After her recent stint on the celebrity dance competition show Dancing with the Stars, self-proclaimed fitness aficionado and mother of seven, Hilaria Baldwin, has made several headlines regarding her cultural background and history. Baldwin has become controversial because of a dispute over her identity, specifically the claim that she represents herself as being from Spain, even though she was born in the United States. Much of her attention has been fueled by her marriage to actor Alec Baldwin, whose own controversies have also added to the public eye being on their family.
Hilaria Baldwin has claimed that she was raised in Spain, but public records list her birth name as Hillary Lynn Hayward-Thomas, and she was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She has addressed this by stating that she spent some of her childhood in both places, but that she ultimately never attended school in Spain. Her talent agency even stated on its website that she was born in Mallorca, Spain, but this has since been taken down.
By claiming her name is Hilaria, she is giving off the false impression that she is Spanish, while also perpetuating Spanish family traditions and giving her children traditionally. People who knew her earlier in life stated she did not have a Spanish accent and identified herself as Hilary, not Hilaria. She also often uses a Spanish-accented English when in public, but then also sometimes speaks English with an American accent. Not only have audiences pointed this out, but media outlets have also pointed out the inconsistencies.
The backlash related to her identity began in 2020 after social media accounts compiled videos of her inconsistent accent. These videos went viral quickly, sparking the current controversy and accusations of cultural appropriation. News outlets covered this story extensively, criticizing her for using Spanish identity as an aesthetic.
Unrelated to her false representation, she was recently a celebrity on Dancing with the Stars, but she had been a competitive ballroom dancer when she was younger. She had previously competed against one of the professional dancers on the show, and had even placed higher than her. Viewers of the show voted her off for her prior dance experience, since they saw the idea of her continuing on the show making the competition unfair.
Hilaria has defended herself, stating that she is bilingual and bicultural and that her experiences in both the U.S. and Spain are a part of who she is. Despite this, the inconsistencies in her story have made her a long-lasting symbol of the messy line between authenticity and cultural representation in modern celebrity life.