Hilaria Baldwin is "forever grateful" to TLC for giving her and husband Alec Baldwin the "scary but cathartic" opportunity to "speak freely" with their fly-on-the-wall reality show.

The 41-year-old yoga instructor and her 67-year-old actor spouse's show follows them as they raise their seven children in New York and Hilaria had admitted they both went in completely blind and had no idea how it would impact their lives.

She told HELLO! Magazine: "It was scary but cathartic.

"We had no idea what this experience was going to be like, or what was going to happen in our lives, but we found great partners in TLC and in the entire team of producers and crew.

"We had incredible people surrounding us and capturing us being able to speak freely.

"I'm forever grateful."

Despite feeling a sense of excitement and worry, Hilaria said she and Alec were quickly put at ease as their showrunner stressed that "the word 'consent' was the most important for this show".

Feeling "surprised" at the time, the entrepreneur recalled: "On the first day we met our showrunner, she told me that the word 'consent' was the most important for this show.

"I was surprised because it's not what I would have expected.

"She knows we are very open people, and given a safe space, we can share and show freely."

And Hilaria is thankful for the "amazing" showrunner - who is "a mother herself" - for guiding her about the process of filming their children and how they always "asked permission first and respected their answer".

She said: "A mother herself, she was also an amazing guide for me as I learnt what it was like to have the children in front of the cameras.

"Every time they filmed the children, they asked permission first and respected their answer.

"This was not what I was expecting from a reality show."