If you're an avid Netflix watcher, chances are you've only ever heard Gillian Anderson speak with a British accent.
The 52-year-old actress has become the internet's latest crush after starring as sex expert Jean Milburn (and Otis' well-intentioned mum) in Sex Education and as Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the latest season of The Crown (and became the show's resident behind-the-scenes prankster).
In both Netflix series, Gillian speaks with a practically perfect British accent. That's why fans were shocked when she opened her mouth to accept her Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Series for her performance in The Crown on Sunday, Feb. 28. In her speech, she thanked her "army of incredibly magical women" for helping her pull off the look and performance.
The twist? Gillian gave the speech in her real-life American accent, which led fans to learn that she was, in fact, born in Chicago. Her family then lived in London for nearly 10 years before moving to Grand Rapids, Michigan. She later got her BFA at Chicago's DePaul University.
During the Golden Globes, fans took to Twitter to share their reactions, with one writing, "was anyone else very extremely shocked to find out that gillian anderson is NOT BRITISH AT ALL?! FULLY american. WHY does she only do roles that require a british accent????? i've been bamboozled beyond recognition." Another said, "It's always exciting to see which accent Gillian Anderson will pull out."
But for one fellow celeb in particular, the whole thing felt like a bad case of déjà vu.
Enter Alec Baldwin, who tweeted out a CNN story titled, "Gillian Anderson's American accent throws some people off." The Saturday Night Live star tweeted, "Switching accents ? That sounds...fascinating," implying it hit a little too close to home.
It appears to be a subtle dig at Gillian after Alec's wife, Hilaria Baldwin, faced widespread public backlash in December, when she was accused of faking a Spanish accent for most of her career.
Social media users pounced when they discovered Hilaria went by Hillary when she was growing up in Massachusetts. The 37-year-old author has said she was born in Boston and spent a lot of her childhood in Spain. She's lived in New York since she was 19, and her parents now live in Mallorca, Spain.
On Dec. 27, Hilaria addressed the controversy about her heritage, saying in an Instagram video, "If I've been speaking a lot of Spanish, I tend to mix them and if I'm speaking more English...then I mix that." She added, "I'm not going to apologize for the amount of time that I spent in two countries and I'm not going to apologize for the fact that I speak two languages and I'm not going to apologize for the fact that I have two versions of my name."
Three days later, the yoga teacher spoke to The New York Times about the criticism and said people have been "misrepresenting me" when she felt that she's shared her life story "over and over again."
Alec has also defended his wife in recent days, after the couple welcomed their sixth child, daughter Lucia, with the help of a surrogate. One person commented on Hilaria's March 1 Instagram announcement, writing, "Who's the mother? She wasn't pregnant. She gave birth six months ago." To which Alec responded, "you should shut the f--k up and mind your own business."
Hilaria and Alec are also mom and dad to Carmen, 7; Rafael, 5; Leonardo, 4; Romeo, 2; and Eduardo, almost 6 months.