Alec Baldwin Says Filming Reality Show During “Rust” Trial Was 'Unique,' Says They're Not 'Staging Anything' (Exclusive)

• Alec Baldwin tells PEOPLE it was a "unique" time when the family were filming their new TLC series The Baldwins amid last year's Rust shooting trial

• Cameras began rolling on the show the month before the actor headed to trial in July — and the series shows how he and Hilaria juggled parenting and day-to-day life with their kids alongside the legal proceedings

• Alec also tells PEOPLE the family weren't "staging" or "faking" anything while filming the reality series, which premiered last month

Alec Baldwin is opening up about what it was like filming his family's new reality series The Baldwins amid last year's Rust shooting trial.

While speaking to PEOPLE at an event celebrating the grand opening of the new Planet Hollywood in Times Square on Tuesday, March 11, Alec, 66, spoke about the TLC series, which premiered on Feb. 23, admitting it was a "unique time" for the family when they filmed the show.

The actor stood trial last July after being indicted for involuntary manslaughter following the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of his movie Rust in October 2021. Hutchins, 42, was killed and writer-director Joel Souza was injured after a prop gun that Alec was holding on the New Mexico set discharged.

Cameras began rolling on The Baldwins the month before Alec headed to trial — and the series shows how he and wife Hilaria, 41, juggled parenting and day-to-day life with their kids alongside the legal proceedings.

On the third day of the trial, the judge threw out the case due to a late discovery of evidence. The case was dismissed with prejudice after Alec’s lawyers argued that the prosecution withheld evidence relevant to the case.

Related: Halyna Hutchins’ Family Demands Alec Baldwin Testify in Wrongful Death Lawsuit, Calls His TLC Show 'Shameless'

Alec tells PEOPLE of filming their show during such a tough time, "When I think of the reality show, many things occur to me after the fact like when we were doing it, it was a bit of a unique time for us, but afterward when we did it, I realized that that's who we are."

"The kids have fun, the kids are happy. It's not like we're staging anything or faking. The kids really are in each other's lives," the actor continues of the couple's seven children. "They have friends and go to play dates and this and that, but they would rather stay home with each other," he adds while talking about what the camera captures.

"They're like a pack … they're very close and they want to just be with each other, so this representation is pretty authentic about how we live our lives," he says.

Hilaria went on to tell PEOPLE that she's "really grateful that we did the show" and has "no regrets." "I think it was during a time where I almost can't believe that we agreed to do something during that time, and I'm really happy that we did," she says.

"So looking back through such surreal experiences and such a hectic and stressful and emotional time, it's so nice to see it captured and so it's almost like I learned so much about us through watching us, you know, it's like a little bit on the outside perspective," she adds.

Hilaria continues, "We're trying to figure out where we're going now, you know? We're figuring out what's next."

In a recent cover story interview with PEOPLE, Alec reflected on coming to terms with the Rust accident, sharing, “I had to stuff [feelings] down because I had seven kids. I couldn’t really go in the other room and cry or whatever. And now the emotion is really kind of washing up on me.”

In the second episode of The Baldwins, Hilaria recalled receiving alarming messages from her husband the day after the 2021 shooting.

Related: Hilaria Baldwin Reveals the Heartbreaking Question Daughter Carmen, 11, Asked Dad Alec Baldwin Ahead of His Rust Trial

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In a confessional, Hilaria added that Alec “has survivor’s guilt” following the fatal incident. “You're involved in this thing that nobody could even possibly imagine. And so he goes back to that day, he wishes it were him. He would change places [with Hutchins] in a second," she said.

Alec has since filed a lawsuit against the prosecutors, investigators and others, accusing them of “malicious abuse of process, intentional spoliation of evidence, defamation, and violation of the New Mexico Civil Rights Act.”

His suit claims the defendants “sought at every turn to scapegoat Baldwin for the acts and omissions of others, regardless of the evidence or the law.” (The film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter last March for her role in Hutchins’s death.)

The Baldwins airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC. Episodes are available to stream on Max.

Read the original article on People