Hilaria Baldwin apologized on Friday for the confusion surrounding her cultural background, admitting that “the way I’ve spoken about myself … could have been better explained.”
The Instagram post is the latest response from Baldwin to December’s quickly ballooning controversy, in which Baldwin was accused of lying about her heritage and faking a Spanish accent.
“I’ve spent the last month listening, reflecting, and asking myself how I can learn and grow,” she wrote. “My parents raised my brother and me with two cultures, American and Spanish, and I feel a true sense of belonging to both. 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.”
Baldwin, born Hillary Hayward-Thomas in Boston, had previously claimed to have been born in Mallorca, Spain. A viral Twitter thread late last month sparked the controversy, calling attention to the “decade long grift where she impersonates a Spanish person.” The thread highlighted several on-camera moments in which Baldwin’s Spanish accent appeared to slip or in which the native English speaker seemed to forget common words like “cucumber.”
Hilaria Baldwin previously addressed the issue in an Instagram video posted on Dec. 27. She stated that she was born in Boston but spent time in Spain throughout her life, speaking both languages with her family.
In a Dec. 30 New York Times article, Baldwin defended her backstory, placing blame for mixed messaging on the issue on other parties. “This has been a part of my whole life,” she told the paper, “and I can’t make it go away just because some people don’t understand it.”
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