Alec and Hilaria’s red carpet tiff

This week, a video of Alec and Hilaria Baldwin’s very awkward red carpet moment at Planet Hollywood’s grand opening in New York City, which they were hosting, has been making the rounds on the internet and social media, prompting a lot of questions about their marriage and overall dynamic. While being interviewed by Extra on the red carpet, Hilaria threatened to walk out of the interview if Alec didn’t stop interrupting her.

During the interview, the couple was asked a series of questions about their new reality series, The Baldwins, the series premiere for which I wrote about here. While the couple were responding to the interviewer’s questions, they seemed asynchronized in their responses and in a struggle for the microphone. During their discussion of the importance of routine, which came after a strange history lesson from Alec on Planet Hollywood, he began complimenting his wife, which didn’t seem to land well with her.

"Every parent knows that a routine is king. Or queen. Routine is key, we'll just say,” she said, looking at Alec.

"Routine is essential," he responded, assisting her in her struggle for the right word. 

As she attempted to pick up where she left off, Alec asked what the Spanish word for essential is, which she informed us was basically just essential with a Spanish accent, before complimenting her beauty, both to her and to cameras.

"You're distracting me right now. Why? Why are you distracting me? Oh my God you're annoying me, stop. It's not cute, no. He's distracting me. I'm going to walk out of this interview," Hilaria said to cameras, before starting her thought over again.

If I hadn’t watched the series premiere of the show, I might have thought this exchange was more strange than it actually was. But having seen the two in their home environment, the offness of it all appears to be very on brand for them. The best comparison I can make when it comes to this couple is that they are like a very strange, unchoreographed dance routine, and it’s up to the viewer whether it’s artful or not. But moments like this do push me to explore whether this is intentional. 

I have a few theories about why this interview went so left and why people, including myself, have such a hard time putting their finger on what, exactly, is so off about this couple. And despite watching their show, I’m no closer to a definitive answer. 

My first theory is that this is part of their schtick. Alec is an older guy who is in constant admiration of his young, beautiful wife, and perhaps this is her way of showing humility at his fondness, despite the likelihood of her shutting him down the way she did being perceived as rude. She could be trying to put forth the image that she simply doesn’t know what to do with all these compliments. 

My second theory is that she wants to feed into the spicy Latina trope. In fact, the introductory line for Entertainment Weekly’s article highlighting the awkward red carpet interview reads: Hilaria Baldwin will not be silenced. That line is doing a lot. He’s obviously not trying to silence her, but their ways of being playful with each other (if that’s the intention here) simply don’t translate well to an outside audience. 

My third theory is that Hilaria and Alec are adjusting to their new roles of being reality TV stars, which he clearly defines as a struggle during the interview. When he was asked about whether it’s more difficult to learn script lines or show up and be himself on his new series, he defers to the latter, suggesting that he tries to make it more silly than it is because their life, at its core, is kind of boring. Hilaria immediately jumps in, though, likely trying to mitigate that being perceived the wrong way and says he doesn’t ramp up the silliness. 

Perhaps they’re also adjusting to her being the new face of the family, which is an idea I explored in my piece recapping the premiere. In theorizing why they are doing the show in the first place, my idea was this: 

I think this family is strategically reorganizing itself in order for Alec to take a step back, and for Hilaria to take a step forward, this is actually Hilaria’s entry onto center stage, to be the breadwinner for their family.  

But in this interview, Alec is clearly not taking a step back, and he’s chiming in with thoughts and remarks that I don’t think are working for Hilaria and for the image she wants to put out. She is ever-accustomed to being in control, and needing to be considering the absolute chaos she is navigating at home, overseeing their many children, pets, and nannies. Now, we’re seeing how that translates on a red carpet, with her constantly trying to regain control of the conversation, and him being…well, seemingly aloof.

These two have clearly not finessed the readjusting of roles in their family dynamic and may just need to sit down and strategize about what things need to look like from here on out. I think Hilaria is fully leaning in to her new found fame, and hopeful that Alec will follow her lead. But with a seasoned star, especially one who is several years older and proving to be out of touch, particularly as it pertains to what it means to have a reality show, the odds of that happening naturally are low. 

If they haven’t already engaged some PR professionals to assist with this transition, they should. Because if not, it looks like it’s going to take a while for the reimagining of their family to translate better on screen, in real life, and notably, on the red carpet.