Hilaria Baldwin reveals feelings centering on her multicultural life

Hilaria Baldwin, wife of Long Island-native actor Alec Baldwin, says a recent reunion with her parents and sibling has reinforced her pride in her multicultural American and Spanish life, which some internet commenters had criticized her for highlighting.

"I had a very special experience — I spent time with my family for the first time in nearly 2 years, due to Covid," the author and "Mom Brain" podcaster, 37, wrote on Instagram. "We talked about how we grew up, our languages, our cultures — multi & very valid. We discussed belonging & how there are people who want to deny others their right to belong."

She noted, "When you are multi, it can feel hard to belong. You are constantly going back and forth, trying to be more this or more that. You feel you have to explain why you are the way you are, trying to fit into a world of labels when there might not be one that perfectly defines you."

Accompanying a photo of her and Emmy Award winner Alec Baldwin's eldest child, 7-year-old Carmen, holding a colorful piece of childhood art, the 400-word post went on to state, "We all get to curate our individual expressions of our cultures, languages, who we love, what we believe in, how we dress, present ourselves. This is the right that each person should have."

Those without such a background, Hilaria Baldwin said, can respond in various ways. But, "What they shouldn't do is devalue. You are valid, worthy & you don't need to explain or get into the uncomfortable 'prove it' conversation. You don't owe that to anyone."

From Dec. 21 through Christmas Day, a Twitter user had posted more than 50 tweets accusing the U.S.-born Hilaria Baldwin of cultural appropriation for using a Spanish name and for discussing a heritage from the Spanish island of Mallorca, where her family has lived for a decade after spending much time there previously. Baldwin has never stated that she was born in Spain.

Baldwin responded by reiterating her past comments that she had been born in Boston "and grew up spending time with my family between Massachusetts and Spain," where her family called her Hilaria rather than her birth name, Hilary. "My parents and sibling live in Spain and I chose to live here, in the USA. We celebrate both cultures in our home — Alec and I are raising our children bilingual, just as I was raised."

The couple, who have stayed in the Hamptons during the pandemic, are the parents of six boys and girls aged 4 months to 7 years.

"People will try to find reason to invalidate you, therefore their attacks seem justified in their eyes," Hilaria Baldwin continued in her recent post, "They can hate, poke fun & shame — because you 'asked for it' through your audacity to be you. … You don't need to be this and then that, switching, dancing to the beat of someone else's drum," she said. "You can be 100% you all the time. Ebb & flow, in your brilliant fluidity, as your very legitimate you."