Alec Baldwin's wife hit with allegations that she has lied for years about her Spanish heritage

Hilaria Baldwin, the wife of actor Alec Baldwin, has been hit with a barrage of accusations claiming that she has embellished and even falsified aspects of her heritage, with several critics comparing her to Rachel Dolezal, the white woman notorious for falsely claiming to be African American for years.

What are the details?

The Daily Mail reported that "the online frenzy over Hilaria's heritage began on Dec. 21 when a woman tweeted: 'You have to admire Hilaria Baldwin's commitment to her decade long grift where she impersonates a Spanish person.'"

In a thread, the Twitter user posted a series of videos purporting to show Hilaria allegedly faking a Spanish accent during media appearances, such as "pretending not to know how to say cucumber in English."

It turns out that the wife of the famous Trump-hating actor was actually born and raised in Boston to parents whose roots in America go back for several generations, but according to the New York Post, she has claimed more than once that she was born in Mallorca, Spain.

According to Page Six, her father's American lineage can be traced back to the Revolutionary War. The outlet noted that "after decades of living in Boston with their daughter, [Hilaria Baldwin's parents] retired to Mallorca in 2011 when Hilaria was 27 years old, thus making her on-again, off-again Spanish accent even more bizarre."

Baldwin claimed in an interview earlier this year that she moved to the United States from Spain at 19 in order to attend New York University, the Post reported. The Mail pointed out that "it has since emerged Hilaria, who was born Hillary Hayward-Thomas, attended $64,900-a-year The Cambridge School of Weston in Massachusetts."

People claiming to be Hilaria's former classmates at the school also wrote on social media that she did not have a Spanish accent growing up. Meanwhile, a video from years ago shows Alec Baldwin telling David Letterman on "The Late Show" that his "wife is from Spain," as he does an impression of her thick accent.

Hilaria, 36, addressed the claims as online fervor grew — and more clips surfaced — raising questions over whether she embellished her past. Taking to Instagram, she confessed that her given name is Hillary and explained to her followers, "Yes, I am a white girl. I am a white girl. Let's be very clear that Europe has a lot of white people in there and my family is white."

She added, "Culturally, I grew up with two cultures so it's really as simple as that."

What was the reaction?

Alec Baldwin also issued a video message in the aftermath without tackling the issue head-on, saying Twitter "is a lot of s**t."

"There's been a lot of things that have been said lately about people that I love, that I care about deeply, which are ridiculous," the 62-year-old actor said. "I mean, just ridiculous."

But critics were not convinced. The top story on the New York Post Monday night was an opinion piece claiming, "It's not just her name, Hilaria Baldwin's entire life is a fake."

The Washington Examiner's Tiana Lowe wrote that Hilaria "became Hollywood's Rachel Dolezal because of our sniveling, bootlicking press."

Several on social media have admitted to being gripped by the revelations with many saying they cannot turn away from the details. Fox News' Lisa Boothe tweeted, "The Hilaria Baldwin story is amazing. I can't stop reading about it."

Hilaria Baldwin Denies Faking Her Spanish Accent and Heritagewww.youtube.com

This story has been updated.