Ireland Baldwin, daughter of actor Alec Baldwin, is defending her stepmother, Hilaria Baldwin, after theories began circulating on social media that Hilaria Baldwin has faked her Spanish heritage and accent over the years.
Several hours after Hilaria Baldwin posted her own Instagram videos clarifying how she was raised and saying she took the matter "very seriously," her stepdaughter, whose mother is actor Kim Basinger, shared her own thoughts on the topic on Sunday.
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"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 how they were raised, who they were actually raised by," Ireland Baldwin said in a series of video clips. "It's just kind of sad and pathetic."
While the 25-year-old actor and model didn't explicitly address the claims at the heart of the controversy, she called the general accusations "gossip" and "so stupid."
“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."
"This person has dug up old tweets from Hilaria's high school peers and whatever, and they all say one thing about her, and that's that she's really kind, she was really kind when they reflect back on their experience with her,” Ireland Baldwin continued. “And that's because she is very kind. She's a good person, she's a caring person who has always respected my relationship with my dad, and 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."
And Ireland Baldwin's not just basing her view on her own relationship with her stepmom. The 36-year-old is also mom to five of Ireland Baldwin’s half siblings: Carmen, 7, Rafael, 5, Leonardo, 4, Romeo, 2, and almost-3-month-old Eduardo.
"Hilaria is a wonderful mother who takes great care of her kids, and she takes great care of my dad,” Ireland Baldwin said. “That's really all that matters to me."
Her dad also addressed the claims about his wife of eight years on his own Instagram account on Sunday.
"The majority of what’s been said, and again, I don’t want to enumerate what those things are, is false," Alec Baldwin, 62, said. "And some of it’s so spectacularly false. ... As much as that hurts, the only thing I can do is talk to that half of the public or portion of the public who understands what I mean when I say, 'Consider the source.'"
Theories about Hilaria Baldwin's heritage and upbringing started to emerge last week. One Twitter user, whose post went viral, called out how she spoke during media appearances over the years, including a demonstration for TODAY Food at the People en Español festival in 2015. The Twitter user also claimed to have uncovered information about Hilaria Baldwin's parents and grandparents.
On Sunday, Hilaria Baldwin posted two Instagram videos addressing the accusations.
"I've always said what is true, and I've always said where I come from," she explained in the second. "I'm proud that I speak two languages, I'm proud that I have two cultures, I'm proud that I'm raising my kids that way. I'm proud that my family is that way, and I don't really think that that's a negative thing, so I don't really understand why this is turning into such a big thing."