Alec Baldwin poses with new kitten as he’s accused of ‘playing Russian roulette’ on film set

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While Alec Baldwin was hit Wednesday with a new lawsuit and faces ongoing personal and professional fallout from his shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, he’s been getting “comfort and love” from a new “Baldwinitos” family addition.

Several hours before attorney Gloria Allred held a press conference, at which she accused Baldwin of playing “Russian roulette” when he fired a gun on the set of “Rust,” Hilaria Baldwin, Baldwin’s wife, announced on Instagram Wednesday that the family has purchased a pricey new Bengal kitten.

The new lawsuit filed by a “Rust” crew member alleges that Baldwin, as actor and producer, and others on the New Mexico set of the low-budget Western film, were “reckless” and essentially played “fast and loose with safety and other regulations,” which contributed to Hutchins’ Oct. 21 death, Deadline reported.

“Mr. Baldwin chose to play Russian roulette when he fired a gun without checking it and without having the armorer do so in his presence,” Allred said.

“His behavior and that of the producers on Rust was reckless,” Allred added.

But as Allred slammed Baldwin, the actor’s influencer wife was working hard on Instagram Wednesday to portray him in a sympathetic light.

And she chose to do so with a cute-kitten post, which came with a montage of the new leopard-spotted feline interacting with the couple’s six young children. The montage also included a particularly odd photo of a tired-looking 63-year-old Baldwin, lying in bed with a look of bliss on his face from having the kitten nearby.

https://twitter.com/arliss1868/status/1461067310332985344

Hilaria Baldwin also has recently shared photos of her husband hugging and taking walks with their children.

“Spending lots of time together. Grateful for these kids,” Hilaria Baldwin wrote. She told the New York Post last month that she fears the film and TV star will develop post-traumatic stress disorder after killing someone, even if he did so accidentally.

Hilaria Baldwin furthermore revealed that the designer cat had been given a Spanish name: Cayetana Magdalena Baldwin. The name seems to be in line with her professed love and alleged cultural appropriation of all things Spanish, including her long-faked “half-Spanish” identity.

Notably, all of Alec and Hilaria Baldwin’s six young children have Spanish names, and so do their two other Bengal cats, Emilio Cookie and Antonio Cupcake.  As Hilaria Baldwin brightly noted in her emoji-laced Instagram post, their three cats — but not their kids — also have dessert-inspired middle names.

“We have a new member of our very large human and fur family … the kids have named her Cayetana Magdalena Baldwin,” Hilaria Baldwin wrote. “Fits right in with her brother cats with their pastry middle name (Emilio Cookie and Antonio Cupcake).”

Magdalenas are sugar-sprinkled breakfast muffins popular in Spain. The Boston-born Hilaria claims they were a “favorite childhood” treat and said “the Baldwinitos” get them shipped “from Spain.” She tagged the name of a tapas bar in a way that’s true to her influencer habits, but the bar said it’s located in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Hilaria Baldwin also offered an update on the condition of Emilio Cookie. The cat escaped the family’s rental house in Vermont, where they went to stay last month in an unsuccessful attempt to seek refuge from the media after Hutchins’ death.

Much drama ensued as the paparazzi caught photos of Baldwin searching the woods for Emilio, and Hilaria Baldwin blasted the media for not giving the family privacy. Emilio was soon found, but he had been injured.

“He was hit by a car. It was awful,” Hilaria Baldwin revealed Wednesday. She also said he suffered a broken leg and burst bladder. “Four blood transfusions later, 2 surgeries, including metal in his leg, he’s healing. He’s pretty pissed off about the cone and being cooped up to limit his mobility, but we are grateful he is on the mend.”

Hilaria Baldwin signed off her note with a heart emoji, expressing gratitude “for these animals that give us comfort and love…they are so therapeutic.”

While the cats may be “therapeutic,” they’ve also been controversial. The Baldwins’ choice to pay thousands of dollars for each of their hybrid, part-wild Bengal cats from an upscale breeder put them in the cross-hairs of an organization they have long supported, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

The Baldwins probably should have known that PETA and other animal-welfare organizations strongly discourage people from using breeders, encouraging them instead to adopt pets from shelters.

Hilaria Baldwin’s kitten post also offered a contrast to the tragic events of last month. Hutchins was killed while Baldwin was reportedly rehearsing a gunfight scene. The Colt revolver he was using as a prop discharged a live round, killing cinematographer Hutchins, 42, and wounding director Joel Souza, 48.

The veteran “30 Rock” star has continued to insist that Hutchins’ death was a “tragic accident” and that he was handed a gun that he was told was safe to use by assistant director Dave Halls.

But the new lawsuit by script supervisor Mamie Mitchell echoes what Allred alleged in her press conference, saying Baldwin was wrong to take someone else’s word that the gun was safe, Deadline reported.

“Alec Baldwin should have assumed that the gun in question was loaded unless and until it was demonstrated to him or checked by him that it was not loaded,” the lawsuit alleges, according to Deadline.

“He had no right to rely upon some alleged statement by the assistant director that it was a ‘cold gun,’” the lawsuit said, adding: “Mr. Baldwin cannot hide behind the assistant director to attempt to excuse the fact that he did not check the gun himself.”

Mitchell’s lawsuit furthermore said that the script didn’t call for any gun to be discharged in the scene. The script called for three camera shots: one focused on Baldwin’s eyes, one focused on a bloodstain on his shoulder and a third on Baldwin’s torso as he reached for the gun, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Last week, crew member Serge Svetnoy also filed a lawsuit against Baldwin, Halls, armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed and several other defendants, accusing them of negligence that caused him “severe emotional distress.”

The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department continues to investigate the shooting to determine how a live round ended up on the site and in the gun.

The department has said in court documents that prop master Sarah Zachary removed the gun from a locked props truck and gave it to Gutierrez Reed, Yahoo reported. The armorer loaded it with rounds from a box of dummies, but one of the rounds was apparently a live round.

Gutierrez Reed said she showed the gun to Halls, who has admitted he didn’t thoroughly inspect it before giving it to Baldwin, Yahoo added.

In an interview Monday, actor and director George Clooney also suggested that Baldwin should have checked the gun himself, even if he was assured the gun was safe.

“Every single time I’m handed a gun on the set — every time they hand me a gun, I look at it, I open it, I show it to the person I’m pointing it too, I show it to the crew,” Clooney said. “Every single take.”

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