apple's keyboard.)

A woman named Ravid Levy, whose LinkedIn refers to Los Angeles as her hometown, commented on the post, saying "I think I'm responsible for taking that photo."

Hilaria Baldwin then added a comment, which currently appears beneath Levy's, saying "it was un buen momento."

April 2013: Alec appears on the David Letterman Show and says "my wife is from Spain" after imitating her accent.

April 2013: Alec appears on the David Letterman Show and says "my wife is from Spain" after imitating her accent.
Actor Alec Baldwin chats with Dave Letterman on the "Late Show with David Letterman" in 2013. Jeffrey R. Staab/CBS via Getty Images

At the time, Hilaria was pregnant with their first child. During the Letterman interview, Alec talked about what it was like living with his new wife during her first pregnancy. At one point, he impersonates her and puts on a slight accent.

"My wife is from Spain," he says as an aside, explaining the change in his voice, and the audience laughs. "I don't mean to be racist when I put that accent on by the way."

This clip was resurfaced in a recent Page Six article.

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April 2013: That same month, Hilaria responded to someone on Twitter and said her family "lives in Spain."

April 2013: That same month, Hilaria responded to someone on Twitter and said her family "lives in Spain."
Alec and Hilaria Baldwin arrive for the screening of "Blood Ties" at the Cannes film festival in 2013. Joel Ryan/Invision/AP

After a woman criticized Hilaria's frequent tweets in Spanish, she replied: "You do realize my family lives in Spain and I speak Spanish... Si?"

May 2013: Hilaria posts throwback photos of herself performing Latin dancing, saying her future daughter was "taking after her mama."

A post shared by Hilaria Thomas Baldwin (@hilariabaldwin)

 

"Pitufina is taking after her mama right now and doing this in my tummy," Hilaria captioned the photo.

The nickname "Pitufina" comes from the Spanish version of "The Smurfs" cartoon. Hilaria tweeted about the nickname, confirming with a follower that it meant "baby Smurf."

 

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June 2013: Hilaria retweets a Latina Magazine article, which lists her as one of the “15 Best Dressed Latina Stars of the Week!”

June 2013: Hilaria retweets a Latina Magazine article, which lists her as one of the “15 Best Dressed Latina Stars of the Week!”
Alec and Hilaria Baldwin at the 2013 SAG Awards in Los Angeles. Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

The Twitter account for Latina Magazine tagged Hilaria's verified account, saying "u looked stunning in that red dress this week! Picked u as one of our best dressed stars."

Hilaria quoted the tweet with a kissing-face emoji.

The next month, Latina put Hilaria on its best-dressed list once again, and joked on Twitter that she should probably get "a permanent spot" on the list. Hilaria replied "haha! I'll take it!" with emojis of a dress, shoe, and purse.

Hilaria did not correct the magazine's identification of her as a "Latina celebrity."

September 2013: In an interview with Mom.com, Hilaria was asked how she would "incorporate Latin culture" into her newborn daughter's life.

September 2013: In an interview with Mom.com, Hilaria was asked how she would "incorporate Latin culture" into her newborn daughter's life.
Hilaria Baldwin arrives at a benefit gala in 2013 in New York City. Carlo Allegri/Invision/AP

One month after her daughter, Carmen, was born, Hilaria did an interview with Mom.com. Below is the exchange published in the online interview:

Once again, there is no indication in the interview's publication that Hilaria tried to clarify her family's background.

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November 2013: Hilaria reposts a photo of a sunset on Instagram, and says it reminds her of being young in Spain.

A post shared by Hilaria Thomas Baldwin (@hilariabaldwin)

 

"This is the sunset I remember from when I was young in Spain," Hilaria wrote in the caption. "Qué foto más maravillosa!"

February 2014: Hilaria did a yoga pose with Spain's flag in an Instagram post, celebrating being back in the country.

A post shared by Hilaria Thomas Baldwin (@hilariabaldwin)

 

"Grateful to be back (and on my back) in #Espana," she wrote in the caption.

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March 2014: An interview with Yoga Journal says Hilaria "grew up in the US and Spain."

March 2014: An interview with Yoga Journal says Hilaria "grew up in the US and Spain."
Hilaria Baldwin attends the Hamptons SummerDocs Series opening night screening of "Life Itself" at Guild Hall in East Hampton on Saturday, June 21, 2014, in New York. Scott Roth/Invision/AP

The Q&A included an aside in one of Hilaria's answers, added by the editorial team for context, which said the celebrity grew up in both countries.

"When I go to Spain (Hilaria grew up in the US and Spain), I eat paella, and things I wouldn't normally eat," the section reads.

March 2014: An article for Vanity Fair España mentions that Hilaria didn't want to provide or confirm her biographical details.

March 2014: An article for Vanity Fair España mentions that Hilaria didn't want to provide or confirm her biographical details.
Hilaria and Alec Baldwin attending a special SNL event. Andy Kropa/Invision/AP

"Imbuída de ese espíritu, Thomas se niega a darme o confirmarme ningún dato biográfico, más allá de anécdotas elegidas con cuidado," the article says.

This approximately translates to: "New York is a Mecca for people who want to reinvent themselves. Imbued with that spirit, Thomas refuses to give me or confirm any biographical information, beyond carefully chosen anecdotes."

Thomas was Hilaria's maiden name.

Hilaria is also referred to as "la española" in the article's introduction, meaning a woman from Spain.

The one piece of information about her childhood that Hilaria shared in the article was about her childhood dance career. She was a competitive Latin dancer and told Vanity Fair Espana that she learned the art in Seville, Spain.

Her competition records, posted by someone on Twitter, are listed on the Dance Sport Info website. She's recorded under the name Hillary Hayward-Thomas, with rankings listed from 2002 to 2005 in cities ranging from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Blackpool, England.

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May 2014: Elle Magazine profiles Hilaria, and says "she grew up between Boston and Spain."

May 2014: Elle Magazine profiles Hilaria, and says "she grew up between Boston and Spain."
Hilaria Baldwin at a 2014 event in New York City. Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

"Hilaria (pronounced without the H) is half Spanish, and she grew up between Boston and Spain," the article says.

This descriptor is consistent for most of Hilaria's 2014 interviews.

May 2014: The New York Times profiles Hilaria just a couple of weeks later, and repeats the mention of Boston and Spain.

May 2014: The New York Times profiles Hilaria just a couple of weeks later, and repeats the mention of Boston and Spain.
Hilaria Baldwin attends the 19th Annual Artwalk NY. Eugene Gologursky/WireImage/Getty

"Her voice betrays a slight Spanish accent, remains of a childhood split between Boston and Spain," the article says.

Similar to the Elle profile, the New York Times piece specifies that Hilaria's name should be "pronounced ee-LAH-ree-ah."

By this time, Hilaria had been working as a lifestyle correspondent for the TV program "Extra" for two years. The Times says the job came about "in part because of her husband's friendship with Steve Sunshine, a producer of the show."

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Throughout the rest of 2014, as Carmen turned 1 and started talking, Hilaria frequently posted photos and videos with Spanish captions.

A post shared by Hilaria Thomas Baldwin (@hilariabaldwin)

 

"Feliz cumpleanos Carmen Gabriela," Hilaria wrote on her daughter's first birthday. "Te quiero con todo mi corazon."

She also shared a video of Carmen saying the word "bella" for the first time. "In Spanish, it means 'beautiful,'" Hilaria wrote. "We like to call her Carmen bella. It's a good first Spanish word." 

An emoji of Spain's flag and hearts accompanied the text caption.

October 2014: Hilaria's father, David L. Thomas, Jr., and her mother, Kathryn Hayward, co-founded a website called International Integrators.

October 2014: Hilaria's father, David L. Thomas, Jr., and her mother, Kathryn Hayward, co-founded a website called International Integrators.
The "About Us" section on the International Integrators website. International Integrators

The site included a blog section, where they shared personal stories about their approaches to wellness and diet.

In her first blog post, Hilaria's mother's biography says she worked at "the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School from 1992 until 2012."

According to the New York Post's reporting, which aligns with the blog posts, Thomas and Hayward didn't move to Spain until 2011.

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January 2015: Hilaria Baldwin's father publishes a blog post about his affinity for the "Spanish language and culture," saying he doesn't have "an iota of latin blood" in his veins.

January 2015: Hilaria Baldwin's father publishes a blog post about his affinity for the "Spanish language and culture," saying he doesn't have "an iota of latin blood" in his veins.
Hilaria Baldwin attends a news conference at United Nations headquarters in 2015. Seth Wenig/AP

"I grew up in a Midwestern family that relocated to the East Coast of the United States when I was still an infant," Thomas wrote in the January 2015 blog. "My path in life has been heavily influenced by Spanish language and culture, and not because I have an iota of latin blood in my veins."

The blog continues on to explain that when Thomas was in grade school his father went to Argentina on a business trip.

"While I have many fond memories of that visit to the state of my birth, I did miss my father and he promised me that, if I ever learned Spanish, he would take me to Argentina," Thomas writes.

He went on to study Spanish starting in seventh grade, and eventually visited Argentina, Chile, and Peru with his father. As an adult, Thomas says he then visited Spain and found a deeper connection with the country via food.

"Spanish meals are served in a way that facilitates conversation and relationship," Thomas writes. "Unlike in my family of origin, meals consist of various courses with usually no more than one food on the plate at a time."

The blog mentions that he now lives in Mallorca, Spain.

August 2015: A Hello Magazine interview refers to Hilaria as a "Spanish-born beauty."

August 2015: A Hello Magazine interview refers to Hilaria as a "Spanish-born beauty."
Hilaria Baldwin attends the American Ballet Theatre's 75th Anniversary Gala at the David H. Koch Theater on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2015, in New York. Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

"While the Spanish-born beauty hopes to share her knowledge and passion for living a healthy lifestyle with others in a new book she's writing, it seems it's already rubbing off on her famous husband," the profile reads.

There was no correction or update made to the interview as of December 29, 2020.

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September 2015: Hilaria starts occasionally reposting memes in Spanish on her Instagram page.

A post shared by Hilaria Thomas Baldwin (@hilariabaldwin)

 

Screenshots of mom-related memes start appearing on Hilaria's Instagram account, often reposted from Spanish-language accounts. 

The above one describes a "Mombie" (mom-zombie) as "aquelle mama que vive con la ilusion de poder dormir en algun momento," or "a mother who lives with the illusion of being able to sleep at some point."

October 2015: Hilaria participates in the "People en Espanol festival in New York City" on the Today Show.

October 2015: Hilaria participates in the "People en Espanol festival in New York City" on the Today Show.
Hilaria Baldwin in her "Today Show" appearance. "The Today Show"/NBC

In a now-infamous video segment, Hilaria appeared alongside Telemundo TV host Evi Siskos and taught viewers how to make "authentic" gazpacho. The video's caption says it was part of the "People en Espanol festival in New York City."

Hilaria speaks with a pronounced accent throughout the segment, and at one point appears to forget the English word for cucumber.

"We have tomatoes, we have um, how do you say in English?" Hilaria says, before remembering. "Cucumbers!"

"In this country, I never order gazpacho from the menu," Hilaria says later on in the video. She says she avoids it in US restaurants because people here add ingredients like tabasco sauce, which she says isn't standard in her recipe.

"There's no extra spice," Hilaria says. "It's not something that's in the palate of Spain, we don't use these spicier sauces."

Hilaria told the New York Times in 2020 that the "cucumber" moment was because she was nervous on TV and had a "brain fart."

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March 2016: Hilaria is interviewed by Latina Magazine, and the article identifies her as "Spanish-American."

March 2016: Hilaria is interviewed by Latina Magazine, and the article identifies her as "Spanish-American."
Alec and Hilaria Baldwin attend the NYU Tisch School of the Arts 50th Anniversary Gala at Jazz on Monday, April 4, 2016. Andy Kropa/Invision/AP

In what was touted as an "exclusive" interview with Latina, Hilaria is introduced before the Q&A as a "Spanish-American belleza."

As was the pattern with her previous interview features, there's no public indication that Hilaria tried to correct this description of herself.

December 2016: Hilaria publishes a book, "The Living Clearly Method," and reveals that she and Alec have a Spanish phrase engraved in their wedding rings.

December 2016: Hilaria publishes a book, "The Living Clearly Method," and reveals that she and Alec have a Spanish phrase engraved in their wedding rings.
The Baldwin family at a red carpet event. Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

"Alec and I have a Spanish phrase engraved on our wedding rings," Hilaria writes in the opening chapter of the book.

The phrase is "'somos un buen equipo,' which means 'we are a good team,'" she continues.

You can see the engraved message in one of Hilaria's Instagram posts from 2013 here.

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December 2016: Hilaria and her family were featured on the cover of HOLA! Magazine.

December 2016: Hilaria and her family were featured on the cover of HOLA! Magazine.
Hilaria Baldwin attends the HOLA! USA launch hosted by Alec & Hilaria Baldwin at Porcelanosa on September 29, 2016, in New York City. Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for HOLA! USA

Earlier that year, Hilaria also hosted the launch party for HOLA! USA. She celebrated the cover story with an Instagram post, wishing everyone "Feliz Navidad y Happy Holidays!"

You can see that cover interview, published in Spanish, here.

Aggregations of the interview, like this one from PopSugar, refer to Hilaria as a "Spanish-born beauty."

At some point in this period, Hilaria was signed to a talent agency, and her public biography said she was born in Spain.

At some point in this period, Hilaria was signed to a talent agency, and her public biography said she was born in Spain.
Alec and Hilaria Baldwin attend the premiere of "Blind" at Landmark Sunshine Cinema on Monday, June 26, 2017, in New York. Andy Kropa/Invision/AP

Though Hilaria's Creative Arts Agency (CAA) bio was updated on December 28, 2020, to remove reference to her place of birth, reports from New York Magazine and the New York Post say the CAA website for Hilaria once included the following: "Baldwin was born in Mallorca, Spain, and raised in Boston, Massachusetts."

This misleading statement made its way to other biography pages for Hilaria, including her page on Amazon Prime.

As recently as December 29, 2020, Hilaria's Amazon Prime biography said: "Hilaria Baldwin was born on January 6, 1984 in Mallorca, Spain as Hilaria Lynn Thomas. She is an actress, known for Blind (2017), Nightcap (2016) and Extra with Billy Bush (1994). She has been married to Alec Baldwin since June 30, 2012. They have four children."

When asked in the New York Times 2020 interview about the bio, Hilaria blamed it on a "disappointing" CAA mistake and said, "I rarely at all work with CAA now."

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May 2018: Hilaria and Alec are profiled for a second time by HOLA! Magazine and the article says she was "born in Spain" and her "native language" is Spanish. The magazine has since issued a correction in 2020.

May 2018: Hilaria and Alec are profiled for a second time by HOLA! Magazine and the article says she was "born in Spain" and her "native language" is Spanish. The magazine has since issued a correction in 2020.
Hilaria and Alec Baldwin arrive at the 2018 Emmy Awards. Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

"Hilaria, who was born in Spain, has made certain to raise her children with her native language, Spanish," the feature read.

The article also referred to the parents and their three children as the "Baldwinitos" family.

On December 29, 2020, HOLA! added a correction to the top of the profile to reflect that Hilaria had recently said she was born in the US.

"Correction: On December 27, 2020, Hilaria Baldwin addressed 'chatter online' surrounding her culture and identity," the profile now says at the top. "Hilaria clarified that she was born in Boston, Massachusetts and not Mallorca, Spain like her CAA Speaker's biography previously stated prior to being updated."

You can see the full correction here.

April 2020: Hilaria records a podcast with friends, where she gives the impression that she moved to New York City from Spain when she was 19 years old.

April 2020: Hilaria records a podcast with friends, where she gives the impression that she moved to New York City from Spain when she was 19 years old.
Hilaria Baldwin on "Cocktails and Convos with Cat and Nat." Cat & Nat/YouTube

Earlier this year, Hilaria sat down for the "Cocktails and Convos with Cat and Nat" YouTube and podcast series. The show's notes included a list of "key takeaway," including: "Though [Hilaria] and Alec are so different (culture, background, age, and language among other things!) they are each other's best friends."

During the recording, Hilaria says Cat and Nat are her friends. The episode description written by Cat and Nat says Hilaria is "originally from Mallorca, Spain."

A short section of the episode was included in the December 2020 viral Twitter thread. The snippet of video comes from a part of the conversation when Hilaria says she didn't realize how famous Alec Baldwin was when they met, prompting Cat and Nat to ask about when she moved to the United States.

"So you moved here with your parents?" one of the hosts asks, seemingly referring to New York City specifically (where the three women recorded the show's episode).

"No no no no no," Hilaria replies. "I moved here when I was 19 to go to NYU."

"Ah. From?" prompts the host.

"From — my family lives in Spain, they live in Mallorca," Hilaria replies.

"So yeah, that would make sense you wouldn't know the pop culture of —" the other host chimes in.

"Well I know no pop culture," Hilaria says. "Now I'm better. I knew no pop culture."

Later in the show, one of the hosts asks Hilaria if she would ever "want to move back" to Spain.

"All the time," Hilaria replies.

"You came for school and you never left?" the woman asks.

"I came for school and I never, ever, ever left," Hilaria says. "Alec and I are always like, 'Oh one day we'll move there.' My kids actually go to a bilingual school so that they're getting educated in both languages so that we have the opportunity."

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September 2020: A parenting forum thread about Hilaria Baldwin begins discussing her family background and speculating that her accent is "fake."

September 2020: A parenting forum thread about Hilaria Baldwin begins discussing her family background and speculating that her accent is "fake."
Hilaria Baldwin attends the American Museum of Natural History's 2019 Museum Gala on Thursday, Nov. 21, 2019, in New York. Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

A DC Urban Moms thread dedicated to Hilaria, which was started in 2019 as people criticized her fifth pregnancy announcement, switched to a focus on her birthplace around the fall of 2020.

"It sounds like her mother had a thriving career in Boston for many years - how could her daughter have been raised in Spain?" one anonymous user wrote. "Even if she vacationed there regularly, there's no reason she would have picked up an accent like that. It's fake."

October 2020: A negative review of Hilaria's "Mom Brain" podcast mentions that she didn't have an accent when she was in high school.

October 2020: A negative review of Hilaria's "Mom Brain" podcast mentions that she didn't have an accent when she was in high school.
A review left on Hilaria's podcast, "Mom Brain." "Mom Brain"/Apple Podcasts

The podcast review, first seen by Insider in @lenibriscoe's viral Twitter thread and verified as legitimate in the Apple Podcast app, was written by someone with the user ID "Boston not Spain."

"I know Hilary Hayward-Thomas from the Cambridge School of Weston in MA," the review says. "She didn't have an accent then and didn't change her name to Hilaria. Because she's not Spanish! So please stop using an accent in this podcast and interrupting your guests."

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November 2020: Someone creates a subreddit dedicated to exposing Hilaria Baldwin as "the Spanish Rachel Dozeal who faked an identity to get famous."

November 2020: Someone creates a subreddit dedicated to exposing Hilaria Baldwin as "the Spanish Rachel Dozeal who faked an identity to get famous."
The landing page of the Hilaria Baldwin subreddit. Reddit

On November 30, 2020, a new subreddit (/r/hilariabaldwin) was created by Redditor McNasty420.

McNasty420 posted a welcome discussion thread titled: "This is a sub to discuss Hillary Hayward-Thomas, the Spanish Rachel Dozeal who faked an identity to get famous. Alec Baldwin's wife."

Rachel Dolezal is a woman whose life became a national news story in 2018 when it was revealed that she was a white woman pretending to be Black.

In the comments of that thread, McNasty420 said they came from the DC Urban Mom forum. "Welcome everybody here from DCurbanmom!" they wrote. "Over half the posts in there got mysteriously deleted today if anybody noticed. Looks like CAA, her publicist, is throwing some money at the situation over there. Hahah but they can't do it here, and Reddit will show up on a google search."

McNasty420 did not immediately respond to Insider's request for further comment.

December 21, 2020: A Twitter thread compiling videos showing Hilaria's changing accent picks up attention.

December 21, 2020: A Twitter thread compiling videos showing Hilaria's changing accent picks up attention.
Hilaria Baldwin attends Guild Hall Academy Of The Arts Achievement Awards 2020 at the Rainbow Room on March 03, 2020, in New York City. Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

"You have to admire Hilaria Baldwin's commitment to her decade long grift where she impersonates a Spanish person," Twitter user @lenibriscoe wrote at the beginning of a thread that currently has just over 20,000 likes.

People began responding to the thread with other examples or with claims of knowing Hilaria in her high school days (when she went by "Hillary" and purportedly spoke with no accent whatsoever).

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December 27, 2020: Hilaria responds to the Twitter thread in an Instagram video.

A post shared by Hilaria Thomas Baldwin (@hilariabaldwin)

 

"I just want to be very clear just because I think that there's some stuff that needs to be clarified," she said in the video. "I've tried in the past to be clear but sometimes people don't always report and write what you say and I've just kind of put my hands up." 

"I'm born in Boston, and then I spent some of my childhood in Boston — some of my childhood in Spain," she continued. "There was a lot of back and forth my entire life, and I'm really lucky that I grew up speaking two languages. I'm trying to raise my kids so that they speak two languages, too."

She went on to address how her accent seemingly changes from public appearance to public appearance or Instagram video to video. 

She said she "tends to mix" English and Spanish depending on which language she's been speaking more of recently. "It's one of those things that's always been a bit … I've been a little insecure about over different times. When I tried to work, I tried to enunciate a little bit more, but if I get nervous or upset or something then I start to mix the two [languages]." 

"It's not something that I'm playing at," she says. "So I want that to be very, very, very clear."

She also said when she was "growing up in this country" (meaning the US), she used the name Hillary. But her "whole family" called her Hilaria.

"I think we can all be really clear that it's the same name, just a few letters different, so we shouldn't be so upset about it," she said.

Hilaria also goes on say that she feels lucky she "grew up with two cultures" and "speaking two languages."

Hilaria also goes on say that she feels lucky she "grew up with two cultures" and "speaking two languages."
Hilaria Baldwin and husband Alec Baldwin pose at the opening night of the revival of Ivo van Hove's "West Side Story"on Broadway at The Broadway Theatre on February 20, 2020, in New York City. Bruce Glikas/WireImage/Getty Images

"I've seen some things about like 'she's a white girl.' Yes I am a white girl. I am a white girl," Hilaria said. "Let's be very clear that Europe has a lot of white people in there. And my family is white. Ethnically I'm a mix of many, many, many things. Culturally I grew up with the two cultures. So it's really as simple as that."

People from Spain can indeed be considered white, but the larger point people were making against Hilaria is that she had been misrepresenting herself as a Spaniard in her public statements in interviews.

In her Instagram video, Hilaria put the blame on media outlets and reporters for the public's misunderstanding.

"In the past, I would get very frustrated when reporters would report this or report that, and I'd try to be very clear," she said. "They'd be like 'Oh so you were born in Spain?' and I was like, 'All right let me give you a spoiler alert, you're the only one who knows,' and I'd be laughing because it was like any time I would say it people just want to label you as something else."

"I'm like, 'I'm born in Boston,' it was literally the first thing I told my husband," Hilaria continued. "And yeah, I'm a different kind of Bostonian, but that's who I am. And you kinda can't change your background. And nor would I want to."

As highlighted earlier, none of the outlets who identified Hilaria as being Spanish or born in Spain had corrections added to them, as is the standard practice if an interview subject or their representative reaches out to clarify a fact that was misconstrued in an article.

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December 27, 2020: Alec Baldwin replies to Hilaria's Instagram post, saying "You never claimed you were from Spain."

December 27, 2020: Alec Baldwin replies to Hilaria's Instagram post, saying "You never claimed you were from Spain."
Alec Baldwin. David Buchan/Getty Images

"I understood, from day one, that you were born here and raised, for many years, in both the US and Spain," Baldwin commented on Hilaria's post. "You never claimed you were from Spain. You always maintained you were born here."

As noted earlier in this slideshow, Baldwin was actually one of the first people to publicly claim Hilaria was from Spain in the 2013 David Letterman interview.

December 28, 2020: As more news sites began covering the allegations against Hilaria, details about Hilaria's younger years emerged from new sources.

December 28, 2020: As more news sites began covering the allegations against Hilaria, details about Hilaria's younger years emerged from new sources.
Alec and Hilaria Baldwin together in 2020. Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

The Cut noted in a story about the saga that the Cambridge School of Weston (CSW), a private high school in Massachusetts, lists "Hilaria Baldwin '02" as one of its alumni, which means she didn't move to New York City from Spain when she began college.

Boston.com followed up the story with a report of its own, noting that "years before she became Hilaria Baldwin, the 36-year-old was known as Hillary Hayward-Thomas to her classmates at The Cambridge School of Weston."

"One former CSW teacher who did not want their name used for publication, said that Baldwin had no trace of a Spanish accent at CSW," Boston.com reported.

"Her CSW name was Hillary," the teacher reportedly told the local news website. "She had ZERO Spanish accent. She was a good kid, kinda quiet (at least from a teacher's perspective). And she was a gifted dancer — phenomenal."

Hilaria Baldwin did not immediately return Insider's request for comment.

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December 30, 2020: Hilaria continues to defend herself in an interview with the New York Times.

December 30, 2020: Hilaria continues to defend herself in an interview with the New York Times.
Hilaria Baldwin attends the Roundabout Theater's 2020 Gala at The Ziegfeld Ballroom on March 02, 2020, in New York City. Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

On December 30, 2020, Hilaria spoke with New York Times reporter Katherine Rosman about the developing public scandal.

In the story, she says she never tried to hide her identity. She maintained that she has a connection to Spain and Spanish culture and explained any "misleading" moments in her public life.

"Where is the smoking gun? My intentions are I'm living my life and my life is created by my parents, my different experiences, my languages, my culture," she told the Times.

Hilaria also addressed why she had led the public to believe that she had dozens of family members from Spain, and not just a mother, father, and brother living there. As noted earlier in this article, Hilaria referenced upwards of 40 people from Spain who attended her wedding in 2012. According to the Times, Hilaria was "speaking colloquially."

"These people who I call my family, I am learning in this particular situation, I have to say, 'People who we have considered to be our family,'" Hilaria said in the interview.

Neither Hilaria nor her representatives responded to Insider's request for comment.

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