Salma Hayek‘s private life is back in the spotlight as comments about her husband and motherhood resurface weeks after her head-turning bikini photos sparked a firestorm online.
Hayek married François-Henri Pinault, a French billionaire, back in 2009. But the actress once revealed in a bombshell interview her expectations in her marriage and the pressure from her billionaire husband — and the world — to keep working while raising a family.
The “Frida” star said her husband didn’t want “some lazy girl” in the house.
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After having their daughter, Valentina Paloma Pinault, in 2007, Hayek decided to take a hiatus and stop acting.
“I said, ‘I don’t think I want to work anymore, and it was François who said, ‘Oh, no, you’re going back to work,'” she revealed in a resurfaced interview with Allure back in 2015.
Hayek added that her billionaire husband insisted that she continue working as an actress, and his reasoning resonated with his wife.
“And I said, ‘I don’t want to.’ ‘Well, you have to. We’re not putting up with some lazy girl in the house. That’s not who I married,’” Hayek said. “And then he said something so beautiful. ’I don’t want to be deprived of your work. I want to watch it, too. And the world has not seen the best of you yet. So you cannot stop until some of that is put out.’”
The internet had a field day when Hayek’s past remarks appeared on the Onsite! Instagram page, with some targeting her husband and others debating her decisions.
“Being a stay-at-home wife and mother is far from lazy but m’kay,” wrote one fan. “Your billionaire husband told you to keep working?! He don’t love you,” added another.
“Yea that’s not what I want a billionaire to say to his wife,” added one.
Former “Mob Wives” star Drita Davanzo also chimed in and declared, “I don’t like him lol.”
“She had her first child at 41, and he couldn’t let her stay home? Man, some of these men truly hate their wives,” added another fan.
“He fell in love with the actress, that’s why,” noted one.
Hayek took a two-year break after having their daughter. In 2009, she returned to star in several movies, including “Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant,” “Grown Ups,” “Tale of Tales,” “The Hitman’s Bodyguard,” “Drunk Parents,” “House of Gucci,” and “Magic Mike’s Last Dance,” just to name a few. Her most recent role as “Gloria Bracken in “Sacrifice” can be seen on Apple TV.
After returning to the big screen with a string of notable films, the now-59-year-old actress kept turning heads — most recently with her 2025 Sports Illustrated Mexico cover in a teeny-weenie bikini.
Hayek’s husband also had a child with supermodel Linda Evangelista — Augustin James Evangelista — back in 2006, and he is just one year older than his little sister. Evangelista kept her son’s father’s identity a secret until a 2010 custody battle, where Pinault was revealed as Augustin’s dad.
Despite the complex family dynamics, everyone appears to get along, and Hayek has been known to celebrate her stepson’s birthday with heartfelt Instagram posts.
Pinault is also the father of 24-year-old model Mathilde Pinault and 27-year-old François Pinault, both from his previous marriage to Dorothée Lepère.
