Alec Baldwin turns to reality TV amid criminal trial, mounting legal expenses
Alec Baldwin will return to the small screen in an entirely new way by projecting fatherhood to seven children under the age of 10 with wife Hilaria Baldwin in a new reality TV series.
Tentatively called "The Baldwins," the show is set to debut on the TLC network in 2025 and will feature "the ups and downs, the good, the bad, the wild and the crazy," Alec said Tuesday in a video shared on Instagram.
While the inside look into Baldwin's life at home won't premiere for another year, it remains to be seen if cameras will be rolling when the award-winning actor goes to trial next month for involuntary manslaughter in the 2021 fatal shooting of "Rust" cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
Details about Alec and Hilaria's contracts are unclear, but brand expert Eric Schiffer exclusively told Fox News Digital, "This is a needed financial injection at a time when there's a huge sucking sound in both of their wallets because of the trial."
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Baldwin was indicted on two counts — involuntary manslaughter, negligent use of a firearm, or, in the alternative, involuntary manslaughter without due caution or circumspection — on Jan. 19. Hutchins died Oct. 21, 2021, after a gun Baldwin was holding discharged on the Western film set.
Jury selection is scheduled to begin July 9, and the trial is expected to last through July 19. If convicted, Baldwin faces up to 18 months in prison.
Schiffer explained that Baldwin's new stint on reality television may provide an "opportunity to still shape his public image, even though it doesn't come out til 2025."
"You can show the behind the scenes of all the pieces that he's going through that I think still serve him, irrespective of the outcome in 2025, and certainly serves his wife," Schiffer said.
"Depending upon what happens — if he's found innocent, it keeps him in the public eye, and to the extent he doesn't, and he's found guilty, I think it still serves him and certainly benefits her. So, it's a smart strategy overall.
"To participate financially from a PR standpoint, there's very little downside unless they have, you know, conflicts with the producers and there's pieces that they're not going to show, but that's unlikely."
Alec and Hilaria announced their new venture on Instagram in a video featuring a chaotic scene with several little ones running around the house. The couple attempted to echo "We are the Baldwins" with their seven kids with little success while snapping a family portrait.
"And we're coming to TLC. God help you all," Alec added.
Baldwin's familiar with television work and earned multiple Emmy Awards and nominations for his starring role on the popular NBC sitcom "30 Rock." The reality realm will be a whole new world, especially on a network known for making — and at times breaking — families.
"Jon & Kate Plus 8" focused on the lives of Jon and Kate Gosselin and their eight children — one set of twins and sextuplets.
The series ran for nearly a decade, including a rebranding effort in 2010 when the couple divorced after 10 years of marriage. The show was renamed "Kate Plus 8." Since their divorce, the former couple have battled over child custody agreements.
In 2022, Collin, one of the sextuplets, told Entertainment Tonight his relationship with his mom was severed after he was sent to a behavioral institution. He said the pressure of being on reality TV led to the estrangement with his mother.
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"I want to believe it was because of TV and what being in the public eye does to a family. I think it tore us apart," he said. "It gave us less time to actually be together as a family [and] more time to be in the public eye."
Another famous family that grew up in front of TLC viewers was the Duggars, the Arkansas brood from "19 Kids and Counting." The show focused on Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar and their 19 children who each had a name beginning with the letter "J."
The family quickly became a favorite among audiences for their focus on faith, homeschooling education and raising more than a dozen children under one roof with one budget. The show ran for seven seasons before it was canceled in 2015.
All was not as it seemed, though, as TLC suspended the series when Josh, the oldest Duggar child, publicly apologized for having "acted inexcusably" amid reports he molested five girls, including his sisters.
On April 29, 2021, Josh was arrested and charged with receiving and possessing child pornography. Eight months later, he was found guilty on all charges and was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison.
Psychotherapist Michael McGill, Jr. explained to Fox News Digital that while the Baldwins are "moneymakers," all opportunities to appear on television come with a caveat.
"The whole concept of reality television is that there are blessings and burdens to it," he said. "The blessing is, you can expose your way of thinking. You can, depending on your level of status, make more money. The burden is if you open yourself up to so much scrutiny, that can deeply harm your relationship.
"The reality is you open yourself up to public scrutiny, and you are a parent. And we live in a society where everyone wants to judge someone else's style of parenting. And sometimes it's warranted, sometimes it's not. And you open up to expose your life to become everyone else's business."
McGill noted how raising seven children is difficult enough without cameras.
"Parenting is such a sensitive topic because we all parent differently based on our value systems, our beliefs, our own norms. How we were raised, what we liked; what we didn't like," he said. "So, you now open up the floodgates to having the potential of millions of viewers seeing your level of parenting. That can deeply impact your relationship.
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"It can impact if you're not safe and secure together. It can break you apart, or it could bring you together."
One thing McGill, was certain of is that "Reality TV has very rarely helped someone secure a healthy relationship."
Alec and Hilaria will celebrate their 12th wedding anniversary at the end of the month. The couple live in Manhattan and listed their Hamptons estate for $18 million earlier this year after he was indicted on involuntary manslaughter charges.
Property records showed Baldwin purchased the mansion in 1996 for $1.75 million. He's attempted to unload the property multiple times over the last two years and initially listed the home for $29 million, lowering it to $25 million before settling below $20 million.
In addition to his seven children with wife Hilaria, Baldwin also has daughter Ireland with ex-wife Kim Basinger. Alec became a first-time grandfather last year when Ireland gave birth to a baby girl.
Making money and making sure he has money for his family is always on Baldwin's mind. While hiking with Kevin Nealon in 2019 as part of the comedian's YouTube series, Baldwin, 66, admitted his one wish was for more cash.
"So I can leave it to my wife when I’m dead 'cause I’m not gonna be around much longer, let’s face it," Baldwin said. "And I need to leave my wife a huge pile. A gigantic pile."
Hilaria, 40, a yoga enthusiast, co-founded a chain of yoga studios in New York and dabbled in the literary world with the 2016 release of a wellness-focused book, "The Living Clearly Method."
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Following her marriage to Baldwin, she became a lifestyle correspondent on "Extra" but became better known for her infamous vegetable saga where she forgot how to say the word "cucumber" on "The Today Show."
Born Hillary Lynn Hayward-Thomas in Boston, Hilaria was accused of exaggerating her Spanish heritage after her background was uncovered on social media in 2020.
She has since apologized for the confusion and admitted in an Instagram post at the time that "culture, languages, sexual orientations, religions [and] political beliefs" are "allow[ed] to be fluid."
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