Hilaria Baldwin is shedding light on the unique dynamic she shares with her stepdaughter, Ireland Baldwin, thanks to their unconventional 11-year age gap.
On the March 23 episode of The Baldwins podcast, the 41-year-old opened up about how their relationship has always been built on humor, understanding, and mutual respect.
“My relationship with Ireland is, I feel like it’s unique for a stepmom and stepdaughter relationship, because that’s technically what we are,” Hilaria explained.
“But first of all, I’m 11 years older than her. I didn’t raise her, and we find tremendous humor in that, and we always have found tremendous humor.”
That humor has only grown stronger as their family expanded in a rather unusual way—welcoming babies just 11 months apart.
Hilaria and her husband, Alec Baldwin, welcomed their youngest daughter, Ilaria Catalina Irena, in September 2022, while Ireland, 29, became a mom to baby Holland in May 2023 with her boyfriend, musician RAC (born André Allen Anjos).
“I haven’t seen Ireland in a long time because we live so far and we both had babies, and even though Alec met his new baby granddaughter, I haven’t met Holland until this little trip,” Hilaria shared, referring to Ireland’s visit to New York.
“We FaceTime all the time, we talk all the time, but we haven’t actually met up. And so we got all the kids together for a play date this morning.”
The blended Baldwin family tree may require a flowchart, but Hilaria is embracing the quirks of it all.
“It’s so wonderful, because we were pregnant together, but just barely,” she said. “So my baby is almost nine months older than Ireland’s baby, but my baby is Holland’s aunt, and Holland is my baby’s niece.”
Despite the complexities that sometimes come with blended families, Hilaria made it clear that Ireland has always been welcoming and supportive.
“Before I was her stepmother, when I met her, I first had a conversation with Alec, and I said, you know, if she doesn’t like me, I’m not staying ‘cause I’m not going to be wicked stepmother,” she recalled. “My place in life is not to come into a family and cause problems.”
Hilaria revealed that she had told Alec early on, “I love you, and I’m loving our relationship, but I have too much respect for the family” to stay if Ireland wasn’t on board. But any concerns quickly vanished.
“She immediately welcomed me. It was so easy. We’ve never fought,” she said.
Reflecting on how seamlessly she blended into the Baldwin family, Hilaria credited timing for making it all work.
“I was very lucky that I came into their family. Kim, Alec, and Ireland were at a place where everybody had moved on, and there was a place of being settled,” she explained, referencing Alec’s high-profile divorce from Kim Basinger in 2002.
“So I got very lucky.”
And while their bond is strong, Hilaria made it clear that she’s never tried to take on a parental role.
“She has a mom that she has a very good relationship with, and so my job wasn’t to come in and parent.”
Instead, the two have built a relationship on friendship, laughter, and a whole lot of love—proving that sometimes, unconventional family dynamics make for the best stories.
