Salma Hayek is a discreet woman who does not lavish on the media except to promote her work on the screen and even less to talk about her private life, a rule that she hardened after meeting her partner François-Henri Pinault 15 years ago. the French businessman she married 12 years ago, who accumulates a fortune of 30,000 million according to
Forbes
magazine
.
But the actress has made an exception coinciding with the anniversary of her wedding, on the 14th, to speak of the suspicion she faced when she decided to marry such an immensely rich man.
It has been in an interview on the
Armchair Expert
podcast
where Salma Hayek has talked about how she lived those comments: “When I married him everyone said: 'Oh, it's an arranged marriage, she married him for money.'
Fifteen years later we are very much in love ”.
Pinault is CEO of Kering, the business group that controls brands such as Alexander McQueen, Yves Saint Laurent and Gucci.
In his talk with Dax Shepard, an American comedian and actor, Hayek adds: “In the images, you can't see the magic in him.
It has made me become a much better person and grow in a good and healthy way ”.
And about the comments that his relationship aroused, he makes a forceful complaint.
“There is discrimination against rich men.
You immediately think that because someone is rich they may not be a good person, that they could be materialistic ... they could be someone even stupid or that they do not deserve it or that to have a lot of money they did evil.
There are all these prejudices and I listened to them, unfortunately ”.
About her husband she admits: “At first he was not my type at all.
I came up with my preconceptions and he undid them all ”.
Pinault and Hayek renewed their vows three years ago.
The businessman surprised Hayek with a beachside ceremony in Bora Bora in August 2018. “Summer was coming to an end and my best moment was when my husband surprised me with a vow renewal.
It was not what I would have chosen for my wedding, but they told me I was going to the
spa
! ”He wrote in the caption of the Instagram photo in which he gave the news.
The couple have a daughter, 12-year-old Valentina.
"My boy finishes work and no matter how difficult it was for him, and believe me, he has many responsibilities, he comes home with a big smile on his face, happy to be home, happy to look at me and make us laugh" , says about the role of Pinault at home.
Salma Hayek: "With masks sometimes I think we have forgotten to smile"
The French businessman has two other children from previous relationships.
Augustin James Evangelista Pinault is 11 months older than Valentina and was born from a relationship with model Linda Evangelista during a brief separation from Salma Hayek.
The eldest, Mathilde Pinault, 20, is the daughter of Dorothée Lepère, Pinault's ex-partner.
It is not the first time that the actress talks about her marriage and the prejudices she has had to hear about it.
“Many people are very surprised that I married who I married.
Now some people are even intimidated by me.
But that's another way of showing racism.
They cannot believe how this Mexican ended up and they feel uncomfortable around me ”, he has related on occasion.
Her feminist struggle and her social sensitivity have made her a tireless activist, so when her relationship with the fashion mogul François-Henri Pinault became public, many did not understand her choice, since in her own words she was never interested in “the luxuries such as jewelery and haute couture ”.
The Mexican came from failed romances with several of her colleagues, including the actor Edward Norton, with whom she had a four-year love affair.
Mind you, Hayek doesn't tell everything about his marriage.
“I am not going to say how we met.
It's such a romantic, incredible story ... But it's mine.
I don't want to vulgarize it by turning it into a story to make myself interesting ”, he has once commented without wanting to go into more details.