Hilaria Baldwin shared an Instagram post Thursday reflecting on the past year, which has seen her expand her family and face a scandal regarding her representation of her heritage, then stand by husband Alec Baldwin in the aftermath of his accidental fatal shooting of “Rust” crew member Halyna Hutchins.
“This has been one [explosion emoji] of a challenging year. I know for many, many of us… but I will only speak from personal experience right now,” she wrote to the over 900,000 people who follow her on the platform. “Sometimes I didn’t think I was gonna make it through. I want you to know how much you have helped me through some pretty dark struggles. Knowing you were there—such comfort.”
She went on, “Yes, my children and my husband, my family and close friends have been invaluable…but YOU, I don’t get to express this face to face, due to the nature of social media and how far we all are…I SO want you to know and take in how grateful I am every day for you. I miss our chats and the safety net of our community. I’m hoping, one day, we will get back there. One thing struggle has taught me is to say ‘I love you more’. It’s what all of this is all about, in my opinion. So, I love you so…with my whole, grateful soul. Happy gratitude day.”
In the same year she welcomed her sixth child with her actor husband, Hilaria Baldwin faced a scandal for seeming to misrepresent her heritage, and it dogged her from the end of 2020 well into 2021. She apologized in February for the confusion surrounding her cultural background, admitting that “the way I’ve spoken about myself … could have been better explained.” That apology was one of many responses from Baldwin to December’s quickly ballooning controversy, in which she was accused of lying about her background and faking a Spanish accent.
The familial addition, too, caused a stir: The couple’s sixth child, born by surrogate, arrived just months after she gave birth to their fifth. (An anonymous source close to the couple told People Magazine in March, “It’s no one’s business about a woman’s right to choose how and when she expands her family.”)
She stood by husband Alec after the “Rust” incident, offering support and condolences to the cinematographer’s family. In early November, she issued a plea for paparazzi to leave her family alone, writing on Instagram, “As I write this, there are people, taking my picture, through the trees of the property we are staying at. They have not respected our ask to have space, even after the interview we pulled over to do the other day.”
Alec Baldwin discharged a prop gun on the set of the movie “Rust” in October. He, the film’s producers, the assistant director and the armorer have since been sued by other crew members. Filming remains suspended.
See her post here.