Salma Hayek is dispelling rumors that she married her husband, billionaire François-Henri Pinault, because he is rich. Married since February 14, 2009, the couple has just celebrated their 12th wedding anniversary and are the parents of their 13-year-old daughter, Valentina.
Speaking on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast on Monday, the 54-year-old actress responded to speculation about her relationship with the Frenchman, who is CEO of the luxury fashion group Kering and oversees brands like Gucci, Alexander McQueen and Yves Saint Laurent . Shepard himself admitted that, before meeting Pinault, he also wondered if their marriage was superficial.
“I was like, oh, ok, she married a rich guy, maybe that’s why she married him, I don’t know,” the actor recalled once thinking. “I met him and I thought, this guy is so sexy – oh my God, the confidence, his eyes, he’s so cute and charming and I was like, oh, that son of a bitch could have broken up. He’s a bomb.”
Shepard was unable to avoid Pinault’s enthusiasm.
“What a nice, fun, generous, kind and warm guy – but besides, he’s super sexy too,” he said to Hayek, who agreed that her husband is “the best”. But she added that people who don’t know him or see his connection often assume that she is in it for her fortune.
“You know that in the photos you can’t even imagine his magic,” said the Oscar nominee. “He made me become a much better person and grew up in such a good and healthy way. And you know, when I married him, everyone said, ‘Oh, it’s an arranged marriage, she married him for the money. , ‘yes, whatever, bitch.’ Think what you want: 15 years together and we are strong in love. “
But Hayek says she is “offended” by such speculation.
“I’m like, ‘yes, whatever’,” she told Shepard and her podcast co-host Monica Padman, who protested that these assumptions were sexist, since Hayek herself is a successful woman with her own money . Although Hayek acknowledges that some people marry for money, she feels that wealthy men like Pinault are subject to “discrimination” and stereotypes that give rise to rumors that they are not worthy of true love.
“We are having a very interesting conversation”, the blessing star said. “There is also discrimination for the rich. Immediately you think that because someone is rich, [they] you may not be a good person. It can be someone materialistic, it can be someone who has no values, it can be someone who is even stupid or who doesn’t deserve it. … To have a lot of money you did it the wrong way, there is all this prejudice. “
She felt that way too, she admitted.
“And I had this, by the way. It was the last thing I wanted – it was not my type at all. And I came in with prejudices and he [melted] all of them out, “she said of Pinault.
She added that her husband does not fit the stereotype of being a “controller” or “workaholic” who only thinks about money.
“My guy finishes the job, no matter how difficult it is – and believe me, he has a lot of responsibilities – [with a] big smile on his face, happy to be home, happy to see me and the kids, makes us laugh “, she said to Shepard and Padman.
“When we go on vacation, he shuts down completely, he’s in the moment,” she continued. “And therefore, it is not just an insult to me – I am not the only one being judged. ‘Oh, she’s an actress, she’s after the money.’ They cannot begin to imagine what joy this human being is. “
Hayek went on to suggest that people believe in these stereotypes because “it gives us comfort to have these archetypes” – something she personally resists.
“Putting things in boxes – I don’t like that, I’m a rebel,” she said.
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