Alec Baldwin has jokingly admitted that he “forgot” his eldest daughter Ireland Baldwin in a tribute to his children in which he’d described his seven youngest as his “reasons to carry on during some tough times”.
The Boss Baby star, 65, addressed the mistake after he uploaded a tribute to his and wife Hilaria Baldwin’s seven children on Instagram on Thursday.
In the post, Baldwin shared an album of photos of the couple’s children Carmen, nine, Rafael, seven, Leonardo, six, Romeo, four, Eduardo, two, Lucia, two, and Ilaria, seven months, with the actor writing in the caption: “Seven reasons to carry on during some tough times. I’m not gonna lie, without my family, I don’t know what my life would be.”
The sentimental post came after Baldwin recently resumed filming for Rust after criminal charges against the actor over the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins were dropped. However, the tribute prompted many of Baldwin’s followers to point out that he’d seemingly forgotten to include his eldest daughter whom he shares with ex-wife Kim Basinger.
“What about your oldest daughter?” one comment reads, while another person asked: “Don’t you have eight children?”
“You forgot one,” someone else alleged.
The post also prompted criticism of Baldwin’s parenting abilities, with one person claiming that the post suggested “Ireland doesn’t count”.
“Sorry...but it’s bad not to include all your children,” another critic wrote.
An hour after he uploaded the original tribute to his seven youngest children, Baldwin returned to Instagram to share a photo of Ireland, who is currently expecting her first child with her boyfriend, musician RAC, also known as André Allen Anjos.
In the post, Baldwin poked fun at the apparent mistake with a reference to late keyboardist, singer and songwriter Billy Preston, who was dubbed the “Fifth Beatle” by John Lennon for his work alongside The Beatles. Although Preston was never added to the band officially, he was one of the only non-Beatle musicians to be given a co-credit on the band’s music. In 1971, during the Concert For Bangladesh organised by George Harrison, Harrison reportedly told the audience: “We’ve forgotten Billy Preston!” while he was introducing the band.
“We forgot Billy Preston! This one, the first one, is about to make me a grandfather. Oy,” Baldwin captioned the close-up black-and-white photo of his 27-year-old model daughter.
The late tribute sparked divisiveness among the actor’s followers, with some defending him and applauding him for his handling of the backlash while others continued to suggest Baldwin needed to “do better”.
“She deserves her own post,” one fan commented, while another said: “God’s sake people he’s just saying in jest!! He’s amongst the seven kids all the time and Ireland lives separately from them, as if he would deliberately exclude his eldest daughter… get a life people stop focusing on negativity and see the positives in this man’s life.”
“I think you rock, but indeed my first thought when I saw the seven reasons pic was ‘you mean eight?’” someone else said.
Others didn’t find the humour in Baldwin’s late acknowledgement of his eldest daughter. “He has so many babies now he ‘forgot’ he had an adult daughter. So cringe,” one person wrote, while another said: “Terrible, how do you forget a child. Poor Ireland!”
As of now, Ireland has not addressed her father’s post, but she has continued to share pregnancy-related updates with her own followers. In a post shared on Instagram this week, the model shared a look at the fruit-themed nursery she has decorated ahead of her daughter’s arrival.
Baldwin’s tribute to his firstborn comes after Hilaria shared a video of her and the actor’s daughter Carmen explaining to her siblings that Ireland was going to be a mother.
“You’re going to be a grandpa,” the nine year old then told her father, who could be seen covering his face.
In the caption of the post, Hilaria shared the family’s well-wishes to Ireland as she embarks on motherhood, writing: “From all these excited tiny uncles and aunties and grandpa Alec and grandma me... We are so happy for you, Ireland and Andre…can’t wait to meet the little babe.”
The Independent has contacted a representative for Alec Baldwin for comment.
