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Reality TV in Hollywood is like being on the wrong side of the tracks, though. Why do you not see any major stars doing them? This is why. It won't do well, because there is nothing to show in Hilaria's life outside of the kids, and it is not a career an A-list actor like Alec Baldwin should or would ever do. |
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Pure speculation but thoughtful as to the origins of Hilary Baldwin’s pathology and further speculation (again, smart and thoughtful) about a potential path out of this PR nightmare. From a poster at reddit, jazmeyer.
“As for takeaways from this Daily Mail article... I think we are all missing a key part of the “origin” of the ‘Hilaria’ identity. It says her brother Jeremy moved to Majorca in 2006 and got married then. I wonder when the parents first began regularly visiting the island... perhaps around the same time? It almost seems to me like maybe there was a sibling rivalry thing going on in this family, pre-Alec Baldwin. If one or both of the parents was SLIGHTLY narcissistic in terms of personality - not in a dysfunctional disordered way... more in the way that highly driven, high achieving professional people like this sometimes can be - well, sometimes that can mean the parents aren’t very emotionally available to their own children. And in such families, sibling rivalry can be a ‘thing’ with kids struggling to get ‘more’ from the emotionally unavailable parents. Hilary’s history of an eating disorder also fits into this theory. It can be a cry for help, and a maladaptive way of getting attention from people who otherwise weren’t inclined to pay her much attention. If the parents were more interested in, and engaged with her older brother and his Spanish wife, going so far as to make retirement plans to move to Majorca to set up this business and be close to him... that might have deeply affected Hillary. Made her feel inadequate and cut loose at some point right after leaving NYU in her mid twenties. It didn’t seem like she had much in the way of career prospects going on then either, and she got swept up into the yoga cult thing around that time. Then took a trip to Spain (probably to see the brother and his new wife), and came back with an accent. Shortly after that, she started Yoga Vida, with the other guy who fronted the money. She seemed to have brought over a bunch of people from YTTP, and was the primary instructor originally. But the ‘Hilaria’ identity and accent were in place then. So I think there is definitely a component of the whole thing strongly tied to her original family, the brother and his wife, and Hilary herself just being at a weird place on her life then and a bit lost. It seems from other posts that she was dating Eduardo around this same time frame, but it sounds like that was while she was still at YTTP. I’m not sure if that ended before she broke away to start Yoga Vida, and adopted the new ‘Hilaria’ thing or not. But from all reports, it ended pretty close to that whole time frame. Then, in 2010 or 2011, she meets Alec Baldwin. And he seemed to LIKE her whole ‘Hilaria’ thing, the accent, the dyed black hair, etc. So my new working theory is, that Alec must have learned pretty early on that she wasn’t actually from Spain. But he genuinely liked her persona. And supported it. Perhaps they regarded it as sort of like a “stage name” that actors take on. Plenty do. She just had a whole “stage persona” ... and she wasn’t really an actress. But clearly her Yoga and fixation with eating a certain way is very real. In her original response video on Instagram, she spoke about struggling with insecurity. I think that is very real too. But I think the insecurity goes back to her family, young adulthood and twenties, and lacking career prospects or much of anything that made her compelling to her parents and to some of the crowd of folks she was trying to hang out with and fit in with. But the Instagram account, and publicity stuff she got involved with because of her marriage to Alec took off early on. And this cute ‘Hilaria’ yoga instructor persona started owning her. One lie led to another, and another. And she was stuck in it all. And neither she nor Alec were healthy enough to see a way out of it all. The whole thing got bigger and bigger and deeper and deeper, and it owns them now. Is her Instagram account totally annoying and self involved, with the videos of the miscarriage news, the skin color comparison thing w we Oth Carmen, her obsession with taking photos of herself in lingerie? Yeah. The whole thing is just crazy, and screams narcissism. But at the root of narcissism is a very damaged insecure person, who is a child with unmet emotional needs in many respects. A stunted person. Her choice to marry a man 25 years older than her? That also indicates there is a component of this women’s psyche that involves a child who had unmet emotional needs. At this point, I think Alec and Hilaria should sit down, and think about a long term strategy. They need to take a year long timeout from the public eye. They should get a good PR person on board, who can help craft a message, that speaks to a long time out. And that message should be pushed out on all social media, and to traditional media. Hilaria should then spend a year or more doing intense individual therapy, and maybe some couples therapy as well. And then... after it... she can ‘re-launch’ herself as ‘Authentic Hilaria.’ Perhaps she could work with a really good ghost writer or two, and write a book about how a troubled young adult, who was emotionally off key, had less than brilliant prospects in a super competitive city, got swept up in our social media, narcissistic culture. Her whole life turned into an image and a lie, the origins of which involved her trying to be just a little bit ‘more’ than who she actually is. And she lost herself entirely. Eventually, it spun out of control with a crazy Instagram account and high profile lifestyle, and she was a slave to this odd fake identity and playing to a crowd. It was also a matter of social media addiction - both her own, and that of her followers. But in the end, it all came crashing down. She couldn’t outrun her own problems, or create a new identity and truly leave behind her old one. People never can. So she worked hard to find some form of self acceptance, and be ok with plain old inadequate, wounded, insecure Hilary. And Alec helped her heal. And she still loves all things Spanish. But she spent her therapy time also learning about things FOR REAL. She took Spanish language classes, and fluency is a real goal. She actually worked to read some books by genuine Spanish writers, to understand the culture and history for real. And of course... she and Alec took the kids and all the nannies on a dream vacation to Spain (as soon as Covid was over)... and took tons of pictures with everyone having a lovely time. And she wants to honor her nannies, and their role in the kids and family’s life, and include them in their family pictures and vacation and healing story. I mean... if I were advising them right now... that’s how I would tell them to dig their way out of this mess. It might mean 18 months of hard work, and paying some good writers to really work closely with her on this book about her AUTHENTIC life story. But... at the end of it... there actually might be a bestselling book, and a salvaged reputation in a roundabout sort of way. If they truly go to Spain on a dream trip though, they should skip Majorca. It sounds like a tourist trap. They should hire a REALLY great advisor who can set up an itinerary for them that will allow them to learn more about the more AUTHENTIC parts of the country. 🙃 In the end, maybe she could emerge from the whole mess as ‘Hilary Thomas Baldwin’ but be a pretty decently educated person in terms of Spanish culture and life, and have a real appreciation for it all. Because of her own crazy journey. That would be fascinating in it’s own way.” |
It’s so Spanish my eyes hurt. Make it stop. |
oh my. |
It would never work. 1. Alec really can't afford to take a year off of work, not because financially but to keep work coming to him. He is lucky old men get work well into old age as actors but he doesn't really need to take time off anyway. This is not his first rodeo with bad behaviors. 2. Hilaria's "career" was not that big or significant. She can easily go back to shilling various brands and whatever else she does once things settle down. 3. If she is "narcissist," they rarely do, stick with or improve with treatment. They always believe it is everyone's fault but their own, and they do not care if attention is positive or negative as long as attention is on them. They are really not that interesting to drive books. People are interested because people are enthralled and entertained by grifter stories. Whole TV shows dedicate to covering various examples. They're really no different. Plus, the reaction to HB shows a lot of people didn't like her much to begin with, or it'd have spun another direction. They'll be fine. The only strategy they should do is shut up, and stop feeding it. |
The lieeeeesssssss
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Like many here, I have been fascinated by this story. Covid fatigue, I'm sure.
A few thoughts. I spent a year in Spain as an exchange student when I was 16. After that, I certainly couldn't speak like a native, but my accent was GREAT. Probably a combination of a decent ear and being just barely young enough to pick the accent up (I subsequently read many think 14 is about the maximum age to learn a second language accentlessly). Ultimately I went on to get a double major in Spanish, and spent a ton of time in both Spain and Mexico. Like Hilaria, for short bits of conversation, I could rock the Spanish (in my case Madrileno) accent, and Mexicans (and other south americans) absolutely thought I was Spanish (Spanish folks would say, "you speak great" but wouldn't think I was Spanish; I think the Spanish accent masks any residual american accent for south americans - kind of like British accent vs. american accent). But, like it seems with Hilaria, in any extended conversation, my lack of (native) facility with the language would come out. Given her dad's affinity for the country, I would imagine they vacationed there frequently while she was growing up and she probably did some immersion programs young (summer, a month here and there). Again, "they" say if you learn a language before about 14 you can learn it without an accent - so she definitely could have gotten her great accent in that way. But without extensive in country time and/or schooling no way she could get native level of language ability (and that would come out in any interview, hence why there are zero clips of her speaking in paragraphs/being interviewed). |
I like this explanation a lot. I have a great ear for accents, mimicry, etc. When I use the little French that I know in France, French speakers answer me in rapid French and I have to come clean that I do not speak fluently. I've often though, since Christmas Day, that that is probably what's at play for Hillary. She's a hobbyist with a good ear. |
+1 thank you Twitter poster, if you had tagged the whole collection it would've taken up a whole page. I enjoyed clicking through those. |
I think she’ll go on dancing with the stars |
| I fully expect to see her as the newest member of RHNYC. |
Yes, similar with my husband--he had to learn English at an early age, and tends to pick up languages pretty easily. His Spanish and French accents are great, but he's not near fluent. Our kid started French classes as a toddler and French immersion at age 5, and developed a great accent early on--people in France have even commented on it when we've visited and asked her where she was from. But, several years later, she still lacks the verbal fluency and written expression of the native speaking French kids at her immersion school. I assume there's a similar situation w/Hillary (early exposure, English-speaking parents, etc.). |