Salma Hayek covers the latest issue of Marie Claire. It’s a general interview, she’s not promoting one specific project, she’s just hyping a variety of charitable and entertainment interests she’s got going. Much of the interview is Salma talking about her production company, Ventanarosa, and its many successes, and how she wants even more success for Latin-Americans in Hollywood. You can read the full piece here. Some highlights:
Being a groundbreaking Latina in Hollywood: “I won’t complain about anything that I haven’t tried to change. Somebody has to do it. And nobody has as much experience inside of so many places, for this amount of time, so I have a sense of duty to [fight for] change.”
The shifting mindset in Hollywood for over-40 actresses: “There was a time when I was the sexy girl, but thank God age came and gave me the ability to expand to other territories. Although I’m still sexy and I embrace it. Another calling that I have is to remind everyone that women are not disposable after a certain age in any department. We should battle that with all we’ve got.”
She learned how to curse from Samuel L. Jackson: “I have the best teacher: Samuel L. Jackson. He’s [played] my husband—twice. After those movies my vocabulary changed. I [couldn’t] get rid of Sonia. My husband was like, ‘How long is she going to stay?’ I said, ‘I don’t f–king know. Who the f–k cares. What’s your f–king hurry?’”
She meditates for hours & listens to her body: “Because what do we do with our bodies? We don’t listen. Our only connection to our body is to complain. Why are you tired? Why don’t you go to sleep? Why are you sleepy? Why are you hungry? Why are you fat? Why are you horny? Why are you not horny? Why are you hurting? Bitch, do you notice what you’re doing to me?”
Being present during sex: “A lot of women are making love already with a transaction in their head. I hope he loves me more after this. Is he really into me? Has he noticed my cellulite? It’s like, Don’t think, girl! Be in the moment! Explore another human being. Learn yourself through another human being exploring you. Get out of the way! Get out of the way of love!”
She’s tech-adverse: She’s tech-averse and leery of AI—“it takes away your intelligence because the brain grows lazy”—uses social media sparingly and doesn’t even own a computer. “I write everything by hand. I have papers everywhere. I barely touch the phone. They cannot profile me. I don’t buy online. I don’t order food online. The artificial intelligence doesn’t know me.”
How often she exercises: “Four times a year, I put music on and walk on my own treadmill. Don’t ask me to run; my boobs are not made for that.” She’s content with the current state of her curves—not thrilled, but content, she states. “I don’t look at somebody else and say, ‘I want that body,’ or ‘I want a new body.’ But I do confess, I want the old body; the one I had at 25 and criticized and hated nonstop. Oh, please, Lord Jesus, give it back to me. I apologize.”
Towards the end of the interview, Salma gets into American politics a little bit, lamenting the misinformation in the Latino community in America. What struck me was her general hands-off attitude – this is a woman who has despised Trump for years and talked sh-t about him repeatedly in interviews, and in this piece, she was like “eh, what can you do, there’s so much misinformation now.” It feels like she’s done, like so many Black women are done – it’s a sort of “let these people get what they voted for” attitude. As for the rest of it… I also refuse to run for the exact same reason, but I do try to walk every day. And this is absolutely hysterical: “I barely touch the phone. They cannot profile me. I don’t buy online. I don’t order food online. The artificial intelligence doesn’t know me.” I do buy online, but I order food over the phone. AI only knows me a little bit.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
Bengali (Bangladesh) · 
English (United States) ·