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Salma Hayek Defends Hilaria Baldwin After Heritage Scandal: ‘We All Lie a Little Bit’

Friends ’til the end! Salma Hayek defended Hilaria Baldwin in a new interview after some people called the yoga instructor’s heritage into question.

Related: Alec and Hilaria Baldwin’s Family Album

“All of my friends asked me, ‘Did you hear about this? Oh, my God, she lied!’ We all lie a little bit,” the Frida star, 54, said on SiriusXM’s Radio Andy on Monday, February 1, calling the scandal “crazy.”

Hayek explained that she supports Hilaria, 37, because “she makes my friend happy,” referring to the “Mom Brain” podcast cohost’s husband, Alec Baldwin, who worked with the actress on 30 Rock from 2009 to 2013.

Salma Hayek Defends Hilaria Baldwin After Accent Scandal: ‘We All Lie a Little Bit’
Salma Hayek; Hilaria Baldwin. Matt Baron/Shutterstock; Kristina Bumphrey/StarPix/Shutterstock

“She’s a good mother — and she has five [kids],” Hayek continued. “You know, I don’t care. I’m sorry. I don’t mean to betray or hurt anybody’s feelings, and I don’t know if it’s right or if it’s wrong. I’m not going to judge somebody just because of that one thing.”

Related: Hilaria Baldwin's Parenting Clapbacks Over the Years

The Ugly Betty alum went on to say she feels “honored” that Hilaria wants her “alter ego to be similar” to Hayek’s roots.

“It makes me feel proud that people are inspired,” she said. “I am Mexican, Lebanese, but my grandparents, my ancestors on my mother’s side, are Spanish. I think she’s smart to want to be Spanish. We’re cool, you know? So, it’s a bizarre story. It is a bizarre story. But don’t we all create our own character in life? I mean, this might be extreme, OK, but she’s not a bad person. [She’s] a good person, a good mother, and a good wife. … She’s very kind to me, and that’s all I care about.”

Hilaria, whose real name is Hillary, came under fire in December 2020 after a Twitter thread detailing her “decade long grift where she impersonates a Spanish person” went viral. She subsequently responded to the accusations of cultural appropriation via Instagram and in an extensive New York Times interview, explaining that she grew up in both Spain and Boston before ultimately moving to New York City.

Related: Celebs Who Have Been Accused of Faking Accents

“We celebrate both cultures in our home — Alec and I are raising our children bilingual, just as I was raised. This is very important to me,” she said at the time. “I understand that my story is a little different, but it is mine, and I’m very proud of it.”

In response to claims that she has faked having an accent for years, Hilaria noted that she tends “to mix” English and Spanish, calling it “one of those things I’ve always been insecure about.”

Alec, 62, and Hilaria, who married in June 2012, are the parents of Carmen, 7, Rafael, 5, Leonardo, 4, Romeo, 2, and Eduardo, 4 months. The Saturday Night Live star also shares daughter Ireland, 25, with ex-wife Kim Basinger.

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