Salma Hayek: ‘I am a feminist because a lot of amazing women have made me who I am today’

by Jess Cartner-Morley for theguardian

“I am a feminist because I love women and I am ready to fight for women. I am a feminist because I am proud to be a woman, and I am passionate about making the world a better place for women. I am a feminist because a lot of amazing women have made me the woman I am today. I am inspired by women every day, as friends and as colleagues.

“But – it should not be just because I am a woman,” she carries on. “How do you say, when the doctor, he does this?” She dramatically chops at her leg, just below the knee. “Um, amputation?” I suggest. “No! No, he hit your knee” – and this time I realise she is miming a doctor’s rubber hammer – “Yes! A reflex. It should be a reflex, if someone else is being hurt, to help. It shouldn’t have to be because you are being a victim too. I work a lot for domestic violence, and people often ask me if I have experienced it. And I say, no, on the contrary – my father is a great man, my husband is a great man. But we are all human beings, no?”

You can see why she is a formidable fundraiser. There is something marvellously brazen about her, a steely purposefulness in using her considerable charm to her advantage. In the hour we are talking, she barely breaks eye contact with me. And despite her diminutive size, you absolutely wouldn’t mess. She has a tendency to earnestness, but otherwise, she’s excellent company. “The amount of pressure on women now, it’s crazy. You have to be much better than your male colleagues, just so you can maybe try and get the same salary as them. And you still have to be a good wife and mother. And now you also have to be skinny, and you have to look 20 when you’re 40. It’s too much. We need to stop with the crazy expectations, give ourselves a break.

There were times as a young actor, Hayek says, where she would “take any job, take any commercial, to pay the rent”. Now, she says: “I still pay the same bills I always paid, and I understand I have to hit a certain mark with what money I make, to pay them.” Really, I ask, a bit sceptically? Hayek’s husband is one of the richest men in France. “Yes. Absolutely. If you took my bills away from me, that would feel strange. I think it is part of what gives me confidence, to work, to know I can pay them. I would die if I did nothing but manicures and lunches. That would be a nightmare to me. It was a condition when I married Francois. I said: ‘Listen, don’t think I am going to be a society lady, OK?’ And he said, ‘Of course – I would hate that!’”