Hilaria Baldwin has defended her decision to welcome daughter Lucia through a surrogate.
The 38-year-old mum – who gave birth to six of her seven kids with husband Alec Baldwin – has hit back at critics and noted her 20-month-old girl is not “any less” hers because of how she was delivered.
Speaking on the latest episode of her “Witches Anonymous” podcast, she said: “There’s no difference.
“And people assume that I’m less of a mom, that she’s less of my daughter…
“She is just as attached to me as all my other ones.
“I don’t have a difference between my daughter that was born via surrogacy and my six other children that I carried.”
Baldwin – who suffered two miscarriages in 2019 before choosing to use a surrogate to welcome Lucia into the world – pointed out that there “are many different ways to become a parent”.
She explained how she felt “shamed” for choosing to go down that route, and she was left feeling like an “outcasted person”.
She said: “We’re considered to be breeders in many ways – and this is me, who has seven kids – but I understand that the historical connection of women is breeder.
“And if you cannot breed in the traditional way, or you do not want to breed in the traditional way, people think that they have a right to talk about it.
Meanwhile, the yoga instructor revealed she has an “amazing” relationship with her surrogate – whose identity she is keeping private out of respect for the woman – and they “talk almost every single day”.
She added: “We’re so close and went through such amazing transformations together.”
She also reflected on the impact people’s criticisms have on her, pointing out that by questioning her whether she should’ve welcomed her via surrogate, “which is therefore questioning whether she should exist”.
She said: “They don’t know my story because I have yet to share it with people.
“And one of the reasons I didn’t share it with people is they were not very nice about it.
“It made me so sad — the feeling of judgment.
“And on such innocence.”