Salma Hayek Reveals Why She Let Her Husband Think She Was Having an Affair: "We Need To Talk..."

Salma Hayek has been happily married to François-Henri Pinault, a French businessman, for more than two decades. Valentina Paloma Pinault, the couple's only daughter, was born the year after they started dating in 2006. In 2009, the couple tied the knot in Paris. But at one point, there was a significant rift between them because of the Mexican-American actress's love for saving stray animals. As per Fandomwire, during her appearance on Jimmy Fallon's The Tonight Show in 2015, Hayek disclosed that she had chanced upon an abandoned puppy and was compelled to rescue it. In order to persuade her husband to allow her to bring in the additional animal at home, Hayek hilariously came up with a cunning strategy. She made a show of having an affair. 

“I just couldn’t take it. I had to take this abandoned puppy that was gonna die If I didn’t take him,” the Oscar-winning actress said.“But my husband has threatened me, ‘Please no more dogs.’ So I came up with a brilliant plan.” Pinault, who was lovingly referred to as 'Mr. No More Dogs' at home, had enough, she revealed. The Eternals actress disregarded her husband's entreaty and proceeded with her plan to introduce the new pet dog into the family. 'The talk' was the ideal approach she came up with, she told Fallon. 

“I called him and said, ‘We need to talk.’ And I said, ‘Listen, this breaks my heart to tell you this news because I know I am going to disappoint you. And it’s been very hard for me to come up with the courage to say this to you. But I cannot take it any longer, I have to tell you. And you just have to understand that I have been here working so much. I have been so tired, so overwhelmed, so lonely… I am so overworked and you don’t think straight in this moment of madness.'” 

Her husband, however, was able to see through her deceptive tactics and surmised that she had recused another puppy. “He goes, ‘Oh please don’t tell me you picked up another dog,'” Hayek shared. After a little bit of convincing he welcomed 'Ocho ' into the family. According to Entertainment Weekly, Hayek at the time had a house full of rescued animals, including ten dogs, 5 parrots, alpacas, horses, and cats. 

In 2021, the lifelong animal lover gifted her husband a southern white-faced owl named Kering on Valentine's Day. "I gave it to my husband as a Valentine's present and named her Kering because that's the name of his company and their symbol of the owl," she told People. In 2023, she shared a beautiful tribute for her pets on National Pet Day. 

According to Hola Magazine, the Frida actress could be seen lounging at home with her pets, experiencing some magical family moments, and spending time with them in her dressing room in the Instagram video. She wrote "Happy National Pets Day" as the caption for the video, which featured Randy Newman's song You've Got a Friend in Me.