Hilaria Baldwin uses Meghan Markle’s story to promote idea of her own victimhood

After Hilaria Baldwin accompanied husband Alec Baldwin to the glitzy charity gala honoring Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Tuesday night, she compared Meghan’s experience of being the target of online racism and hate to her own claims of being bullied on social media after she was exposed for her “Spanish grift” — pretending to be “half-Spanish” in more than 10 years of interviews and public appearances.

It’s almost predictable that the self-promoting Hilaria Baldwin would find a way to appropriate Meghan’s story about “perseverance through bullying” — after the U.S.-born influencer was accused two years earlier of appropriating a “half-Spanish” immigrant identity to make herself appear more glamorous or interesting. Hilaria is trying to apply Meghan’s claims about her painful and toxic interactions with the British royal family and U.K. media to her own situation, apparently so that she can rewrite the narrative of her Spanish heritage scandal and other controversies and make herself out to be the victim.

Hilaria Baldwin shared this new narrative on Instagram Wednesday, after accompanying Baldwin to the 2022 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights gala. Her similarly controversial husband served as emcee, and Harry and Meghan were honored with one of the nonprofit’s Ripple of Hope awards for taking a “heroic” stand against “structural racism” in the British monarchy and for talking openly about mental health and their personal struggles. At the ceremony, Meghan said she felt so tormented by her time in the royal family that she felt suicidal and “didn’t want to be alive anymore.”

In response, Hilaria wrote Wednesday: “Meghan’s perseverance through bullying has given me courage to persevere through the harassment I have experienced. We both have had our dark and suicidal thoughts from being picked apart, all the while, just wanting to be human.”

It may very well be that Hilaria Baldwin had “dark and suicidal thoughts” after her scandal broke, but it’s fair to question whether she was unfairly “picked apart.” To her credit, she acknowledged that her and Meghan’s “circumstances and particular struggles are different.” However, Hilaria also wrote, “I see our common humanity. I hope when I open up about my struggles, this helps some of you too, as it is my intention.” Hilaria Baldwin then told followers to listen to her new podcast, “Witches Anonymous,” to hear more about her struggles.

It’s been widely reported that the self-described lifestyle expert achieved a new level of notoriety when she was exposed in late 2020 for her almost laughable “Spanish grift.” Clips of Hilaria using a fake Spanish accent on the “Today” show or in other interviews went viral and still circulate online. The Atlantic magazine called her an “identity hoaxer,” in the same category as Rachel Dolezal, and she quickly lost her popular mom podcast and brand sponsors for her Instagram posts.

It’s true that Hilaria Baldwin continues to be the target of sometimes vicious criticism on social media and in the 37,000-member r/HilariaBaldwin Reddit thread. But critics would say she’s invited much of the criticism because she never really apologized for her “grift.”

In a statement she issued in February 2021, Hilaria Baldwin admitted that she was born and raised in Boston but that she spent a lot of time in Spain when she was growing up, learning Spanish and developing a sense of belonging to both American and Spanish cultures. She said her parents now live in Spain, and she’s raising her seven children, ages 9 to 2 months, to be bilingual.

Because Hilaria Baldwin initially blamed the media for the misunderstanding, critics said she failed to take responsibility for deliberately misleading fans about her identity. They said she employed a classic non-apology apology. While she said she was was “sorry,” critics noted she didn’t say she was sorry for allegedly lying to her fans. Hilaria Baldwin only apologized for not being “more clear” about how she described her affinity to Spanish culture.

In the two years since, critics would say that Hilaria Baldwin continues to be a shameless self-promoter, as she constantly shares images of the personal lives of her young children and has vigorously defended Baldwin after the “Rust” shooting. Following her scandal and the “Rust” shooting, Hilaria Baldwin retreated somewhat from high-profile public events, even though she continued to garner headlines by posting photos of herself and her children on Instagram.

With her appearance at the RFK foundation gala, it looks like Hilaria Baldwin is ready to push herself back more prominently into the spotlight. Photos from the event show that the Baldwins sat at the same table as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

By being her husband’s date, Hilaria Baldwin also got to pose for photographers, showing off her svelte, yoga-toned frame in a glamorous gown, two months after she gave birth to their seventh child. A week earlier, Hilaria displayed even more of her figure by wearing a daring, cut-out dress while walking the red carpet with the “30 Rock” actor at the American Museum of Natural History’s 2022 Museum Gala.

At the Ripple of Hope Award Gala, Hilaria Baldwin also got a photo-op with Kerry Kennedy, RFK’s daughter and the president of the foundation. The photo-op could be seen as offering Hilaria Baldwin a veneer of respectability.

Notably, Hilaria didn’t get an official photo op with the Sussexes, though she and Baldwin can be seen in a photo sitting at the same the table as the Sussexes. There also are no photos circulating online of Alec Baldwin posing with the California-based royal exiles. Given that the Baldwins are one of the most polarizing celebrity couples in America, it’s likely that Harry and Meghan were wary of associating themselves too closely with more controversy, as they’re been accused of launching an “all-out” war against the British royal family with the allegations of racism and hate they are expected to make in their soon-to-be-released Netflix docuseries.

Nonethelesss, Hilaria Baldwin eagerly publicized her appearance at the Ripple of Hope Award, with her Instagram post and by using a new Instagram profile photo — one that shows her wearing her little red dress she wore to the gala.

As part of what appears to be Hilaria Baldwin’s new P.R. push, she also sought to garner sympathy last week by saying she and Baldwin are still “not okay,” following his accidental shooting of Hutchins on the New Mexico set of “Rust,” the Daily Mail reported. Prosecutors in Santa Fe County are still trying to determine whether to file criminal charges against Baldwin, who was holding the gun, or any crew members. Baldwin also has been mired in lawsuits related to the shooting.

“We can’t be okay. No one is okay,” a tearful Hilaria Baldwin said in an interview with Extra that was published last week. “It was and is a tragedy that nobody could ever have imagined.” She also said, ‘It was and is a tragedy that nobody could ever have imagined.”