Salma Hayek—RUBEN V. NEPALES
LOS ANGELES—Happy Easter! I wish you and your family the renewal of life and love, and the hope of new beginnings.
When you ask Salma Hayek what brand of shoes she’s wearing, she’s not shy to raise her left leg up in the air to check.
“The shoes are Gucci,” she answers after gamely putting her leg up, showing off a sexy black pump.
No surprise there. After all, the actress is married to Francois-Henri Pinault, CEO of Kering, which owns brands like Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga and Alexander McQueen. She’s wearing a red
polka-dot dress, unbuttoned just enough to display her famous ample cleavage.
With four homes in various parts of the world, the Mexico native is teased that she has heels and pumps in each home so she could probably give Imelda Marcos a run for her shoes.
While the Lebanese-Mexican (her father has Lebanese roots) beauty admits she has stilettos everywhere, she’d rather wear slippers, especially when she’s just hanging around with Valentina Paloma, her 9-year-old daughter with Francois-Henri, whose family’s net worth is a paltry $15 billion. The Pinault family also owns Chateau Latour, the top Bordeaux vineyard in the world.
Ironically, Salma is busier now than when she was single.
Among her films this year is the comedy “How to Be a Latin Lover,” with Eugenio Derbez, one of the most popular and influential Latino actors, in the title role.
She plays Sara, the estranged sister of Eugenio’s Maximo, a gigolo who is forced to live with Sara and her son when he is dumped by her sugar mama for a younger lover.
Rob Lowe, Kristen Bell, Raquel Welch and Michael Sera costar.
Salma is also active with her causes, including preventing discrimination against immigrants, fighting violence against women, advocating for breastfeeding, and female empowerment.
Excerpts from our talk:
How many pairs of shoes do you have? Is it close to what Imelda Marcos had? How many does she have? (3,000, she’s told.) I don’t think so. I have never counted … but I have a lot of shoes. Now, you’ve got me curious.
I must have a lot because I struggle with the space. I do have a couple of houses, and there are shoes in all the houses, so if you start adding them up, it’s a lot of shoes. Shoes do pile up.
You grew up a Catholic. How are you raising your daughter? One thing that is very important for me is that she learns about all the different religions and to respect them all, that she embraces all kinds of people with empathy and compassion, and that she knows that you can always learn something from everyone. She is not being raised a Catholic, which is a big deal. But I teach a lot of Catholic principles to her.
But we should have the right to choose our religion. Most of us were never asked or were never given a chance (to choose our religion). We completely believe in something we didn’t have the chance to think about.
I believe in a lot of the Catholic principles, I do. But I think people would be more tolerant of other religions if they were respected as individuals who had the opportunity to choose their own beliefs. Because then, they can also respect everyone else’s own beliefs. Your relationship with God and spirituality is something so intimate that people should have the right to find it on their own.
Maybe my daughter will be Catholic, but she’ll be Catholic for real and not because I made her.
What have you learned about the French lifestyle from living part-time in Paris? One thing that surprised me when I moved to Paris was how similar [the people] are to the Latin culture. I felt at home. It’s a very Catholic country. People take their time to eat. People eat fast in the United States. In France, people take their time to talk after they finish eating. They actually sit down, eat and drink their coffee.
Where is home exactly for you? I live in London, Paris and LA. I know it’s confusing. It’s confusing to me, too.
Where does your daughter go to school? London, but we spend the weekends in France. I am here in LA a lot, too, for work. Actually, there’s another place (in Washington state) where I go to when I don’t have to work and my daughter isn’t in school. So, I split my time among Los Angeles, that ranch, London and Paris. Four places.
What makes a good Latin lover? Somebody who is generous and not selfish, who cares about the other person and takes the time to figure out the things that the other person likes.
In your own life, have you been attracted to men who were somewhat shy to ask you out or the macho types? No, I am not attracted to machos. I don’t do the macho thing so much, but I do need somebody who isn’t shy, because I am not much of a chaser. I need guys to take the initiative, yeah. I like to be courted. I don’t want to have to go after anyone (laughs).
You seem to be working a lot more now. I have four movies coming out. In June, I have “Beatriz at Dinner” coming out. In August, I have a movie called “The Hitman’s Bodyguard,” with Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson and Gary Oldman—that’s an action film. Then, I have a comedy with Alec Baldwin called “Drunk Parents.”
Since your husband owns several top fashion brands, how do you decide what you’re going to wear? There’s a contradiction, because it’s [both] very simple and very complicated. It’s very complicated because of my body shape. It’s hard to find the right clothes that fit. It’s simple because, since it’s so hard, you just wear what fits and what you can button up your chest. So it’s not like there are many choices.
It’s also simple because I don’t like shopping. I shouldn’t say this, right? (Laughs) I have a very good relationship with the brands. They send me clothes. I see what outfits fit, and I wear them. Sometimes, I wear other brands, too.
E-mail rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com. Follow him at https://twitter.com/nepalesruben.