Hilaria Baldwin Was ‘Messing with’ Paparazzi in Mob Wife Aesthetic

Hilaria Baldwin is opening up about the pitfalls of how she has navigated the paparazzi in the past.

The mother of seven, 41, revealed on the March 16 episode of The Baldwins that she knows it’s better to “disengage” when approached by photographers, adding, “Have I always disengaged? No. Have I had problems? Absolutely.” 

The television personality recalled one incident with the paparazzi after her husband Alec Baldwin was charged with involuntary manslaughter for a second time in connection with the fatal 2021 Rust shooting in January 2024. The case was dismissed in July of that year.

“They’re all there, I got mobbed in the morning. It was just absolutely insane,” Hilaria recalled as a headline is shown, which reads “Brrr! Hilaria Baldwin Nails Mob Wife Aesthetic in Freezing Temps!”

After audio played of commentators questioning the reason for her fashion choices — which included a mini skirt, fish net stockings, and silver metallic jacket — she defended her decision, saying, “Alec needed to try to get in the car and to try to protect him, I went inside, put on a ridiculous outfit and went back outside.” 

“I mean, the fact that they didn’t realize that I was messing with them is extraordinary,” she added. 

Hilaria then further detailed how her plan worked, explaining, “I put my back to the corner so their back was to the apartment, and then we had a car pull up. Alec goes into the car [and] drives off. Then, I walked right back to the house.”

She denied that she was clamoring for the spotlight.

“People call me an attention seeker, like they’ll say all sorts of things because they don’t understand what I’m doing, and so they think I’m nuts, and I’m like, you know what? Call me nuts, but you know what?” she said. “I’m gonna take care of my husband and I’m gonna take care of my kids.”

Alec admitted that he has also had “skirmishes” with the paparazzi over the years, but he has since tried to change his ways. 

“I’m 66 years old,” he said. “What are you gonna do now? You either punch every tabloid photographer, the way the world is now, you’re going to be exhausted by the end of the day. If the guy’s taking a picture of my family from 75 feet away when I was much younger, I would really, really let that bother me. But after everything we’ve been through, I just want to take care of my family. I want to be left alone.”

However, he acknowledged he would still defend his family, saying, “I don’t want to say, oh, I can show you some yelling, but I mean, you know, get a paparazzi in here who tries to chip my wife’s teeth with a lens of this camera, then you’re gonna see some yelling.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

The Baldwins airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on TLC.