The Viall Files — E1046: Going Deeper with Hilaria Baldwin
Date: December 10, 2025
Host: Nick Viall
Co-hosts: Natalie Joy, "The Household"
Guest: Hilaria Baldwin

Episode Overview

In this “Going Deeper” episode, Nick Viall, Natalie Joy, and the team sit down with Hilaria Baldwin for a vulnerable, candid, and often funny conversation. Hilaria, mom of seven and wife to actor Alec Baldwin, opens up about motherhood, navigating public scrutiny, trauma and healing after pregnancy loss, the challenges of raising a big family, marriage dynamics, and being a frequent subject of tabloid controversy. The group also discusses pop culture moments, Dancing with the Stars, reality television, parenting in the public eye, social media, and the importance of embracing one’s uniqueness.

Tone: Warm, personal, honest, and often humorous—with moments of vulnerability.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Parenting Young Kids & Family Dynamics

• The group swaps stories of “terrible twos,” differences between sons and daughters, and the chaos of big families.
• Hilaria details her experience with children of different personalities, joking about her 3-year-old daughter:
  • “She swears. She gives me the middle finger.” (Hilaria, 04:23)
• Shares funny anecdotes about her youngest, the “karma” child who is “non-stop” and “spicy.”
  • “My mother tells me she’s my karma.” (Hilaria, 04:09)

2. Miscarriage, IVF, Surrogacy, and Pregnancy Loss

• Both Hilaria and Natalie share their experiences with pregnancy loss and the impact on mental health.
• Hilaria describes her late-term miscarriage at five months, the aftermath, and the grief that follows:
  • “You have to go home and... your belly is a tomb. It was something to create life and now it’s a tomb.” (Hilaria, 15:56)
• Discusses IVF, decision for surrogacy, and society’s silence around miscarriage:
  • “To pretend that you’re okay when you’re not okay is very hard on top of being really not okay.” (Hilaria, 10:25)
  • “I wanted to help open the door for people to talk about having a miscarriage while they're having a miscarriage.” (Hilaria, 10:01)

3. Marriage With Alec Baldwin & Navigating Generational Gaps

• Hilaria met Alec at 27; he was 53. She recalls his decisiveness about wanting kids immediately:
  • “For six weeks, he shook my hand... he’s like, ‘We’re gonna get married, we’re gonna have kids. I need to know you wanna have kids.’” (Hilaria, 21:57)
• The couple’s 26-year age gap and blending boomer and millennial mindsets:
  • “I was trying to make him a millennial… One of the biggest mistakes I ever made…” (Hilaria, 41:14)
  • “Once I allowed him to be his culture, to be his boomerness…” (Hilaria, 41:36)
• Almost divorcing after their second child:
  • “Baby number two...often does that to couples…once I got to three babies, I kind of embraced chaos.” (Hilaria, 41:09)

4. Managing Public Scrutiny, Tabloid Culture, and Rumors

• The group discusses being targets of online negativity and misinformation.
• Hilaria on bizarre rumors, like her secretly hiring surrogates and “moon bumps” (fake pregnancies):
  • “No, no, there’s a really funny one...It’s a room full of surrogates I have in another apartment.” (Hilaria, 31:30)
• On her much-criticized accent and code-switching:
  • “Who gives a f***? First of all, who cares?... It picked at my Achilles heel.” (Hilaria, 34:43 & 36:04)
• Addresses the infamous “red carpet” moment (“When I’m talking, you’re not talking!”):
  • “What I was disappointed in was, where’s my girls at? ...It could have been a viral moment for woman empowerment, but it was framed improperly.” (Hilaria, 37:14)
• Strategies to cope:
  • “You get good at letting it not be debilitating.” (Hilaria, 29:16)
  • “There’s a huge business...of tearing people apart. It makes a lot of money. They wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t making them money.” (Hilaria, 29:21)

5. Raising Kids in the Spotlight & Media Decisions

• Explains her decision to share children’s photos to reduce paparazzi chase and tabloid bounty:
  • “Our first child was $95,000...I donated all of that...I started Instagramming them. You put the photo up, the lower the bounty is, and less harassment you get.” (Hilaria, 71:47 & 71:57)
• The importance of family transparency:
  • “The only way that I’ve known to go through it...is to be as open as possible, because kids are very smart, and they’re gonna fill in the blanks.” (Hilaria, 48:02)

6. Dancing with the Stars and Pop Culture

• Hilaria candidly discusses her Dancing with the Stars journey, why she described her exit as being “bullied off” due to campaign voting tactics:
  • “What they do is they make these campaigns that they’ll vote for every single person except the couple that they want to go home...It is bullying.” (Hilaria, 62:48)
• Challenges Bobby Bones to a dance-off in good humor.

7. Resilience, Identity, and “Secret Sauce” in Marriage

• Hilaria’s advice on making relationships work:
  • “You have to want to...The moment you don’t want to make it work anymore, you can’t convince the other person that they should be in it.” (Hilaria, 73:31)
• On romance and keeping connection strong:
  • “He’s very romantic and less romantic. I’m very practical...You gotta keep that part of your life very funky, very spunky.” (Hilaria, 75:08)

8. Parenting & Technology

• Discusses phones and social media with her 12-year-old:
  • “She has a phone. And I regret it. And I haven’t given my other one. And she’s the one that the other ones will get. No phones.” (Hilaria, 76:05)
• Encourages open conversations with kids and balances tech with real-world experiences.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “My mother tells me she’s my karma.” (Hilaria, 04:09)
• “I’m not doing this again...your belly is a tomb.” (Hilaria, 15:56)
• “To pretend that you’re okay when you’re not okay is very hard on top of being really not okay.” (Hilaria, 10:25)
• “For six weeks, he shook my hand...he’s like, ‘We’re gonna get married, we’re gonna have kids. I need to know you wanna have kids.’” (Hilaria, 21:57)
• “No, there’s a really funny one...It’s a room full of surrogates I have in another apartment.” (Hilaria, 31:30)
• “You get good at letting it not be debilitating.” (Hilaria, 29:16)
• “I wanted to help open the door for people to talk about having a miscarriage while they're having a miscarriage.” (Hilaria, 10:01)
• “He’s the one. I’m always like, what’d you say on the interview? What’d you say?” (Hilaria, 68:38)
• “You have to want to...and that’s the secret sauce.” (Hilaria, 73:31)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Introduction/Banter: [02:11]
• Parenting anecdotes and family chaos: [02:23]–[05:48]
• Pregnancy loss, IVF, surrogacy journey: [05:50]–[15:56]
• Public scrutiny and infamous rumors: [29:13], [31:23], [34:43]
• Accent/code-switching discourse: [34:43]–[36:04]
• Red carpet moment / tabloid framing: [37:02]–[38:49]
• Marriage dynamics and nearly divorcing: [41:02]–[43:51]
• Dancing with the Stars experience: [61:58]–[66:04]
• Parenting, social media, and paparazzi: [70:40]–[73:16]
• Advice for relationships – secret sauce: [73:16]–[74:48]
• Keeping romance alive: [75:08]–[75:57]
• Phones and kids, parenting tech: [76:05]–[77:21]
• Holiday plans and family traditions: [56:11]–[57:33]
• Conclusion and book promos: [79:10]–[80:19]

Themes & Takeaways

• Authenticity in Vulnerability: The episode models how open conversation about grief, loss, and blame can foster community and understanding, especially about miscarriage and motherhood.
• Navigating Fame as a Family: Hilaria’s approach to tabloid scrutiny and social-media “bounties” on celebrity children is practical and protective.
• Marriage through Difference and Adversity: The Baldwin “secret sauce” is consistent commitment and willingness—a choice to show up and keep growing together despite generational, cultural, and external challenges.
• Defiance Against Negative Narratives: Hilaria and Nick agree that tabloid narratives don’t define reality; owning one’s story (and humor) is key.

This episode serves as a heartfelt, real-time portrait of family, fame, and personal resilience. Hilaria’s honesty and humor make it illuminating for anyone struggling with public judgment, relationship challenges, or motherhood—in or out of the public eye.