Hilaria Baldwin learned a lot from her fake accent controversy — including terms such as code switching.
During the Sunday, March 16, episode of TLC’s The Baldwins, Hilaria, 41, had a candid conversation with her 11-year-old daughter Carmen’s friend about how she had to adapt her Spanish accent based on who she was around.
“Growing up in a way where you have multiple cultural influences on you means that you are never going to be able to fit in. You can try — you can chameleon,” Hilaria explained. “People who code switch, we are very good at being a chameleon. You are not even thinking about it because it is just normal [to you].”
Hilaria introduced the term “code switching” to the young girl, who was British while living in the U.S, adding, “It is a real thing. I had to learn about it because the whole world was mean to me.”
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She continued: “Being in the spotlight, people ask if I get used to it. No. You never get used to people being mean. But you take a deep breath and you learn to distance yourself from it. You just try to turn down the volume of it. I am not going to take it personally.”
In December 2020, Hilaria made headlines when social media users accused her of fabricating her comments about her Spanish heritage since she was born as Hilary in Boston, Massachusetts. Hilaria released a video amid the controversy where she addressed her relationship with her Spanish roots.
“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,” she captioned an Instagram post alongside a since-deleted video. “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 offered more details in a February 2021 statement, writing, “I’ve spent the last month listening, reflecting, and asking myself how I can learn and grow. 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.”
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She continued: “I’m proud of the way I was raised, and we’re raising our children to share the same love and respect for both. Being vulnerable and pushing ourselves to learn and grow is what we’ve built our community on, and I hope to get back to the supportive and kind environment we’ve built together.”
TLC’s The Baldwins provided Hilaria with more of a platform to discuss the drama. During the premiere last month, Hilaria’s husband, Alec Baldwin, said he “can’t understand” some of what she says.
“Let’s talk slower. You are speaking English in a Spanish cadence which is always perilous for me,” he noted. “Just slow down a kiss, I can’t understand you.”
Hilaria used the opportunity to elaborate on her identity.
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“I’m raising my kids to be bilingual, I was raised bilingual,” she explained in a confessional. “My family — all my nuclear family — now lives over in Spain. I want to teach my kids pride in speaking more than one language. I think just growing up and speaking two languages is extremely special.”
Hilaria specifically called out critics who made her feel bad, saying, “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. That’s called being human.”
The Baldwins airs on TLC Sundays at 10 p.m. ET.
