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Hilaria Baldwin believes culture can be ‘fluid’ after controversy over her claiming to be Spanish
Hilaria Baldwin believes culture can be ‘fluid’ Jason Mendez/WireImage)
Hilaria Baldwin has spoken out about cultural identity, believing it can be ‘fluid’, seven months after she was the subject of controversy for claiming to be Spanish.
The podcaster, 37, had been questioned about her claims she was Spanish as well as her accent after it was revealed she grew up in Boston in the USA.
She shared a new post discussing her cultural identity on Instagram this week, writing: ‘I had a very special experience-I spent time with my family for the first time in nearly 2 years, due to Covid.
‘We talked about how we grew up, our languages, our cultures-multi& very valid. We discussed belonging & how there are people who want to deny others their right to belong.
‘When you are multi, it can feel hard to belong. You are constantly going back and forth, trying to be more this or more that. You feel you have to explain why you are the way you are, trying to fit into a world of labels when there might not be one that perfectly defines you.
‘You will never quite fit in because the other parts of you shape and influence all your parts. Nothing inside you can truly exist in a segregated environment. It’s not a light switch that cleanly switches on &off-more of a sliding dial that simply shifts through a rainbow of colours.’
Hilaria added that people get to ‘curate our individual expressions of our cultures, languages, who we love, what we believe in, how we dress, present ourselves’.
She believes people should not owe it to anyone to ‘prove’ what culture they are, adding: ‘We need to normalise the fact that we are all unique-our culture, languages, sexual orientations, religions, political beliefs are ALLOWED TO BE FLUID. No two of us are completely alike.’
Hilaria concluded: ‘You don’t need to be this and then that, switching, dancing to the beat of someone else’s drum. You can be 100% you all the time. Ebb &flow, in your brilliant fluidity, as your very legitimate you.’
In 2018, Hilaria had appeared in a cover story for Hola! Megazin in which she said that she identified as Spanish and that she and husband Alec Baldwin were raising their kids to be bilingual.
Hilaria and Alec are raising their kids to be bilingual (Picture: Monica Schipper/Getty Images)
She later clarified at the end of 2020: ‘Yes I am a white girl. I am a white girl. Let’s be very clear that Europe, you know, has a lot of white people in there, and my family is white.
‘Ethnically, I’m a mix of many, many many things. Culturally, I grew up with the two cultures. So, it’s really as simple as that.’
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In February 2021 Hilaria clarified: ‘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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