Yoga teacher. Book author. Fake Spaniard? Hilaria Baldwin has
had many identities throughout her life.
Hilaria Baldwin was born in 1984. While there have been some misconceptions regarding her birthplace over
the years, Hilaria set the record straight in a December 2020 interview in the New York Times:
"I was born in Boston. I spent time in Boston and in Spain. My family now lives in Spain. I
moved to New York when I was 19 years old and I have lived here ever since."
"My family lives in Spain. They live in Mallorca."
Now, before a certain Twitter thread made waves in December 2020,
the general assumption was that Hilaria was actually born in Spain. And that assumption
wasn't unfounded. For starters, Alec Baldwin once told David Letterman,
"My wife is from Spain."
In the New York Times interview, Hilaria insisted her husband knew that she's originally from the
capital of Massachusetts, and that her story has always been that: a girl from Boston who
has spent a significant amount of time in Spain. She was born Hillary Hayward-Thomas,
but she felt more connected to the name Hilaria. As she said in a since-deleted Instagram video,
"In this country, I would use the name Hillary, and in Spain I would use the name Hilaria."
Hilaria went on to add in the post:
"My family, like my parents, call me Hilaria, my whole family call me Hilaria."
From an early age, Hilaria Baldwin was cutting a rug. And thanks to her passion,
dance became more than just a hobby. Hilaria wrote in her book The Living Clearly Method:
"By my early teens, I fell headlong into the world of competitive Latin
ballroom dance. My years on the competitive dance
circuit gave me some incredible life skills, like focus and self-reliance."
After high school, Hilaria moved to the Big Apple to attend New York University. While
she was there, she was reportedly a member of the NYU ballroom team. According to the New York Post,
Hilaria reportedly studied dance and art history at the esteemed institution. There has been some
speculation on Reddit about whether or not she graduated from NYU, but when her wedding to Alec
Baldwin was announced in 2012, the New York Times reported she did indeed earn a degree.
As her Instagram followers
know all too well, Hilaria Baldwin is a diehard fan of yoga. She's even gone viral for doing
different yoga poses whenever and wherever the mood struck. Baldwin's love of yoga began in 2005,
and it all started by chance. As she wrote in The Living Clearly Method,
"The owner of the studio saw potential in me and encouraged me to apprentice
there and take the teacher training program. I threw myself into my studies
and quickly began teaching some of the studio's large group classes."
Taking classes and teaching eventually wasn't enough,
so in 2009, Baldwin joined Mike Patton and founded Yoga Vida. But,
as she told Yoga Journal in 2014, she eventually decided to relinquish ownership of the studio:
"I love the idea, but realized my passion is teaching, not managing people."
"Meditation becomes your best friend."
Most people always
wonder how non-famous individuals end up marrying celebrities. Where do they meet? How
does it happen? Hilaria Baldwin was one of those non-famous people who was with the right people,
in the right place, and at the right time. Hillaria recalled to The Daily Beast:
"The moment before I saw him, I said to my girlfriends, 'Universe,
I have an announcement to make. I'm ready to meet someone and fall in love.'"
She and Alec Baldwin happened to be dining at the same restaurant in 2011,
and the rest was history. After exchanging phone numbers,
the couple played phone tag for a stretch. She told the New York Times:
"So my friend dialed the number,
but he didn't pick up, and when he called back, I missed the call."
Years later, the missed calls seem to have worked perfectly fine in their favor. On June 30, 2012,
the pair wed at St. Patrick's Old Cathedral. While some might've raised their eyebrows
at how quickly the two decided to go all in on their relationship,
Hilaria divulged to the New York Times that she chose to live by something her mom said:
"She told me, 'Either it's too fast or it's just right.'"
Hilaria Baldwin's marriage to Alec Baldwin has always been in the spotlight,
and that didn't change when she began having kids with the actor. Even so,
she's tried to find some boundaries, hard as that may be. As she once said in The Daily Beast,
"I'm just so careful about my personal life because of how invasive it can feel."
In October 2013, Hilaria became a mother for the first time when Carmen was born.
"I have trouble sleeping because I just want to look at her."
Carmen wouldn't stay the baby for long, as Hilaria and Alec would go on to welcome Rafael,
Leonardo, Romeo, Eduardo, and María Lucía Victoria into the world. Regarding what
it's like raising a large family, Hilaria said on "Cat & Nat Unfiltered," podcast:
"I tried to be grateful even when they're driving me crazy ... There's
gonna be a time when they don't want to leave with me and they're
not driving me nuts ... I think that's one of the reasons why I had so many."
The growth doesn't stop there. Amidst the "Rust" controversy, the Baldwins revealed a huge surprise
on Instagram: Ilaria Catalina Irena, Hilaria's seventh child and Alec's eighth, was born.
In 2016, Hilaria Baldwin released her first book, The Living Clearly Method. In it,
she explores fitness, exercise, body positivity,
and feeling good from the inside out. As she explained to Katie Couric on Today,
"It means being present."
"... being in the moment, opening your eyes, and making choices that serve you."
Clearly, health and wellness are top priorities for Hilaria. And that passion
was recognized in a major way in 2017 when the Wellness Foundation made her
the recipient of the Illumination Award. According to Hamptons.com,
Vice-President and Executive Director of Education and Programs Jennifer Taylor said of Baldwin,
"We love the way she is raising her children to be healthy, kind and compassionate."
According to Dan's Papers, Hilaria said while accepting her award,
"This award is one of the best things that has ever happened to me. I believe taking
care of ourselves and our families is the most important investment we can make. If
we don't have our health and the health of our loved ones, we don't have anything."
Clearly, motherhood
is an important part of Hilaria Baldwin's life, so it made perfect sense when she joined Daphne
Oz for a podcast made for moms called "Mom Brain." The podcast's description says it all:
"Being a mom is full-on and full-time. Equal parts FUN and WTF. Our kids don't
come with instructions, and it's ok if we don't have all the answers. We'll figure
it out together. The best advice comes from our favorite experts and doctors,
trusted mom friends, and learning on the job."
Through their episodes, they have created a community for mothers who may feel lost, alone, or
unsure as they navigate motherhood, a comfortable and comforting space to discuss the high highs
and low lows that come with being a parent. Basically, it's all about remembering you're
still human while raising little humans. On an episode of The Rachael Ray Show, Baldwin shared,
"This is why we created the podcast. Just talking about it can be therapeutic."
When the podcast launched in 2018, Baldwin told Refinery29:
"[The goal of the podcast is to] normalize these conversations and feelings that we all have."
In 2019, Hilaria and Alec Baldwin went to
the United Nations' UN News studio to talk about sustainability, food production, and how to make
a difference. The couple noted that the planet needs all the help it can get on a macro level,
but can also benefit from more conscientious practices on a personal level. Hilaria shared,
"At home we eat very healthy ... we believe that leading by example and
creating really good habits while they are young is very important,
not just for their bodies but as we spoke about today the environment and their future."
That same year, the Baldwins were also part of a UN conference for the
EAT-Lancet Commission on Food, Health and Planet initiative,
where a panel discussed the impact of a mindful diet. When it was her time to speak, Hilaria
got into why she and Alec make it a priority to teach their kids about nutrition. HIlaria said,
"A lot of the talk today is about changing adults' behavior, and this is very important obviously,
but it's also important to make it the norm for our children."
In December 2020, Hilaria Baldwin's identity was
called into question in a major way. It was long believed that the wife of Alec Baldwin was born
in Spain and of Spanish descent. However, that all was cleared up when a Twitter user posted,
"You have to admire Hilaria Baldwin's commitment
to her decade long grift where she impersonates a Spanish person."
This was followed by a series of tweets that included videos of her speaking and speculation
about her accent. Unsurprisingly, this Twitter thread caused a stir, and Baldwin eventually took
to Instagram to address the controversy and cultural appropriation accusations.
In one of her since-deleted posts, she said that her family lives in Spain, and added:
"Yes I am a white girl. I am a white girl."
She also explained that her accent changes depending on
which language she's most recently been speaking, and admitted she was
struggling not to be offended by the backlash. Baldwin told her followers,
"I want to take it seriously,
but I also don't want it to be all of a sudden I'm apologizing for who I am."
The following February, Baldwin apologized
for any misconceptions about her background, writing on Instagram,
"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."