Hilaria Baldwin is responding to criticism that she has misled the public about her Spanish descent.
The wife of actor Alec Baldwin posted a lengthy video on Instagram over the weekend after claims that she was faking her Spanish accent went viral on Twitter.
“I’ve seen chatter online questioning my identity and culture,” she wrote alongside the video. “This is something I take very seriously,and for those who are asking — I’ll reiterate my story, as I’ve done many times before. I was born in Boston and grew up spending time with my family between Massachusetts and Spain. 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. This is very important to me. I understand that my story is a little different, but it is mine, and I’m very proud of it.”
Despite the former dancer clarifying that she was born in Massachusetts, her management’s online biography states that she was born on the Spanish island of Mallorca.
In a podcast interview from April, Baldwin states she did not move to the United States until she was 19 when she attended New York University.
Several individuals claiming to have gone to high school with the former dancer in Boston, took to social media to dispute her previous account.
“I went to high school with her,” wrote one person. “She was perfectly nice and serious about ballroom dancing. Her name was indeed Hillary Hayward-Thomas and she did not have her current accent.”
Videos of Baldwin began to surface on social media, one from a “Oggi” show segment in which she seemingly forgets the English word for cucumber while speaking with an accent.
Her husband took to his own Instagram to defend his wife saying, that the claims were “ridiculous and to “consider the source.”
CNN has reached out to representatives for the couple for comment.
