After all her previous relationships had failed, Salma Hayek) had given up on love.
But when she met billionaire François-Henri Pinault), he changed everything.
Unfortunately, when the couple married, tabloids blasted the actress for being nothing more
than a typical gold-digger.
After keeping their relationship top secret for many years, the actress finally opened
up to tell her side of their love story.
Stay tuned while we get into the real story behind Salma's marriage to the self-made billionaire.
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Hayek has done her best to maintain her privacy around her relationship with her husband.
When she was asked about how they met, she explained that she wouldn't be telling the
public about it.
She wanted to keep what happened between her and the man she loved sacred.
The only thing she revealed was, "It's such a romantic, amazing story, but it is mine.
I don't want to vulgarize it by making it into a story to make myself interesting."
However, it was reported that Hayek and Pinault met in the spring of 2006 at a gala in Venice.
At the time, the actress was 39-years-old, and when she was introduced to François,
she had no idea who he was - or how much money he had.
At the time, Salma already had a history of long-term relationships that had left her
heartbroken.
She had previously dated fellow actor Edward Norton.
They had started dating back in 1999 and had reportedly been set up by their chiropractor.
If you ask us, that sounds like the beginning of a great Hollywood romantic comedy.
By 2000, they were the red carpet's favorite eye candy.
They went to premieres, awards shows, and sporting events together, hand in hand and
looking up at one another with adoration.
Despite years of all the red carpet hand-holding, the couple did their best to maintain their
rule of privacy.
Naturally, the tabloids did what they could to place the couple in their headlines, and
Salma admitted that a lot of what was written about their relationship wasn't true.
She made sure that the paparazzi never knew all the things that she and Edward did together.
The actress even joked that it's almost as if she lives a parallel life that no one knows
about, and she loved it.
The couple later split in 2003, and the announcement was made by the most unexpected source.
Then 11-year-old Daryl Sabara , who appeared in the Spy Kids third installment with Hayek,
went on the Today Show and told Matt Lauer that the actress "isn't with Ed Norton anymore."
Soon after her split with Norton, Salma dated another actor Josh Lucas.
In August 2003, it was reported that Lucas showed up on the set of a Coke commercial
that Hayek was busy shooting in Los Angeles.
The two held hands, strolled off the set during a break, and eventually disappeared into the
actress's trailer.
However, the couple parted ways around a year later.
While promoting his new movie, Josh shared to the press, "We're not still together.
I don't really want to talk about it more than that."
So, following two relationships that had failed, Salma felt worried that she wouldn't meet
the right guy that would sweep her off her feet.
"I was so worried and I dated some people I shouldn't have dated.
You get desperate and you start seeing wonderful things in, like, the wrong guys," she continued.
And although she admitted that she "also found some pretty good guys" along the way, she
learned an important lesson - Don't try to force a connection.
The actress wished that she could have told herself to slow down and that she would find
a man that would love her passionately and wholeheartedly.
She added, "I would have saved myself a lot of personal drama."
For a while, a part of Salma had come to terms that the kind of love that she wanted might
not happen for her, and she was okay with that.
So when François came around, she didn't think that he was the one she wanted.
She confessed, "He was completely out of my box.
Even though I was not looking, I was present and I was open.
I am the luckiest person I know."
A year after they met, the couple announced their engagement, along with some even more
exciting news!
Salma was pregnant with her first child.
Pinault was already a father of three before he met his future fiance, and the actress
couldn't have been happier to take on the role of being a step-mom too.
Later that year, she and her fiancé welcomed daughter Valentina and, on Valentine's Day
in 2009, they quietly tied the knot at City Hall in Paris.
However, they didn't skip on the chance for a very lavish and star-studded party.
A few months later, they had a second wedding ceremony in Venice.
According to People, the couple had chosen that specific location because it's where
they first met.
If that doesn't make your heart swoon, we don't know what will.
And by the way, her ex Edward Norton was actually a guest at their wedding - proving to everyone
that their relationship had ended in no bad blood whatsoever.
Naturally, their union wasn't met without skepticism; numerous tabloid headlines alleged
that the actress had simply married her new husband for his money - he was a billionaire
after all.
Yet, that could not have been further from the truth.
When asked about the rumors, Salma explained, "I just heard or maybe read in a headline
that you had married a very rich guy, maybe that's why she married him.
I don't know.
I meet him and I'm like, 'this guy is so foxy, the confidence, his eyes, he's so good looking
and charming'."
Hayek also went on to share that Pinault made her "a much better person" and allowed her
to "grow in such a good, healthy way."
She explained that she has let their long relationship speak for itself when facing
ridiculous accusations that she married him for his billions.
In fact, the couple keeps their finances separate.
Salma has her money, and Pinault has his.
She explained that she has a system in her life that she's chosen, where her expenses
from before the marriage are her expenses, and she doesn't expect her husband to pay
for any of them.
"When I married him, everybody said, 'It's an arranged marriage, she's marrying him for
the money.
I'm like, 'Yeah, whatever bitch, think what you want'.
Fifteen years together and we are strong in love and I don't even get offended."
However, the actress admitted that she understood the stigma that came along with rich men.
She knew that when someone is a billionaire, there's an assumption that they're not a good
person or very materialistic.
She, too, had that assumption.
She explained that she wouldn't have gotten involved with him if he was that type of person
because she hated those qualities.
But Paul proved her wrong in more ways than one.
"They cannot begin to imagine what a joy that human being is."
She said of her husband.
The actress also shared that her relationship was worth the wait and that she's happy she
was "a late bloomer" in love because that allowed her to truly get to know herself first.
All her past failed relationships and her time as a single woman taught her a lot of
lessons, and she finally knew what she really wanted out of life.
Salma described Pinault as "the best husband in the world," she gushed, "I get to be who
I am with him, and I don't feel that somebody tries to limit me."
And becoming a mom at 41 was also a blessing.
"I think I'm a better mother because I had her later,"
After Salma Hayek had her daughter, she began to question her ability to have it all.
When it comes to building a life together, she started to believe that she may have to
choose between focusing on herself or her family.
For Salam, family always came first, and she didn't think she could do both anymore.
She even considered giving up her acting career in order to focus on her home life.
"I said, 'I don't think I want to work anymore,'" she confessed.
Luckily, her husband didn't agree that it had to be one or the other.
"It was François who said, 'Oh, no, you're going back to work.'
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,'" she confessed.
And then her husband said something that Salma will always hold dear to her heart, "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."
Pinault encouraged her not to give up on the career that she loved so much.
He told her to get up onto her feet and put herself in front of the camera again.
Salma could not have been more grateful for the man that she loved at that moment.
He believed that she could do it, and he was right.
Years later, and amid all of her professional success, Hayek still considers her marriage
to Pinault to be her biggest accomplishment.
"Home is where my husband is.
He is home.
Everything outside of the family nucleus is an adventure that you're living together."
And when she spoke about the secret to her decade-long marriage, she explained the importance
of supporting one another and putting each other first, even when things get tough.
Luckily she "married the right guy," and he made all of that so much easier for her.
She shared, "We support each other in everything we do.
We want the other one to strive.
Makes you happy when the other one strives."