Tragic Details About The Baldwin Family

Hilaria Baldwin, wife of Alec Baldwin, has regularly attracted attention for her ability to portray the perfect family life on her Instagram account, playing the role of proud "mama to five Baldwinitos." That is, until December 2020, when Hilaria found herself in the center of a controversy that left the public questioning her heritage, accent, and even her name.

The scuttlebutt began when Amy Schumer teased the mom-of-five online after she posted a photo of her fit frame a mere three months after giving birth, per Page Six. Hilaria clapped back, criticizing her body-shamers in an Instagram video. What the public gravitated towards, however, was the influencer's American accent. After all, in the past, Hilaria has identified as being Spanish.

According to the Daily Beast, the starlet's former "CAA speaker page [claimed] that she was born in Mallorca, Spain," and she took part in interviews that "identified [her] as a Spanish person." Thanks to some online sleuths, however, it was revealed that she actually grew up in Massachusetts — and her real name is Hillary Hayward-Thomas. Hilaria finally took to her Instagram to confirm the rumors, murkily admitting, "Ethnically, I am a mix of many, many, many things." This, of course, didn't sit well with the public, particularly immigrants, or as Ale Russian wrote for People, "Appropriating a different culture ... [is] a painful topic, one that becomes even more hurtful when someone like Hilaria, a self-professed white woman, thinks it's no big deal."

Daniel Baldwin, the second oldest of the Baldwin brothers, rose to fame in the early '90s, starring in flicks such as Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man, acting alongside Mickey Rourke and Don Johnson. Tragically enough, while he was climbing the A-list ladder, he was spiraling into a severe drug addiction.

Speaking on Primetime in 2007 (via ABC News), the actor admitted that he "began using cocaine" in 1989, after landing his "first solid acting job" in his late 20s. "I'm a straight-up cocaine addict," Daniel said. "I don't really drink very much, although I have abused alcohol in the past. And I don't use any other drugs. I don't take pills. I don't do anything. I'm a ... diehard coke head." He proceeded to let the film crew follow him on what was to be his ninth rehab stint at the age of 46.

In more recent years, Daniel has gotten sober, and is using his past experiences to aid others who are struggling, from helping drug addicts recover in Austin, Texas in 2017, to joining his brothers in a plan to open a drug rehab center in New York State in 2020. At the time of this writing, Baldwin's ninth rehab trip was his last.

It was the 2007 voicemail splattered upon countless headlines: Alec Baldwin calling his then-11-year-old daughter, Ireland Baldwin, a "thoughtless little pig," all while throwing jabs at his ex-wife, Kim Basinger, whom he divorced in 2002.

Gossip rag TMZ obtained the shocking tape, in which Alec thundered, "I don't give a damn that you're 12-years-old or 11-years-old, or a child, or that your mother is a thoughtless pain in the a** who doesn't care about what you do," adding that he would "straighten her out." Unsurprisingly, a family judge "temporarily barred Baldwin from having any contact with his child."

Thankfully, the trio was eventually able to make amends. In 2012, 16-year-old Ireland shrugged off the sitch, telling Page Six, "The only problem with that voice mail was that people made it out to be a way bigger deal than it was. For me it was like, 'OK, whatever.' I called him back I was like, 'Sorry Dad, I didn't have my phone.' That was it." By 2017, the model roasted her father and the voicemail fiasco during the comedy special, One Night Only, which Alec took in stride. As for the actor, it looks like he'll forever carry some form of guilt after his outburst. Speaking to Good Morning America that same year, he revealed that the incident is a "scab that never heals, because it's being picked at all the time by other people."

Since climbing to the top of the A-list ladder in the late '80s, you'd think that all the Baldwin brothers have led a pretty cushy life, right? Think again. In 2009, The Hollywood Reporter unearthed court documents that "Stephen Baldwin filed for bankruptcy ... claiming he owes more than $2.3 million and owns a New York property valued at only $1.1 million." Yikes! Along with owing "about $1.2 million on two mortgages" and "more than $1 million in taxes," The Usual Suspects star also revealed he was behind on his credit card payments, too.

By 2012, the situation got worse, with TMZ reporting that Stephen was arrested "for repeated failure to file personal income tax returns ... for the years 2008, 2009, and 2010," shockingly owing the city of New York "more than $350,000 in back taxes." According to The Blast, the actor "narrowly avoided jail time by agreeing to pay back $300,000."

Lady luck was finally on Stephen's side by 2019. Per The Blast, he finally "paid back $21,434.87 in owed taxes," and the IRS even filed "documents clearing the $407,000 lien," which the star and his wife, Kennya, owed. Sure, he had to move from a mansion just outside New York City to an apartment in Queens, but it beats making a jail cell your humble abode. As The Blast notes, all in all, Stephen cleared himself of "$429,185.62 in tax debt."

You'd think that the entire Baldwin family would be critics of Donald Trump, thanks to Alec Baldwin's impersonations on SNL. After all, the 45th president himself took to Twitter to express his displeasure in a since-deleted tweet (via Time): "Alex [sic] Baldwin, whose dieing [sic] mediocre career was saved by his impersonation of me on SNL, now says playing DJT was agony for him. Alex, it was also agony for those who were forced to watch. You were terrible." Ouch!

Well, as it turned out, Trump actually had one Baldwin in his court: Stephen. The younger Baldwin, who is a staunch supporter of The Donald, admitted to CBS News in 2016 that he didn't find his brother's sketches "very funny." The following year, he told The Hollywood Reporter that he "[hadn't] spoken to [Alec] since the election ... by his choice."

Not only did Stephen clash with Alec when it came to politics, but with his daughter, too. As Hailey Bieber revealed to The Times in 2017, "It was a very big issue for me, but my dad's still my dad." The following year, she heartbreakingly told The Times that, "That was a very hurtful situation for me ... We don't talk about it now. It's not worth the argument." For the 2020 election, Bieber openly endorsed Joe Biden, while her father, yet again, backed Trump.

There's no denying that Hilaria Baldwin loves being a mom. After all, she shares five children with hubby Alec Baldwin. "I didn't know how much I'd like [motherhood]," the yoga instructor and influencer told People. "And I really, really like it."

That being said, the road to motherhood hasn't been without tragedy. On April 4, 2019, Hilaria took to Instagram to share that she was "most likely experiencing a miscarriage." Speaking frankly to her followers, the starlet shared, "I want to be a part of the effort to normalize miscarriage ... There is so much secrecy during the first trimester ... I personally find it to be exhausting. I'm nauseous, tired, my body is changing. And I have to pretend that everything is just fine — and it truly isn't." A few days later, on April 9th, she posted again, this time confirming the worst. The A-list pair managed to get pregnant again later that year, but, unfortunately, Hilaria suffered her second miscarriage in November 2019. Taking to Instagram yet again, the mom shared, "We also want you to know that even though we are not ok right now, we will be."

Even after giving birth to her 5th child in September 2020, it looks like Hilaria was still having a rough go at motherhood. A mere two months later, she managed to seriously injure herself, breaking her ankle. Her first concern? Not being able to "carry [her] babies" (via Instagram).