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I was muy sorprendida when Alec and Hilaria Baldwin announced they were doing a TLC reality show about their lives. Between Hilaria being outed as not Spanish but a Bostoniana autentica, and Alec’s involvement in the tragic accidental killing of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, it didn’t seem like the best moment to invite more scrutiny. So at the very least, I expected that The Baldwins, which premiered February 23, would avoid any and all mention of Halyna. Shows you what I know! The second episode dove straight into the matter, with Hilaria saying Alec has survivor’s guilt, and Alec later talking about how it’s been hard to get work since the fatal accident. That prompted Gloria Allred, the lawyer for Halyna’s parents and sister, to release a statement on behalf of the family, asking why Alec is trying to play the victim. Allred also filed a notice to get Alec to testify in May for the two-year-old wrongful death suit
Gloria Allred and other attorneys for the Rust cinematographer’s mother Olga Solovey, father Anatolii Androsovych and sister Svetlana Zemko filed a notice of deposition in Santa Fe, N.M., on Monday, March 3. In a statement obtained by PEOPLE, they demanded that Baldwin testify on May 9 in the wrongful death civil suit they filed against him in February 2023.
The actor-producer, now 66, was rehearsing for the Western film in October 2021 when a prop gun he was holding accidentally fired, killing Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza. Baldwin, who has maintained that he did not pull the trigger, faced criminal charges in an involuntary manslaughter case that was dismissed with prejudice last July.
“It is long overdue for Alec Baldwin to admit and face the real-life consequences that he caused Halyna’s parents and sister. It is time for him to face reality under oath,” reads the statement, which condemns the TLC series starring Baldwin, his wife Hilaria and their seven children that premiered on Feb. 23.
“Why is he claiming that he has PTSD?” continues the statement, referencing Baldwin addressing the emotional fallout of the Rust incident on The Baldwins. “Is his reality show just a veiled attempt to create sympathy for himself with a future jury pool in our civil case? Is this just a shameless attempt to portray him as the real victim in this case?”
The statement notes that the Emmy winner “never called or tried to contact her parents or sister to say that he was sorry, and to this day he has never taken responsibility for Halyna’s death.”
Baldwin’s lawyers did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Baldwin faces another wrongful death civil lawsuit from Hutchins’ widower Matthew — named an executive producer on the to-be-released film — which has not been fully resolved, despite its October 2022 settlement. Several production crew members have filed suits against Baldwin and Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed (who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter last March).
This is a wound that is never going to heal, on all sides. Alec is not the victim here. That being said, I can absolutely imagine that the experience was horrific for him. Alec has to live the rest of his life knowing that the gun in his hands killed someone. But I think that should be his private pain, because making it public does run the risk of seeming opportunistic. Which, again, is why I cannot believe he signed on to talk about it all in a reality show! It’s not a good look, and I’m not at all surprised Gloria Allred is calling him out for playing the victim. Halyna’s family has to navigate their pain over the death of their daughter, sister, wife, mother. The loss is so significant that no one is going to be at peace no matter the court verdict.
Also, I wonder: is the memory of Halyna getting lost in all this? There’s a new Hulu documentary coming out on Tuesday called Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna. While it was made by friends & colleagues of Halyna’s, at a screening last week Rust director Joel Souza publicly asked the filmmakers why there wasn’t more of Halyna in the final film. We’ll have to wait to see the doc to judge for ourselves, but I will say this: the fleeting moments in the trailer of now-convicted armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed did not redeem her in any way.
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