Hilaria Baldwin Explained Some Of The Claims In The Viral Tweets That Accused Her Of Pretending To Be Spanish

    "There is not something I'm doing wrong, and I think there's a difference between hiding and creating a boundary."

    Ellie Woodward
    by Ellie Woodward

    BuzzFeed Staff

    Hilaria Baldwin has spoken out against the allegations that she's spent years pretending to be Spanish, accusing critics in a new interview of "misrepresenting" her.

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    In case you missed the drama, last week an online backlash began after it was claimed that Hilaria has been exaggerating her Spanish heritage for years after changing her name from Hillary and faking an accent.

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    Internet sleuths discovered that Hilaria's CAA profile not only said she was born in Spain, but that she'd been described as "Spanish" in the media for years. On top of this, Hilaria has spoken with a fluctuating Spanish accent in interviews, has been referred to by her own husband as being "from Spain," and gave all five of their children Spanish names and is raising them to be bilingual.

    However, people are now discovering that Hilaria was actually born and raised in Boston with the name Hillary Thomas — although her parents do now live in Spain.

    The backlash became so severe that Hilaria took to Instagram the following day in order to respond to the various allegations.

    She went on to say that her changing accent was the result of being raised bilingual, and it fluctuates when she's "nervous or upset," before adding that she chooses to go by "Hilaria" rather than her birth name "Hilary" because that's what her family calls her.

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    “Yes, I am a white girl," she added. "Let's be clear that Europe has a lot of white people in there. My family is white. Ethnically, I am a mix of many, many, many things. Culturally, I grew up with two cultures. So, it’s really as simple as that."

    However, backlash continued with many people taking issue with the notion of an American appearing to appropriate an immigrant experience. And so Hilaria has spoken out again in a new interview with the New York Times to explain the confusion over her heritage in more detail.

    Bruce Glikas / Bruce Glikas / WireImage

    Hilaria began by addressing some of the claims in the viral tweets about her heritage, including the moment where she seemingly forgot the word for "cucumber" in an interview. She explained she was nervous about appearing on live TV and described the moment as a "brain fart."

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    This Hilaria Baldwin cucumber video.....

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    She also addressed the CAA bio, saying the agency must have used unverified information from the internet, and that she "rarely works" with them now.

    "It's very surreal," she went on. "There is not something I'm doing wrong, and I think there's a difference between hiding and creating a boundary. Today we have an opportunity to clarify for people who have been confused — and have been confused in some ways by people misrepresenting me."

    Hilaria then said that the confusion over her heritage is the result of her making a conscious decision to avoid detailing her upbringing in order to protect her parents from the media scrutiny that comes when she shares too much.

    Hilaria then explained that she'd spent time in Spain as a child but declined to detail exactly how long. However, she said she refers to the country as "home" now because her parents have lived there since 2011.

    Bruce Glikas / Bruce Glikas / WireImage

    Spain "was something that was part of my father's childhood," she said. "He would go there when he was younger and created these deep, deep, deep bonds and it was something that was part of my childhood. It was something my father introduced to my mother when they met, when they were pretty young."

    "Home is where my parents are going to be," she said of the confusion around referring to Spain as "home" in her Instagram travel posts. "If my parents move to China, I am going to go to China and say, 'I'm going home.'"

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    "My intention is not to be an American TV personality," she concluded. "My intention is not to be a Spanish TV personality. My intention is to talk about health and fitness and being a mom. You are entitled to your privacy, I am entitled to my privacy."

    You can read the full interview with Hilaria Baldwin here.