Getty Images/Noam Gala
KEY POINTS
- Alec Baldwin asked fans to follow his wife Hilaria on Instagram in posts leading up to her 39th birthday Friday
- He said his goal was to help his wife gain a million followers on the photo-sharing app
- The “Beetlejuice” star enlisted the help of their daughter Carmen in one video
Alec Baldwin’s mission to help his wife, Hilaria Baldwin, achieve a million followers on Instagram was a success.
Alec asked fans to follow his wife on the photo-sharing app in posts leading up to her 39th birthday on Friday.
In a video posted Thursday, the “Beetlejuice” star said that his wife, whom he called his “favorite person,” was “just centimeters shy of a million followers” and that he wanted to help her reach that milestone for her birthday this year.
“I would like as many of you as possible, I would like a really great, great surge of people to follow my wife on Instagram to say ‘happy birthday’ to my wife,” he said in the video. “Would you do that for me? Would you follow my wife on Instagram? Please?”
He pleaded with his fans to follow Hilaria “as a birthday gift, or even just a gesture to my wife.”
“Would you follow her on Instagram?” he added.
On Hilaria’s birthday, Alec uploaded another video, this time featuring their 9-year-old daughter Carmen asking social media users to follow her mother.
“Follow my mom on Instagram — please, and thank you,” she said in the video before it showed Alec saying, “Today is the day.”
“Happy birthday @hilariabaldwin. Follow her on Instagram. Our goal is 1 million followers!!” he wrote in the caption.
The father and daughter’s efforts eventually paid off because Hilaria now has 1 million followers on Instagram.
However, Alec’s posts received mixed responses from social media users, with some describing them as “bizarre” and “embarrassing.”
“I would have respected a request to assist a charity to honor her birthday rather than concern ourselves about his wife’s Insta followers tally! Aren’t there more pressing things in the world you could address?” one person commented on the actor’s solo video.
“This is an uncomfortable request. I have no reason to follow her,” a second user wrote.
Another added, “What’s important about a million followers? 2 million followers? 1 billion followers? It’s just all celebrity ego nonsense.”
“This is sort of weird. Is having more Instagram followers what she wants for her birthday? It seems like someone that’s as in tune with humanity would know that this won’t bring her any peace or self-worth,” a different user commented on his and Carmen’s video.
While many slammed Alec, a number of his followers and pals expressed support for him.
“Done! Mwah,” actress Julie Halston commented. Singer Ada Pasternak wrote, “Done! Just followed her. Happy almost birthday @hilariabaldwin.”
“What a sweet request! I already follow your beautiful @hilariabaldwin so I’m reaching out to my pals to follow her!” actress Frances Fisher wrote, tagging some of her friends in her comment.
“Done!! Happy birthday @hilariabaldwin,” another person said.
On Saturday, Hilaria shared a clip of how she celebrated her special day with Alec and their kids. The footage featured some of their children greeting her, the family singing “Happy Birthday” in front of four cakes on a table and the couple dressed up for presumably a dinner celebration.
“Love you all for the birthday wishes and helping me celebrate 39….here is too much cake, wild Baldwinito dance parties and getting dressed up to go out with my husband,” Hilaria wrote in the caption.
Alec and Hilaria share seven kids — Carmen, 9, Rafael, 7, Leonardo, 6, Romeo, 4, Edu, 2, Maria, 1, and 3-month-old daughter Ilaria. He also shares daughter Ireland with ex-wife Kim Basinger.
The celebrity couple welcomed Ilaria on Sept. 22, 2022.
“How grateful we feel to welcome our newest little daughter into this world,” the couple said in a statement to People. “Just as magical and filled with love as every other little person we have been blessed with.”
AFP / Angela Weiss
