NEWSHilaria Baldwin Finally Addresses Accent Controversy in TLC Reality Show: 'You Don't Get Used to People Being Mean'
Hilaria Baldwin addressed controversy surrounding her accent during a new episode of her reality series, 'The Baldwins.'
Hilaria Baldwin addressed the controversy surrounding her accent and the backlash she received a few years ago.
Hilaria Baldwin said you 'never get used to people being mean.'
During the Sunday, March 16, episode of The Baldwins, the influencer discussed learning to change her accent prior to people questioning the authenticity of her Spanish descent in 2020.
“Growing up in a way where you have multiple cultural influences on you means that you're never going to be able to fit in,” she shared. “You can try. You can chameleon. You know, people who code-switch we’re very good at chameleoning… and you don't even think you're not even thinking about it. It's just normal. It's just natural.”
She told the sister of her daughter’s friend that “code-switching” was akin to talking to an elderly person, as she would “emphasize” and “speak slower” without thinking about it.
“I had to learn about it because the whole world was mean to me, and so I had to learn it. It's code-switching," she added.
Hilaria Baldwin was accused of being named Hilary at birth.
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In a confessional, Baldwin addressed how she learned to handle the controversy surrounding herself. “Being in, the spotlight, as people like to call it, people say, 'Oh, don't you get used to it?' No, you don't get used to it,” she revealed. “You never get used to people being mean. But you take a deep breath, and I think you learn to distance yourself from it, and so, you know, you just try turning down the volume in my head a bit… and I'm not gonna take it personally.”
In 2020, allegations arose on social media that Baldwin was lying about her Spanish descent and was actually from Boston, Mass. They also alleged her birth name was Hilary, not Hilaria.
Baldwin addressed this at the time, writing the following statement alongside a now-deleted video: “I've seen chatter online questioning my identity and culture. 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 U.S.A."
Hilaria Baldwin was accused of faking her accent in 2020.
On the season premiere of The Baldwins, she also addressed the scandal, explaining she loves English and Spanish and mixing the two makes her “normal,” rather than “inauthentic.”
Hilaria Baldwin said the controversy surrounding her accent 'made her sad.'
“I'd be lying if I said [the controversy] didn't make me sad and it didn't hurt and it didn't put me in dark places,” she continued. “But it was my family, my friends, my community who speak multiple languages, who have belonged in multiple places and realize that we are a mix of all these different things and that’s going to have an impact on how we sound and an impact on how we articulate things and the words that we choose and our mannerisms.” “That’s normal,” Baldwin concluded. “That’s called being human.”
