Hilaria Baldwin 'always' desired to be 'considered Spanish,' former dance partner claims

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Hilaria Baldwin's former dance partner is weighing in on the ongoing scandal surrounding her heritage.

The yoga expert, 36, who is married to Alec Baldwin, has been the subject of controversy this week after a Twitter user fired off a since-deleted tweet that read, "You have to admire Hilaria Baldwin’s commitment to her decade long grift where she impersonates a Spanish person." 

Baldwin, 36, who is married to "30 Rock" actor Alec Baldwin, admitted this week she was born in Boston, Mass., and not in Mallorca, Spain, as she had previously implied. She spoke out about allegations she was "pretending" to be Spanish in an interview to The New York Times on Wednesday. Her former competitive dance partner Alexander Rechits also spoke to the outlet, claiming she has always wanted to be viewed as having been from Spain.

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"I understand why she did it," Rechits said. "It was always her desire to be considered Spanish. She had roots in Spain, her brother lived there, she visited there a lot."

The dancer went on to laugh at Hilaria's name change. Alec's wife confirmed this week her real name is Hillary Hayword-Thomas.

Alec Baldwin continues stand by his wife, Hilaria Baldwin, as she’s received immense backlash for revealing that she was born in Boston, Mass., and not Spain as she had previously implied. 
(Getty Images)

"But Hillary is a very good strong name, so why would you change that when you were born here and you weren’t born in Spain?" Rechits questioned.

"I have a lot of nicknames in Russian," Rechits, who immigrated to New York from Belarus, continued. "But I’m still Alexander everywhere I go."

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He went on to call Hilaria's name switch "hilarious."

Hilaria Baldwin blamed the ongoing heritage scandal on false reporting and called it ‘very surreal’ in an interview on Wednesday.
(Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)

Hilaria called the debate over her identity this week "very surreal" when speaking to the Times.

"There is not something I’m doing wrong, and I think there is a difference between hiding and creating a boundary," she said.

The yoga expert's past appearances in the spotlight resurfaced this week, such as a podcast she was on in April 2020. "I moved here [to America] when I was 19 to go to NYU from … my family lives in Spain, they live in Mallorca," she said.

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The bilingual mother of five also combatted claims her accent has noticeably fluctuated over the years when she made appearances on TV. In one damning clip from the "Today" show, she appears to forget the English word for "cucumber."

Meanwhile, her CAA speaker page, Wikipedia and IMDB page all previously listed her birth country as Spain. CAA has since removed any mention of her birthplace, while the latter two have made corrections. Baldwin blamed the ongoing saga on false reporting and said she has never actively misrepresented her heritage. 

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"The things I have shared about myself are very clear," Baldwin said. "I was born in Boston. I spent time in Boston and in Spain. My family now lives in Spain. I moved to New York when I was 19 years old and I have lived here ever since. For me, I feel like I have spent 10 years sharing that story over and over again. And now it seems like it’s not enough."

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