"Lazy" Salma Hayek pushed to return to work after giving birth

by

Sara McGinnis

posted in Celebrities

Readers are divided over one of the latest bits Salma Hayek has shared about her personal life. It seems the actress remains head over heels for her husband, François-Henri Pinault, but was he a bit harsh after their daughter Valentina was born in 2007?

Opening about her dating life before meeting the French billionaire, the 48-year-old star recently told Allure:

"I wish I knew [when I was younger] that I was going to fall crazy in love with the perfect man. 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. I also found some pretty good guys. But I wish I could say to myself: ‘Hey, chill out. You’re going to get a great husband that’s going to adore you.’ I would have saved myself a lot of personal drama.”

Today the couple puts parenting as a high priority in their busy lives.

“I’ve never been apart from my daughter for more than two weeks," the Everly actress explained. "And same with François. We don’t separate for long periods of time. Never.”

Despite both husband and wife working to ensure they're never apart for too long, it was the businessman that insisted Salma Hayek return to her profession after giving birth.

She explained:

"I said, ‘I don’t think I want to work anymore.’ And 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.’

He said something so beautiful. ‘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.’ So he sort of really pushed me, like, ‘Get up on your feet and get out there.’ And he was right.”

Your interpretation of if his pushing her to act again was loving or not likely depends on if you focus more on the first half of Salma's statement or the second. One commenter I came across read it as, "He said stay at home mothers are lazy and he’s not going to put up with that in his house," but others are leaning toward thinking he wanted to see her shine again in a career she loved before becoming a mom.

I'm in the latter camp, choosing to believe François had good intentions and didn't want his wife to lose her identity completely in motherhood, but  her recollection of his words is dividing. Another person commented, "Putting the flowery words aside, the way I read it is her husband wants to be with a glamorous it girl, not a has been."

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What do you make of Salma Hayek's interview? Have you felt pushed to return to work (or to stay at home)?

Photo: PR Photos

 

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