The Hillary Thomas/Hilaria Baldwin scandal was its own hilarious thing. The outing of “Hilaria” as just another non-Spanish, non-Latina, white American woman from Boston was one of the funniest stories of the past six months. It was like our gift for surviving 2020: “Here you go, a moment of pure joy!” Hilaria’s thing was such a long-running con, and it involved so many lies, so many half-truths, so many fake accents.
So, that was all one thing. But I’m really enjoying the off-shoot of the main Hilaria story, which is other celebrities commenting on the record about how crazy it is that Alec Baldwin married a con artist who pretended to be Spanish. Amy Schumer’s comments were hilarious, and now Salma Hayek has chimed in. Salma and Alec Baldwin are friends, and there’s some theory that Alec adored Salma when they worked together on 30 Rock and that’s why Hilaria created this whole “Hola, I am from, how you say, Espana” persona. I have no idea of the timeline on that, but Salma has met Hilaria and Salma thinks it’s all… fine.
Salma Hayek is speaking out about the controversy involving Hilaria Baldwin’s heritage. On Monday, Feb. 1, the Oscar nominee—who portrayed Alec Baldwin’s love interest on 30 Rock, appeared on Andy Cohen’s radio show and addressed the accusations about Hilaria’s upbringing. “A lot of my friends asked me, ‘Did you hear about this? Oh my god!'” Salma recalled on SiriusXM’s Radio Andy. “We all lie a little bit. She makes my friend happy. She fooled me because she’s such a good mother and she has five of them! And, you know, I don’t care.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to betray or hurt anybody’s feelings,” she continued. “And I don’t know if it’s right or if it’s wrong. I’m not gonna judge somebody just because of that one thing. And I think, I feel honor that somebody wants to be, their alter ego it’s to be like something that is similar to my roots. It makes me feel proud that people are inspired because you know, I am Mexican Lebanese, but my grandparents, my ancestors on my mother’s side are Spanish.”
Salma went on to say she thinks Hilaria, who has been accused of faking her Spanish accent, is “smart to want to be Spanish,” adding, “We’re cool.”
The 53-year-old Frida actress also acknowledged that it is “a bizarre story,” but continued to defend Hilaria. “It is a bizarre story, but don’t we all create our own character in life? I mean, this might be extreme. OK. I don’t care. She’s not, not a bad person, not a bad person, a good person, a good mother and a good wife.”
Salma added that, in addition to having a good relationship with Alec, Hilaria is also “very kind to me,” noting, “That’s all I care about.”
I think Salma is being very nice, but she also wants people to remember that it actually is really cool to be Spanish and of course many people would love to be able to call themselves Spanish. Again, I don’t doubt that Hillary Thomas fantasized about being “exotic” (yet white) and “from Spain,” but it’s one thing to visit the country and have those fantasies, and quite another to fake an accent for years, pretend not to know English, incorporate “Spanish culture” into your wedding claiming it’s part of “cultura de mi familia,” and taking up space which could have gone to native Spanish speakers and actual Latinas. I would have thought that Salma would at least be mad about that last part, but I guess not. She’s basically like “well, who amongst us hasn’t faked an accent for years and invented a persona to marry a movie star?”
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, WENN.
Yeah this wasn’t stretching a truth. So no, not…fine.
Also, Salma Hayek tells many ,many lies herself. She is, for example, 54, not 53, but even if that is just a misprint, she has lied DOZENS of times about having never had plastic surgery or fillers. She has very clearly, throughout the years, had plenty of both, and she’s so stupid to lie about such a provable thing, too, when you can find every celebrities older, pre-op photos on the Internet.) So maybe she is saying this about “we all lie a little bit” in an effort not only to defend Hilary, but herself.
I think she’s right to be kind about it and not voice some of those thoughts because this situation is taking care of itself. And if Salma Hayek came out swinging that would become the story.
Completely agree. One of the life lessons I’ve learned the last few years is that we can (inadvertently, sometimes directly) make things about us, or “center ourselves” in the story/situation when it really isn’t about us. If Salma came out swinging, as you say, she’d be removing the focus from Hilaria and making it about Salma.
Seems like Salma was trying to be gracious…honestly I don’t know what I would say if I was asked about it, it’s kind of a no-win situation. AB is her friend.
The whole Alec Baldwin adoring/being taken with Salma is so interesting to me. Alec and Ed Norton are good friends, and given Ed and Salma’s romantic history, I wonder how long Alec has been into Salma.
just as a note – Latinx refers to Latin American cultures and languages, and Hispanic is Spanish-speaking culture. That was another thing that bugged me is she didn’t even know this and went along with the Latina thing too.
We speak spanish in latin america with the exception of Brazil (portuguese) and smaller countries in the north of South America and caribbean islands colonised by GB and The Netherlands.
There is no such thing as latin american languages – we’re hispanic as we were colonised by countries in the Iberian Peninsula. Thus we speak variations of Spaniard Spanish which also explains why there are so many different accents in the region.
Latin America is a geographical region made up to differentiate the parts of America colonised by the Iberian Peninsula (the Spanish and Portuguese Kingdoms) and the parts colonised by Northern European countries. Which also explains why so many parts of the US have spanish names. They once belonged to Mexico. And that’s why Latin America begins with Mexico and ends with Argentina.
Precisely. “Hilaria” is not Latina. “She’s”European.
Hillary accepted “best dressed Latina” on Latina.com more than once.
Did she not know that fake Spanish isn’t the same as fake Latina?
I’ve heard this theory that we judge others for their actions, but we judge ourselves by our motivations, and I’ve always thought that most of us also judge our friends/loved ones by their motivations rather than their actions. That’s kind of how I view this, that Salma is judging her friend (or at least wife of a friend) on what Salma views as her motivations rather than on Hilaria’s actual conduct. I don’t know how close they are, but I guess I think it’s okay for friends to give each other a break, even if it’s not deserved. So long as Salma’s not telling others that they also need to accept Hilaria’s lies, then I don’t really have a problem.
Salma admitted Hillary pulled a con, but at the same time has Alec’s back.
I have never “lied a little bit” about my origins. Or much else for that matter.
I think it’s pretty common among Hollywood women.
“I’ve never had Botox!” (JLo), “I’m n-4 years old!” (Catherine Z-J, Rebel Wilson, etc.), “I got a nose job because of a deviated septum!” (every female celeb in the early 2000s).
They’re all various levels of problematic, but it happens all the time.
When I was 5 I told my class I was from Canada to feel special. So I’m not perfect lol. But Hilaria’s motivation was to intentionally deceive and her actions were deceptive and chronic.
That’s how we know you aren’t Canadian, you didn’t say “sorry” in your post. 🙂
Lol, my daughter told her friends she was born in China, and was promptly busted by her older brother who told them she was emphatically NOT born in China. She wanted to seem more “interesting.” But she’s 8. And even she knows it was a lie; we talked about not telling lies because then people don’t know if they can trust you. Somebody needs to give EE-lar-ee-ya a lesson in credibility.
And I agree that Salma is trying to be diplomatic and kind to her friend and his wife, which is admirable. Salma didn’t do anything objectionable, I’m not going to give her a hard time for staying out of it.
Some Mexicans would pretend they are Spanish just because their great great grandfather was from Spain. In the mind of that kind of people it makes them “better” than the rest of us. It is the same thing if a white woman from Boston tries to pull up the same thing? People pretending to be something they are not is the thing everybody does on social media, right? Maybe Salma is up to something
Gil, plenty of U.S. Americans obsess over their pure Anglo ancestry. There are whole clubs (like DAR) devoted to that obsession. Recent definitions of “white” in America have broadened the concept of who gets to be part of the European club to more black / white dichotomies but the hierarchy will always put Anglo at the top. I guess my point is that the colonizer (Anglo/Spanish/French) of any region creates a lasting legacy of presumed superiority. Hillary was already part of the most elite group, giving her the freedom to experiment with the benefit of a safety net.
I’m kind of the reverse? I am from that kind of ancestry. My grandmother was a DAR, and basically I have nothing but Northern European ancestry, mostly English, Welsh, Scottish and German, with maybe a smidge of French and Irish….that’s it. I’m not ashamed of it but I certainly don’t fetishize it. I’m proud that my ancestors fought in the American revolution. That said, I was kind of hoping the DNA test would turn up something a little surprising. That would have been interesting and intriguing. Alas, nothing! Which is one reason I call BS on “Hilaria” Baldwin’s schtick. No, it’s not OK to pretend to be something you’re not just so you can appear more “exotic.” It’s insulting, but also so stupid and unnecessary. What’s wrong with being a white girl from Boston anyway? Look into your own ancestry, be proud of it. We all can be.
I appreciate Selma trying to be supportive, but that’s far from a little lie. She’s built a brand around it and probably made a fortune.
I don’t know why but Spanish Hilaria doesnt disturb me. I feel this was her fiction/reality show she has created from her mind into our world, just like the kardashians or any other show would carve and create fake drama or enhance whatever – like it may be an accent or their butts. All fake. That was Hilaria’s hustle and others hustle in different ways. Check people’s CV’s guys, I guarantee a lot of things about people could be quite enhanced or maybe not true at all! no big deal.
Hillary, w her white lady wealth & opportunities was already ahead of the game. So she monetized & fetishized the Hispanic ESL American experience. This is offensive to MANY.
How about actual ESL Hispanic women who’ve actually worked for platforms and high paying gigs?
Do ppl NOT GET that she posed as an actual culture and made big $$. ??
Faking your CV (a fireable offense in many companies btw, so even that is a big deal) is not on the level of a white woman appropriating brown Latina culture. If you don’t see a problem with what she did, I’d look closer.
The fact that she faked a Spanish persona on national television for so many years, when it could be so easily disproven, speaks of mental delusion and self-aggrandizement, not just exaggerating a particular skill or job qualification. Do you find Rachel Doziel unproblematic also?
Also, I would hate to be her parents, of whom she should be proud for their many accomplishments and yet had to be virtually erased to fit her fake “immigrant” story.
Hilary is such a budget Salma want a be! Salma is such a beautiful person and I think her answer is pretty good since she knows Hillary and Alec. It’s probably a weird thing for her to talk about.
LOL. I just can’t stop laughing about this whole thing. Salma is so gracious here, she didn’t need to be, but just shows she’s taking the high road without being mean.
I know. Honestly, this is the classiest route she could have taken.
Didn’t she once complain she only got offered parts to play Maids and such other jobs related to being latina in the US?
And now she says what Hilaria did is fine.
Give me a break.
Now she’s rich and successful?
So we really are all ok with lies being sold as the truth these days, huh? All across the board.
I feel like it’s pretty clear she’s probably not actually ok with it right? And is just trying to be as kind and diplomatic as she can be considering? Or at least that was the vibe I received reading her responses.
That’s not what I got from what she said. She did qualify it as a lie, says it is a bit extreme and refers to this situation as “an alter ego” type of situation. However, she doesn’t want to put herself in the position to judge Hilary/Hilaria. I don’t doubt that Hilary/Hilaria might be an otherwise good person, who is nice and friendly and treats others well. There’s just this other bizarre side to her where she makes up a whole fictitious identity, complete with a fake accent.
I think she didn’t want to bash her friend’s wife. If she had, it would have been a story. She is being kind
I think she was in an awkward situation of how to comment. But, yes. Ultimately she is sweeping it under the rug, like no big deal, we all lie. Sigh. But Hollywood is morally bankrupt and this is no news.
yes, it seems, no matter how outrageous the lie…
Is this the same Salma Hayek who claimed Sofia Vergara was faking her accent? Or lashed out about Jennifer Lopez being considered Latina even though she doesn’t have an accent and was born in New York? But Hillary from Boston is totes Spanish, and that’s ok. Gotcha.
@Anna yea i stopped caring what she had to say when she cut off a black woman and tried to shift the focus /blame on that woman’s capabilities instead of the real discriminations she encounters as a woman and black woman. no surprise here.
@livealot – yes! I said the same thing down-thread.
The thing is, for us Latin Americans, unless you were born here you are not considered Latinx. So yes, if Jennifer Lopez was born in New York she is not Latina, she is American.
It’s a cultural difference I notice, like when Lady Gaga calls herself Italian just because her grandparents were born there. That wouldn’t happen in Latin America.
USA is a nation of immigrants and those immigrants often form neighborhoods and communities based on the culture they came from. The children and grandchildren of those immigrants grow up in two worlds. The culture of their family at home and the culture of America at school. So it would be more correct for Lady Gaga to say she is Italian American. But if she is speaking to Americans or to people who know she is American, when she says she’s Italian, it’s understood that she grew up in a Italian family/culture in America, not that she’s an Italian citizen. JLo would be the same when she says Latina. She’s saying she grew up in a Latina culture in the USA. In my case, my great-grandparents immigrated from Ireland, but by my generation, culturally we are American, so I say I have Irish ancestors, but I don’t call myself Irish American. But each American gets to make the choice of how they want to present their culture. So if my sister wants to say she’s Irish American, she can.
yes! also the same Salma that acted outraged everytime someone asked if she got breast implants – which she did quite early in her career-:and then always insisted she grew them puppies. Why, no one knows.
Well she probably doesn’t want to be on Alec’s bad side. We all know how short of a fuse he has. She probably doesn’t care all that much and was surprised like all of us. But she isn’t going to go on the record of bad mouthing Hilaria in public if she’s on good terms with him. My guess is she probably criticized Hilaria in private like we all did.
comment deleted
Nvm
Hmmm. I guess she’s being gracious because she’s friends with Alec.
This grift was so over the top. Everything was about being closer to her “home” down to Alec proposing in montauk because it’s the farthest east I guess? If a normal white American woman decided to use Spanish lace on her wedding dress, fine. She likes the look of it, but Hilaria? It’s really gross the way it was pushed on everyone. Freaking weird.
It’s Donna Chang from Seinfeld on steroids.
The whole story is silly and ridiculous, I’m sure Hilaria is embarrassed, but I fail to see why people are actually angry or even offended.
What’s this line about Hilaria ” taking up space which could have gone to native Spanish speakers and actual Latinas”. What space is she taking up? The “Alec Baldwin’s Wife” space? I’d almost never even heard of her before this scandal. And honestly, I pity her because, as embarrassing as this stunt is, she is quite literally being bullied for it.
Some of y’all have justifiable reasons to be angry at society but directing that anger at some idiot who faked an accent and lied about her upbringing is wrong and it’s mean and you need to back off because you are being the asshole here.
That’s it, that’s my two cents, bye.
Um, the getting cover interviews from magazines and being invited on various shows (and, one assumes being paid for all of those appearances and certainly profiting from building her brand) kind of taking up space.
That’s funny, cause I couldn’t pick her out of a crowd. Still can’t. Before this, at best I might have been able to say her name sounded familiar.
She wasn’t taking up much space.
I didn’t follow Hilaria on Instagram before this (nor do i now). I knew very little about her, but this whole thing is so amusing to me for some reason.I love reading all the stories. Thanks for keeping posting about it, lol.
No. Salma is not an authority on this and I wish people wouldn’t give her the benefit of the doubt. Does anyone else remember this?
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-female-filmmakers-lunch-race-debate-20170128-story.html
Privileged idiot.
Since she married a billionaire she has gone off the deep end. I don’t give her any passes.
Wow. Yikes.
She is CLEARLY kissing Alec’s ass.
I literally was born in Spain (totally Anglo, dad was in the military) and I would never call myself Spanish. This is freaky.
(I did email the consulate after the 2016 election to find out if I was a citizen, though, to get tf outta here. Sadly, I am not.)
Had they not hang out before? I’m an expat myself in a latín country and everytime I meet someone that speak my language we always talk a bit in that language! There are many accents and different culture depending where we are from but I would definitely recognize a native from a second language learner (or faker!)
I’m guessing she is being polite?