Ireland Baldwin says heritage controversy around stepmom Hilaria is ‘sad and pathetic’

Social media theories have circulated regarding authenticity of Hilaria’s Spanish heritage

Ireland Baldwin has defended her stepmother Hilaria Baldwin after the yoga teacher’s Spanish heritage was publicly questioned.

Last week, rumours began circulating on social media that Hilaria had been “faking” her Spanish accent, with some suggesting that the 36-year-old, who was born in Boston, Massachusetts, had lied and said her birthplace was Spain.

Over the weekend, Hilaria addressed the rumours on Instagram, where she clarified that she was “born in Boston and grew up spending time with my family between Massachusetts and Spain”.

“My parents and siblings live in Spain and I chose to live here, in the USA,” she said, adding that she and her husband Alec Baldwin “celebrate both cultures in our home” and that the couple is raising the five children they share to be bilingual.

Shortly after sharing the video, Alec’s daughter Ireland also used the platform to defend her stepmother with a series of Instagram Stories.

In the clips, the 25-year-old asked that people stop sending her the Twitter thread about Hilaria, adding: “It’s so pathetic that anyone would want to play detective and dig that deep into someone’s life that they don’t know, don’t know anything about, don’t know how they were raised, who they were actually raised by.”

The model then called the rumours “sad and pathetic” before reminding her followers that there are more important things to focus on right now.

“It's the holidays, and people are depressed, people are going through a lot,” she said. “I know I'm going through a lot, personally. The last thing we really need to do is start sh** and gossip about something that is just so, so stupid and about somebody that nobody even really knows."

Alec’s daughter also took the opportunity to reflect on her stepmother’s kindness, telling her more than 647,000 followers that Hilaria is a “good” and “caring” person who has “always respected my relationship with my dad”.

“I have a great relationship with her. You know, she could be a really malicious, terrible, horrible human who tears people down, but she isn't,” Ireland continued. “Hilaria is a wonderful mother who takes great care of her kids and she takes great care of my dad and that’s really all that matters to me.”

Ireland’s defence comes after her father addressed the rumours on Instagram as well, where he said the allegations were “ridiculous”.

“We live in a world now where we're hidden behind the anonymity of social media,” the actor said. "People feel that they can say anything. They can say anything. They probably would like to do anything if they weren't at risk of getting caught and going to prison.”

After explaining the importance of considering “the source” of the theory, the 62-year-old said: “There's things that have been said lately about people that I love, that I care about deeply, which are ridiculous. I mean, just ridiculous.”