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Grab some popcorn, folks.
By Olivia Jakiel — Written on Dec 28, 2020
The holidays may have come and gone, but the bizarre Hilaria Baldwin story is truly the gift that keeps on giving.
In case you missed it, Alec Baldwin’s wife, Hilaria Baldwin, has been accused of faking her Spanish accent by Tracie Egan Morrissey, a writer and editor who previously called out actress Jameela Jamil for “faking her illnesses.”
Ever since the story started making the rounds online, internet users from all over have weighed in on the situation and have been asking why Baldwin would fake a Spanish accent if she was born in the United States.
While Baldwin’s response to the allegations of posing as a Spainaird is one of the most confusing things you’ll hear for the rest of the year, some social media users have a theory about the Hilaria Baldwin fiasco, and it has do with her husband, Alec Baldwin, and his 30 Rock co-star, Salma Hayek.
The Hilaria Baldwin, Alec Baldwin, and Salma Hayek theory:
Here’s what you need to know about the Hilaria Baldwin, Alec Baldwin, and Salma Hayek theory, and why it makes the allegations that Hilaria faking is her Spanish accent and heritage even messier than it already is.
Alec Baldwin and Salma Hayek have a past.
It’s been rumored that Alec Baldwin majorly had the hots for Salma Hayek.
Hayek had a recurring role on Baldwin’s show, 30 Rock, during the show’s third season, which ran from 2008-2009. On the show, she played his character’s love interest.
Baldwin gushed about Hayek after her multi-episode stint on the show, saying, “She was literally the most fabulous woman that I’ve ever worked with.”
He even gifted her a stunning low-cut turquoise wrap dress for her appearance on the show, which Salma couldn’t stop gushing about and wore to a 2008 event.
“This is the gift that Alec gave me, just for being his girlfriend for five episodes,” she revealed at the time. “I feel like he’s coming with me tonight!”
They also starred in the 2019 comedy, Drunk Parents, together, so it’s obvious that Hayek and Baldwin have known each other for years.
Hilaria Baldwin and Alec Baldwin met in 2011.
Alec and Hilaria got together in 2011, just two years after Hayek’s guest-starring role on 30 Rock. They married less than two years later, and have five children together.
Recently, Hilaria has come under fire for her confusing explanation of her mysterious Spanish accent, which she’s seemingly turned on and off for interviews over the years, as social media users have pointed out.
It’s also been pointed out (and proven) that Baldwin grew up and went to high school in Massachusetts, even though she claimed in a podcast episode back in April that she moved to the United States when she was 19 because she wanted to attend NYU.
“I know Hilary Hayward-Thomas from the Cambridge School of Weston in MA,” one former classmate wrote in a review of her podcast. “She didn’t have an accent then and didn’t change her name to Hilaria. Because she’s not Spanish! So please stop using an accent in this podcast and stop interrupting your guests."
Did Hilaria Baldwin try to impersonate Salma Hayek to get Alec Baldwin’s attention?
That’s what some social media users are theorizing.
Internet sleuths connected the dots of Hilaria Baldwin’s confusing claims and the dicey recount of her upbringing to the rumor that her husband, Alec Baldwin, is obsessed with Hayek.
“The fact that Alec Baldwin married a woman named Hillary from Massachusetts who was pretending to be from Spain because he had the hots for Salma Hayek is endlessly amusing to me,” one Twitter user wrote.
Another said, “She told people her mother is Spanish (nope) that she was born in Spain (no and admitted as much today) she told Hola magazine that Spanish is her NATIVE language (no). She went to HS in Boston and only developed an accent after meeting Alec who had a thing for Salma Hayek.”
Salma Hayek isn’t even from Spain.
Here’s the kicker: Salma Hayek is Mexican and Lebanese, which makes this whole fiasco even wilder. According to her official IMDb bio, Hayek was born “in the oil boomtown of Coatzacoalcos, Mexico,” and “her father is of Lebanese descent and her mother is of Mexican/Spanish ancestry.
While both Alec and Hilaria have issued lengthy video responses about the allegations, neither she nor Alec have commented on the Salma Hayek theory.
Olivia Jakiel is an editor and writer who covers celebrity and entertainment news. Follow her on Instagram and keep up with her zingers on Twitter.