Halyna Hutchins’ Husband Speaks Out In First Interview Since Deadly Rust Shooting - Blasts Alec Baldwin For Shifting Blame!

Halyna Hutchins’ family is ready to tell their story while they fight for justice in the wake of her tragic death.

The cinematographer, just 42 years old, died on October 21 in New Mexico after a gun held by Alec Baldwin accidentally fired on the set of the western film Rust, injuring director Joel Souza and killing Halyna. An investigation is still ongoing to determine who should be held responsible, but the Ukrainian filmmaker’s husband Matthew Hutchins is making his opinion heard loud and clear.

Earlier this month, Matthew sued Alec for wrongful death, claiming he completely lied about not pulling the trigger. The suit, which was filed on behalf of Matthew and the couple’s 9-year-old son Andros, also blamed many others involved with the production for allegedly neglecting to establish a safe work environment. Now, Matt is yet again opening up about the tragedy — and he is sparing no detail.

To share his side of the story, the grieving husband sat down with Hoda Kotb for an emotional chat on Thursday. The first part of the conversation aired on TODAY; more is expected to air on the show’s streaming channel Today All Day Thursday night. The conversation was also included as an episode of the host’s podcast Making Space. To begin, the attorney gushed about how in love he was with Halyna while adding that she had such a special “connection” with their son. That, of course, made this situation all the more heartbreaking. He recalled the moment he learned about the accident, saying:

“I remember the production team told me that Halyna had been shot, and my heart sank right away. Completely inexplicable to me that it could have happened at that moment. And the first thing I thought — I sat down and I said, ‘I have to get my son.’ Because I had to be with him. I rushed home and, on the way, decided that we had to go to Sante Fe. And when I got through to the doctor and spoke with him and he detailed exactly what had happened and that she didn’t survive, I mean, I was heartbroken.”

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A post shared by Matthew Hutchins (@mhutchins777)

And there were many more heartbreaking moments to come as well, especially as he had to tell their son Andros what had happened. Matt continued:

“And I knew that I had to tell my son right away when I saw him. Just had to be very direct and blunt, because going to pick him up and take him straight to the airport to go to Sante Fe, I didn’t want him to think that we were going to be seeing her and having fun together, and getting his hopes up. I told him, sitting together, that mother had been shot and died. And of course, he didn’t believe it right away. Didn’t want to believe it.”

When asked what Andros said after hearing the news, the father noted:

“That kind of news you just have to say multiple times so that it can be believed. So, he believed it and we cried together then. Every holiday, Christmas, New Year’s, our anniversary, my birthday, Valentine’s Day, every holiday is difficult without her. For me and Andros.”

So, so sad to hear. According to Hoda, Andros “wasn’t speaking for a couple of days after it happened.” Matthew was happy to share that he had “recently got him to laugh.” Just an example of how gut-wrenching a tragedy like this is.

Hoda then shifted the conversation onto Baldwin, who called Matthew after the incident and later met up with the family when they arrived in town. When asked what was going through his head at the time, Matt mused:

“To understand that moment you have to remember the shock we were in. I spoke with Mr. Baldwin and was just looking for a way through the storm.”

He then added:

“There were a lot of emotions, for sure. On both sides.”

While Alec and Matthew may have leaned on each other for support in the early days after the shooting, things have definitely changed. It sounds like that has a lot to do with the 63-year-old’s tell-all interview in which he tried to insist he wasn’t the one to blame for the tragedy. Matt explained:

“Watching him I just felt so angry. I was just so angry to see him talk about her death so publicly, in such a detailed way and then to not accept any responsibility after having just described killing her.”

Whoa…

Hoda then explained:

“He said, essentially, he felt grief but no guilt.”

In response, Matt remarked:

“Almost sounds like he was the victim. And hearing him blame Halyna in the interview and shift responsibility onto others, and seeing him cry about it, I just feel like, are we really supposed to feel bad about you, Mr. Baldwin?”

While he is going to let the District Attorney decide whether criminal charges should be filed against the 30 Rock alum, he did have this to say on Alec’s behavior:

“The idea that the person holding the gun causing it to discharge is not responsible is absurd to me. Every individual who touches a firearm has a responsibility for gun safety. But gun safety was not the only problem on that set. There were a number of industry standards that were not practiced. There’s multiple responsible parties.”

Matthew’s suit claims that cost-cutting efforts helped create this unsafe environment, as well. But Baldwin’s attorney disagrees, saying in a statement:

“Any claim that Alec was reckless is entirely false.”

While Matthew knows that Halyna will never be brought back, he hopes justice in this case will help prevent future deaths. To hear more from the harrowing conversation, take a listen (below).

EXCLUSIVE: @hodakotb sits down with Matt Hutchins, who’s speaking out for the first time since his wife, cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, was killed on the set of “Rust.” pic.twitter.com/mswQRlevxx

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) February 24, 2022