Alec Baldwin told David Letterman, 'My wife is from Spain," in 2013 clip
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Alec Baldwin impersonated the accent of his wife, Hilaria Baldwin, and claimed, "My wife is from Spain," during an appearance on David Letterman's late-night talk show in 2013, according to an old clip that has surfaced online.
Hilaria Baldwin's heritage has faced new scrutiny after she recently confirmed she was born in Massachusetts -- and not Spain, as she had previously claimed.
In a 2013 interview with Letterman on CBS's "The Late Show," Baldwin told the host his wife was from Spain, then used a fake accent while impersonating her on the phone with a hairdresser or friend.
"My wife is from Spain," Baldwin said afterward. "I don’t mean to be racist when I put that accent on, by the way."
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He also used the fake accent when imitating her with dealing with a pregnancy mood swing, according to reports.
Hilaria Baldwin also admitted over the weekend that she's White and her real name is Hillary. Critics have accused her of lying about her Spanish heritage and adopting a fake Spanish accent.
The controversy was ignited after a user on Twitter wrote: "You have to admire Hilaria Baldwin’s commitment to her decade long grift where she impersonates a Spanish person."
Alec Baldwin, the 62-year-old actor and Donald Trump impersonator defended his wife amid backlash that she has been misrepresenting the extent of her Spanish heritage.
He shared a Mark Twain quote posted to his Instagram this week.
"A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes," the quote read.
Earlier he had called the controversy "just a lot of s---."
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"You have to kind of hack your way through the debris of Twitter. Twitter is just a vast orchard of crap. And I have certainly slung some crap in that orchard myself every now and then with things I’ve said. So, that’s not lost on me that I’m guilty of that as well," he said on Instagram.
Hilaria Baldwin and Alec Baldwin attend Guild Hall Academy Of The Arts Achievement Awards 2020 at the Rainbow Room on March 3, 2020, in New York City. (Getty Images)
She explained on a podcast in April, "I moved here [to America] when I was 19 to go to NYU from … my family lives in Spain, they live in Mallorca."
The bilingual mother of five's accent has also noticeably fluctuated over the years when she made appearances on TV.
She also addressed the criticism online in a video. "There have been some questions about where I’m born, I’m born in Boston...I spent some of my childhood in Boston, some of my childhood in Spain, my family, my brother, my parents, my nephew, everybody is over there in Spain now, I’m here," she explained.
"I am that person, if I’ve been speaking a lot of Spanish, I tend to mix them or if I’m speaking a lot of English I mix that, it’s one of those things I’ve always been a bit insecure about," she said of her accent.
Hilaria's parents left America in 2011 and live in Mallorca, an island in Spain.
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Alec Baldwin and Hilaria have been married since 2012. They welcomed their fifth child together in September.
Fox News' Jessica Napoli contributed to this report.
