While most of us have been concerned with simply existing through the final days of 2020, Hilaria Baldwin, Alec Baldwin’s wife, has found herself trending at a cataclysmic degree after a compelling theory emerged online that she has faked her Spanish accent for many years. 

Baldwin, a podcaster, yoga instructor, and influencer, has also been accused of fabricating her Spanish heritage, or at the very least, has habitually over-stated her connection to the country throughout her career. Being famous and a member of the Hollywood elite is enough to corrupt any mind, but can it pollute your brain to a point where, consistently and for the best part of a decade, you pretend you grew up in a country you didn’t?

Baldwin’s accusers seem to think so. But this is a tale with many twists and turns that need unpacking. Is Hilaria Baldwin really pretending to Spanish? Let’s take a look.

WTF IS GOING ON?

It all started with Amy Schumer (seriously). Baldwin made the news earlier this month after an Instagram exchange with the actor. Schumer posted a picture to her profile of Baldwin in lingerie with her young child, jokingly claiming in the caption that she looked equally glamorous with her own newborn. Baldwin took offence, and so Schumer deleted the picture.

That didn’t stop Baldwin posting a four-minute video in which she said she had been a victim of body shaming, with the caption: “Love a good joke – don’t think this should have been a big deal”. The pair made up, however, and that was the end of that. Right?

THAT WASN’T THE END OF THAT

Unfortunately for Baldwin, there are many bored people spending a lot of time on the internet in the void between Christmas and New Year, and one of them spotted that her Spanish accent, which she appeared to have in media appearances over the years, was absent from the video. It had been replaced with an unmistakably American one.

Twitter user @lenibriscoe then posted a tweet that said: “You have to admire Hilaria Baldwin’s commitment to her decade long grift where she impersonates a Spanish person,” which was followed by a now-deleted thread of compelling evidence to back it up. It included a video of Baldwin “forgetting” the word “cucumber” in a television interview, as well as information suggesting that her entire family comes from New England, not Spain.

Enter Tracie Egan Morrissey, writer and producer, who posted a marathon Instagram story digging into the mystery, in which she says Baldwin’s real name is Hillary-Hayward Thomas, and that she grew up in Massachusetts, not Majorca as she has previously claimed. The revelation catapulted the controversy to stratospheric levels of virality.

RESPONSE

The controversy grew large enough that it became impossible for Baldwin to ignore, but instead of a notes-app apology, she provided another lengthy Instagram video in which she does not apologise (or offer an honest explaination) but instead doubles down on her claims. She puts discrepancies in her biography down to inaccurate reporting, confirming that while she was born in Boston, she was born “a different kind of Bostonian” due to her time spent in Spain while growing up.

As for the Spanish accent, well, Baldwin says that she uses it with varying degrees of intensity depending on how happy or upset she is feeling. “This is something that I’ve always been a little bit insecure about, but I’ve decided maybe 2021 we will get over that.”

Want to know more? Watch Tracie Egan Morrissey’s instagram stories highlight titled “Hilaria” and have a hilarious time picking through the minutiae of one of the year’s great celebrity cautionary tales. Happy New Year!