Here are some photos of Salma Hayek in Paris last night, walking the carpet for ‘The enchanted world of Jacques Demy’, an exhibition opening at the Cinematheque Francaise. I can’t find the designer ID on her suit or blouse, but I’m sure the ensemble comes from one of the collections her husband owns (update: Salma is carrying a Saint Laurent Lutetia clutch!). I think the suit would have been much better with a cleaner, more tailored blouse, or at least a blouse that didn’t look so fug and dated.
Salma was recently in London to promote that Chime for Change event which we discussed in the John Legend post less than two weeks ago. Salma and John did some events and press for the event, and Salma ended up giving an interview to The Guardian. So, this is kind of old but I haven’t seen it get any play on other blogs, so it should be new to you! You can read Salma’s full Guardian piece here, and here are the highlights I wanted to discuss:
Her childhood: “I was privileged to grow up in Coatzacoalcos, Mexico with my parents [Diana, an opera singer, and Sami, an oil company executive] and my younger brother, Sami. It was a close community, we lived near the ocean and we would be outside all the time with the neighbours’ kids, running free, playing football on the streets and at the beach. What better place could there be for a child?”
Her mom was a philanthropist: “My mother was devoted to helping people – with my father’s money! – who had great voices but didn’t have the financial means to study music. He and my mum gave away dozens of music scholarships, and my mum opened a school in town, introduced opera to children and created fantastic programmes. With my father’s help she brought in teachers from Mexico City. They would train anybody who had a good voice, and several of her students are now working as professional singers.”
On women’s rights: “I have always been inspired by my parents to carry on helping people – mainly in fighting for justice for women around the world, which is the focus of Chime for Change [a global campaign to raise funds and awareness for girls and women’s empowerment]. We are concerned about all women’s issues relating to justice, education and health. If you look at any other group of people suffering injustice, women are always in the worst situation within that group. And the problem is growing. For example, human trafficking in America is a booming business. There is still so much domestic violence and a general lack of laws to protect women. We have to make sure women around the world are respected and valued.”
She likes being a mom: “I like being a mother. For some people it’s so much work that it can be a burden. But it’s not for me, maybe because I had my daughter, Valentina, later on in life, at 41. I have never been apart from Valentina for more than a week – even when my husband, François-Henri Pinault, and I went on our honeymoon, we were only without her for one week.”
She loves being a wife & homemaker: “I love being a wife and homemaker – because it’s my choice. My friends who don’t have children say it’s impossible to get together with me because I don’t want to talk about anything else except motherhood. But being a mother is more exhausting than working, and sometimes I push myself too hard and burn myself out. I can appreciate how exhausting it must be for women who have to do everything themselves all the time. I don’t have to work now, but I have to work because it’s not about money, it’s about passion. It is part of my personal evolution.”
I can understand when a middle-class woman describes herself as a “homemaker” – my mom was a homemaker when I was really young, and it IS an important job, raising children and running a home and all of that. But I don’t understand how Salma considers herself a homemaker when she is married to one of the wealthiest men in the world, she has a fleet of staffers eager to jump to her every whim, plus she probably has nannies, maids, etc. Plus, she’s still acting (in crap like The Grown-Ups 2, no joke), and she’s promoting her recently launched skincare line. So how in the world is she a “homemaker”?
Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.
Easy to be a “homemaker” when you’re married to a fat old billionaire who gives you everything.Just saying. Nothing wrong with marrying an old fat rich man who can take care of you.
+1 Very easy. Also she was never much of an actress to begin with.
Exactly – is she that out of touch with reality that she actually thinks that she’s a homemaker. I’m really hating this trend of celebrities acting like they’re just normal people plugging along trying to get it all done, when, in fact, they have a crew of maids, nannies and assistants to do it all for them.
Well, she is a homemaker in that she tells the vast crew of servants in each of the mansions they live in what to do.
Right Sean. i think that’s the new Hwood definition of “homemaker” … directing the staff. With bathtime and maybe lunch with the child(ren).
Definitely. “I have never been apart from Valentina for more than a week…” Yah, when you can be away from your kid for a week, even 24 hours, that makes all the difference. I haven’t been away from my kids for more than a few hours (usually for grocery shopping etc) in the past 3 years. Not complaining about it, but it’s a completely different world. Her idea of being a homemaker and hands on mom is soooooo skewed from having all that $$$ at her disposal.
I agree, but Salma’s husband is only 50, and not especially fat. You’d never guess it by looking at a picture of them together, but Pinault is in fact only 4 years older than Salma!
He is GROSS, and looks old. I choose to stay single than to end up with something like that, money will never come before love and true attraction. Just my preference, as there are no shortage of gross older wealthy men to choose from.
he is not old actually, I dont even think he is 50 yet or maybe just about , she is 47.
As someone who’ll be 50 in about a year and a half: thanks! Although there are days when I feel old, heaven knows. I’d give anything to have again the energy I had in my twenties and thirties.
Absolutely. In fact I am on the search for a rich, fat, old man to take care of me. No shame in that.
By homemaker she means it is her who makes a home for her husband. Only she can do that, be there for him, be supportive, be a partner, a companion, etc. That doesn’t have anything to do with money or the hired help. It has to do with being there.
I think the working moms of the world who put in 8-10 hours a day plus to make ends meet then come home for whatever domestic duties they do might have an argument about it in fact being all about the money.
That was my exact thought as well… it’s pretty easy to be a homemaker when your hubby is a gazillionaire.
+1
Damn! He really looks like crap. I thought he was MUCH older.
“I love being a homemaker”
Translation: The acting jobs have dried up.
She’s known as a complete ruthless ahole the poor souls who have had the misfortune of working for her. And yet she portrays herself as a ‘woman for all women’, what bs.
Salma probably made the bed one morning and now considers herself a “homemaker.”
She falls in the same category of “actresses” whose careers have passed their peak because their talent wasn’t acting talent but looks and now they stay in the media by selling products while preaching about motherhood and being housewives, with nannies and housekeepers.
I don’t see Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchette, Kate Winslet all married and with children talk about that. Probably because they work on real films and are sought after for their acting.
See this is it exactly. Paltrow, Alba, all of these women…I don’t buy it. They’d rather be sharing their organic mushroom soup recipe on the morning shows than being a part of important and admired film and television? Riiiggghhhttt. Tell me another one.
Domesticity (and motherhood) is being used as an excuse. I’m sure Cate Blanchett and Julianne Moore make great soup too, but they somehow manage without pimping their kids and home lives.
YES. even some A-lister moms are like this. their talents were never that refined, so they become mommy tabloid fixtures and sell it as “high art”. Barf.
however I have to add that she looks absolutely beautiful. I’d never have guessed she was 47. her hair and skin look amazing!!!
Exactly! Add Jennifer Garner to that group!
This is so right on. All these actresses becoming lifestyle gurus, it just seems like a blatant money grab when all their legitimate acting opportunities have run out.
Oh really? And what about the fact that Salma was nominated for an OSCAR for her role as Frida Kahlo in “Frida”???
Halle Berry and Anne Hathaway won Oscars. That right there should tell you that the voting for the Oscars is a joke nowadays. Any actress can win an oscar if they either play a prostitute or do a risky nude scene or both.
Hollywood views playing a prostitute as ‘exceptional acting’, and a pinnacle of the acting profession. Showing your breasts is some sort of “i’m so brave, and i’m really stretching my acting talent’ type of things.
Hayek’s popularity is built almost entirely on two large breasts, both of which are held up by millions of dollars or surgical/health products that keep those things from reaching her knees and becoming irrelevant..
I think the academy was “impressed” by the subject of the movie. And of course it loves when pretty women ugly themselves up or gain weight for a part. That proves how “serious” they are.
That was a long time ago @Jazz Fabulous…and that’s kind of the point. She HAD a very vibrant career, but she’s now in danger of becoming just another one of those desperately using kids products and recipies to stay relevant.
I used to like Selma. Now she is a pretentious twat. Oh, that’s right, she is no longer Latina as well. What an insult to women.
I never thought of her as Latina. She may have grown up in Mexico but her parents are Lebanese.
What a strange thing to say….so let’s say a child is born in America to Mexican parents….are they not considered American? keep in mind that America is the only place they know as home.
We can actually say this for most Americans by the way.
You are wrong. Her mother is Latina and her father is Arab. However, she was born and raised in Mexico and considers herself 100% Latina.
Many Mexicans in the USA do not consider themselves Latinos (or Latinas), but rather Chicanos. a lot of my Mexican friends get insulted if you call them Latinos.
Not trying to jump on you or deviate from the topic, but you mean Mexican-American friends right? Not actual Mexicans? Because calling a Mexican, and by Mexican I mean the ones BORN and RAISED in Mexico, a “Chicano or Chicana” is an insult worth bitch-slapping someone’s momma. Not even mildly kidding. Not exaggerating either. Mexicans, and I hate to say it like this but I mean “real” Mexicans (Mexican Nationals), are proud Latinos/Latinas and even prouder of their nationality. Chicano/Chicana culture, the whole bru-ha-ha over Cinco De Mayo, and Caesar Chavez being considered “authentically Mexican” or important to Mexico, is a joke to them. Trust. A giant chunk of my in-laws are Mexican nationals. I hear the bitching every May 5th.
It’s kinda like insisting that Panda Express “really is” authentic Chinese food to my neighbors from Bejing.
Yikes guys, the nationalism here is overthrowing me.
Anyway, I think we’re getting a little off hand. People can identify themselves whatever they want (be it lationos, chicanos, mexicans, hispanics, etc). I have a lot of Mexican and Mexican-American friends and they all identify differently (one says she hates the term hispanic, the other is a proud latina, etc), but doesn’t make them any less mexican you know even if their cultural heritage has been adjusted because their way of life has changed. After all, diaspora communities tend to have a different identity of its own, but doesn’t mean they are any less ‘mexicans’ and should be looked down upon other mexicans.
I doubt Selma is clipping coupons.
Out of context: I will totally take skin care tips from Salma.
Most actresses spend thousands, if not millions of dollars to look this good. They should never endorse a product, as its false advertising between surgeries, botox, and clever photoshopping they do to look that good. I wish i could photoshop myself like that in every picture.
Salma’s had breast enhancements, nose surgery, botox treatments, and thats the known ones. She’s beautiful, no doubt about it. But i would hazard to guess that most, if not ALL 50 year old women could look beautiful if they spent millions of dollars on sugeries, botox, clothes, makeovers, etc and have people at their beck-n-call to ensure no one hair gets out of place wherever they go..
Don’t forget to add the $200 skin cream they use. As if normal people can afford that. I agree with what was said above that these women are only. Schilling products and lifestyles because their movie careers have dried up.
According to Salma the new definition of a homemaker is: I only work because I want to not because I have to. What a pretentious c*nt.
And lipo in midsection.
So she starred in ‘Grown ups’, ‘Grown ups 2’ and ‘Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant’ because ‘It is part of my personal evolution’?
HAHAHAHA – my thoughts exactly!
I can’t help it — “I have never been apart from Valentina for more than a week” made me laugh out loud. I’ve never been apart from my kids for more than two nights! (Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking her. In fact, I’m jealous. I’d LOVE a vacation with the husband! But we don’t have a fleet of nannies, or even any family members who can take the kids for extended periods.)
No kidding, right? She and Goop need to hang out together, although Salma might get jealous b/c, being a brunette, she just won’t be noticed.
And what I wouldn’t do to be away from my kids for one whole glorious week. Sounds heavenly.
This comment jumped out at me too. First off, no one I know is able to leave their kids for a whole week – either because they couldn’t bear it or they just don’t have the luxury of childcare. She is so out of touch she doesn’t even know how ridiculous this stuff sounds.
You know what is interesting about this leaving your child for a week thing is I know quite a few selfish mom’s who spend their work day planning vacations to take without their children. In fact I think all of their vacations are about them and not their child. It is one thing if you have a lot of money and can afford to take a vacation alone and one with the kids but in my case I can only afford one and I couldn’t imagine going to some fabulous location and not taking my kids so they can experience new cultures and places.
Uhh are my parents the only ones who left the kids at grandma’s for a week of vacation?
You can do it, you don’t need $$ to take care of your kids. Just saying.
Oh gawd, she is seriously insufferable. ‘My friends who don’t have children say it’s impossible to get together with me because I don’t want to talk about anything else except motherhood’? Seriously, Salma? You mean when you’re not at movie premieres, fashion shows or exhibition openings, or promoting your skin care range, or getting interviewed in magazines, all you WANT TO TALK ABOUT IS MOTHERHOOD??
She is probably knitting a sweater for her hubby and making cupcakes for her daughter. How domestic!
Honestly? I live in Mexico and let me tell you something. My boyfriend’s mother is also an average, middle-class “homemaker”. I recently found out that she has a maid, and this maid even cooks. So basically his mother doesn’t clean, she just relaxes and catches up with her friends (also “homemakers”) during the day, and she only cooks occasionally. I’m not dissing – this sounds like a great life! Still, I don’t think “homemaker” means the same thing in Mexico as in the US.
or in the rest of the non western world where it is routine to have cooks and maids since labor is so cheap.
i don’t think she said anything offensive, she knows she has it easy and said so.
I am taking her ‘homemaker’ comments to mean that she is literally trying to create connections, psychological bonding, traditions and history for her family of three (herself, hubby, and daughter) and whom ever else they wish to include in that circle (children from other relationships, grandparents and cousins). There is more to being a homemaker than mopping floors and changing diapers, I’m guessing.
And yes, I think the “mommy businss as a lifestyle” has become a lucrative business /Plan B for half-assed actresses who are otherwise without acting gigs.
Eh exactly. I know many people in non-western countries who have maids, etc and they are really middle-class. Which is why I didn’t take offence to her comments, at all.
It’s so easy to say that when you don’t do any of the “heavy lifting” i.e. cleaning, washing, cooking, car pooling etc. I think she and goopy need to go to sensitivity camp.
Just hope the instructor isn’t Mitt Romney.
LOL.
I think when she says she is a “homemaker” she means she is making a home life for her family. In 2013 I think women should be more open minded about the term and that it means something different for every woman. If I don’t do the cooking or the cleaning at my home I still feel that I am the person or heart of the family and am building that kind of presence with my family
I’m just tired of hearing these women talk about nothing else but this. I think they are all trying to appeal to the “every woman” and they really can’t on some level. Just be who you are. Enjoy the life you have. Perks and all. I hate that it seems that they are all kind of apologizing for having a NICE life. I sure as hell wouldn’t
Very well put. I think “homemaker” has a larger connotation too. She probably “manages” and “designs” the home(s). Yes, it’s not a normal person’s conception, but it’s hers.
I like that she says: “I love being a wife and homemaker – because it’s my choice.” This goes back to the Drew conversation yesterday. You don’t have to “do” it all, but if you have a choice, yes you do “have” it all.
“You don’t have to “do” it all, but if you have a choice, yes you do “have” it all.” – I love this sentence. I am electing you for some kind of high-ranking position here as a result. I think you finally put to words what i could not all day yesterday.
And I agree, I think homemaker can mean different things.
Thanks! I really liked the Drew conversation yesterday, I kept thinking about it. Wow, Celebitchy is thought provoking!
I love this quote! So clipping coupons and never being away from your children make one a homemaker? I hate this line of thinking – exclusion based on one’s own perceptions of what ‘homemaker’ should entail. Let’s be open-minded here, like lisa2 says.
This!!
Lovely comments ladies! 🙂
Well said lisa2. I totally agree.
I agree. I should have read further before posting my comment above.
I will give her credit for working on women’s issues, but the idea of her considering herself a homemaker is hilarious. I’d bet she doesn’t clean, cook, do laundry, grocery shop, or any of the million other tasks actual homemakers do.
I’d bet her friends (with or without children) find her insufferable to hang out with because she is obnoxious and snobby, and it has nothing to do with motherhood.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homemaking
Anyone else remember when Salma used to say stuff like this:
“Women have been taught that in order to have a place in the world, an identity, they must marry and have children. If that’s the life you truly want, great. But for many women, marriage is only about needing the world to know that someone desires them enough to say, “Here’s a contract to prove that I love you and will commit to you for the rest of my life.” For these women, no contract equals no validation – and, thus, no reason for existing.”
Now she talks proudly about how her husband is such a big baby he won’t eat her cooking unless she serves him three courses. She’s been so dull since she married Moneybags.
Did she really say that? When? That sounds unusually articulate and sensible for her!
watch her interviews on Inside the Actor’s Studio – she is very intelligent and very articulate
This is another reason why she needs to divorce her disgusting deadbeat husband who is a complete bum who abandoned his son with Linda Evangelista. She’s boring, snobbish and she sounds stupid every single time that she opens her mouth now. I can’t stand reading anything about her anymore and I used to adore her and watch her movies. I haven’t seen any of her movies since 2007 and I haven’t watched her on television since 2009 and I won’t watch her as long as she is still married to the deadbeat dad jerk.
Women always make quotes like these until they get married. lol
How does she get her hair that shiny??
She probably dips it in ACTUAL PURE GOLD.
HAHA! ^this
Selma, just sit down, please.
it’s Salma
delusional.
I think she does run her home. Someone has to instruct the staff, decide what is to be done. She just orders the staff about & I bet she runs a tight ship.
I love her!!
I imagine it being like the duties of a well-off medieval woman post-marriage – track household expenses, supervise the employees, make sure that the food and cleanliness is up to snuff, organize entertainment/food if guests are coming, etc.
Exactly!
I am south american and it’s very well know in latin america that Salma comes from a very wealthy lebanese family and she has been a snob since they one when she used to do telenovelas in Univision. Aprox, 5 years ago a very popular show tried to get an interview with her and she said that “she didn’t do interviews in spanish”. That was when she was producing “ugly betty” which was a remake of a popular colombian telenovela. By the way telenovela means soap opera and any actress that becomes popular in a telenovela inmediately becomes a millionaire in latin america. Salma, like Shakira, has lebanese heritage but unlike Shakira who identifies herself as Colombian, Salma gets very upset when someone labels her as the typical “poor mexican immigrant”.
Sorry! I wrote “they one” and it’s “day one” lmao.
Sorry but telenovelas are some of the most blatant racist shit I’ve seen in my life.
First of all, all the actors are white/lighter skinned when the majority of Mexicans are black or mestizo/dark skinned.
Second, they portray black people as stupid animals and the darker mestizos are the help.
So really, I don’t care if Salma distance herself from it seeing as how blatantly racist they are.
I agree in all accounts except the Shakira bit. shakira only identifies herself as colombian just by name; it is well known that shaki adopts whatever nationality her current dating partner is. Just cuz she says outloud, “oh, I’m a proud colombian” that doesn’t mean she really means it.
It is NOT easy being a HomeMaker. Trust me ive been a HomeMaker for 5 years and its a full time job that you do not get paid for. Theres cooking, cleaning, laundry, bathing the kids, grocery shopping, doctor appointments, after school activities, picking up constantly after your husband and kids when he throws his clothes on the floor and they throw toys everywhere everyday, crying, stress, the kids fighting and dont you DARE get sick because when youre sick and your kids are sick you STILL have to cook, clean and nurse the kids back to health all the while your husband is not lifting a finger to help you.
I dont know what planet Salma is from but her definition of a “HomeMaker” is far from it.
Is all that after you get home from work?
…that is the all important question.
It’s not a competition, JL. There are upsides and downsides to both SAH and WOH.
A brunette Goopy. Watch out Gwynnie she’s coming for you and flying under the radar.
La Goopita.
@ I.want.shoes: that was hilarious.
I like her. I always have.
She is so beautiful.
I’m sorry but celebs need to stop with this “I’m just like you” crap. Their lives are nothing like the average person. When celebs try to make it sound like their lives are like everyone else it makes them sound pretensions and stupid. There is nothing wrong with loving being a mother or a homemaker but Salma is not a homemaker. The nannies, maids, chefs, security etc do the homemaker job.
I see nothing wrong with her comments,
Believe it or not, wives in her shoes have many responsibilities socially and those are a Royal pain in the ass. It’s neither glorious or fun.
She admits:
I can appreciate how exhausting it must be for women who have to do everything themselves all the time.
She knows she doesn’t do it all, she appreciates she has the choices she does have.
She addresses growing up in a prosperous family and learning to help others. She’s running her family the way she needs to in her situation, entertaining for business, ordering the staff etc.
It’s her life, I have no issues with that.
Exactly.
Toot, toot!
Salma’s comments prove just how disconnected from reality some wealthy people are. Anne Romney is a homemaker too, so is gwyneth paltrow etc. these rich ladies have an army of obsequious servants to do all the work and they dare compare themselves to homemaker moms who have to work 8+ hours a day to support their children. Salma’s mind has detached from reality in that regard.
Are Stay at home moms ‘disconnected’ because they don’t work outside the home?
Are moms with men at home “disconnected” because they don’t know all single moms have to do.
Are suburban moms disconnected because they don’t have the challenges of inner city moms.
Are middle class moms that have a maid once a week like Salma or still “connected”. Does cooking from scratch connect one more than hamburger helper?
Someone explain it to me.
I LOVE YOUR COMMENT.
I don’t understand why women get so mad at other women because they have an easier life. No matter your income there are challenges. There are pitfalls.
We make the best of what we have.
You really don’t think that the wealth Salma and her husband enjoy insulate them from many of life’s little bumps? Serious money, more than anything else, can cushion the way one experiences the world.
Very well put JL!
You have to read the hilarious “French Fried” by Harriet Welty Rochefort, an American who married a French bourgeois, to understand a bit the work involved in raising kids in the French mold. It’s a lot more hands-on from the parents’s part than others imply.
A woman should be so lucky– if that is what you want and you actually have the RESOURCES to make it happen, than what a great fate to follow your hearts desire.
Same goes for career– if thats waht you want, then do it– but, we should all be so lucky to be able to do it with so much buffer.
Her husband repels me and as long as she is with him, she will repel me too..
That’s easy for her to say …
It would be my CHOICE too if I’d married (gold-dug) a millionaire.
I was a homemaker for about 5 years; the name homemaker is used to loosely and is misunderstood…i was treated worse than I was when I was a teacher…because I stayed to “stay home and eat bonbons).
I love her, lords help me, but she needs some vocab lessons.
The hatred for Salma on Celebitchy is really strong. I love how you all conveniently ignore her great quotes about women’s rights and human rights. I admire her, and the fact that she once breastfed a starving baby while on a humanitarian trip to an African country (don’t remember which one it was?).
Keep hating, ladies.
The La Leche League-look it up. She’s not special because she breastfeeds hungry children. Many non-rich women do it every day of the week.
She took all of those tours with her husband’s money. Millions of women breastfeed hungry children without needing a man’s financial support at all.
Her career wasn’t strong enough for her to do all of the wonderful things she claims to do. She needed the help of her husband.
She’s pretty but she’s a weak actress.Strong women give words of wisdom everyday of their lives.
It’s not hating it’s just fact.
Ditto. She’s acknowledging her privileged position and how she does charity work and we’re picking apart the fact that she calls herself a homemaker. If you are privileged you cannot be a homemaker? I have a wealthy friend whose mother is the ultimate homemaker. And she’s proud of all that it entails in addition to her charity work.
parents sound nice, she sounds nice – but she is NOT a house wife… lucky lady=yes, house wife=no.
That clueless remark about being a housewife is worthy of a Paltrow.
…and because hubby is a flipping billionaire-barf….
Many women-especially in this economy-can’t make that choice.
I sell avon and also work full time at a professional job-she has/had a perfume with avon. She also does work with the avon foundation and domestic abuse
Just for the record, her Nuance line of skin & haircare products at CVS is amazing! Seriously the best stuff I’ve used in a long, long time.
I don’t see anything that deluded here. She
Iikes running a household, even if there is tons of help, what else should she call herself? Madame de la maison? Dunno, looks like this post is trying to instigate some mommy wars.
I do love several of her products. The nail lacquers are pretty great (and the same formula as another brand’s “cult” secret), and the wild lime exfoliating gel is amazing. I don’t know or care if she uses them; they work for me.
translation:she like ordering servants around.