Wait, Salma Hayek Is Actually a Mom of Four? The Star's Family Explained
Updated June 14 2023, 3:09 p.m. ET
She may have once played a superhero on screen, but Salma Hayek is also kind of one in real life. The acclaimed actress-producer appears ageless and has even been dubbed one of the most beautiful women in the world. But her biggest superpower of all? Being a mom, of course!
Many folks know that Salma welcomed a daughter named Valentina back in 2007, but Valentina isn't actually her only child. When Salma married French businessman and billionaire François-Henri Pinault in 2009, her family grew — by a lot. Here’s everything we know about Salma Hayek’s blended family and children.
How many kids does Salma Hayek have?
Salma has one biological daughter and three stepchildren.
In 2007, she welcomed daughter Valentina Paloma Pinault with then-fiancé François-Henri Pinault. Over the years, Valentina — who enjoys photography and can speak English, Spanish, and French — has accompanied her mom on projects and red carpets, from posing with each other for the May 2022 cover of Vogue Mexico to attending the Oscars together in May 2023.
Two years after Salma had Valentina, she married François-Henri, and suddenly she wasn't just a mom of one anymore. François-Henri has three other children from previous relationships.
François-Henri, the CEO and chairman of luxury group Kering, which owns fashion brands like Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, and Gucci, was previously in a relationship with supermodel Linda Evangelista from 2005 to 2006. After the pair broke up, Linda welcomed their son Augustin James in October 2006 but remained very tight-lipped about who the father was. (Vogue referred to Augustin as her secret son.)
But in 2011, Linda took legal action against François-Henri and demanded he pay child support. Fortunately, the exes were able to work out a custody settlement. Since then, Salma has treated Augustin as one of her own. In August 2021, she shared a cute vacation photo of her and her teen stepson on Instagram.
François-Henri was also married to Dorothée Lepère from 1996 to 2004. They had two children together — son François and daughter Mathilde — with whom Salma also appears to be very close. When Mathilde celebrated her birthday in February 2021, Salma shared a sweet photo of them on Instagram. "My champion, you are such a bright light in our lives. I love you to the moon and back," she wrote in the caption.
In June 2022, Salma posted a pic of the whole blended family together for Father's Day.
Salma doesn't post too often about all of her kids on Instagram, so it was a rare move for the actress, and her fans were certainly delighted to see the beautiful family all together.
Salma Hayek gave birth to Valentina at age 41.
Salma did not become a mom until she was 41. However, she did feel like there was a silver lining to being an older mom. In 2019, she told Town and Country, "I think I'm a better mother because I had her later, but I do get tired. I'm not going to lie."
When the Frida star was pregnant with Valentina in 2007, she developed gestational diabetes. "I didn't know whether I was feeling bad because I was pregnant or whether something was seriously wrong," she later reflected to Parents in 2015. "I was nauseated for nine months, which can be one of the symptoms," she said. After that, she quietly stopped trying to have more kids.
Without going into too much detail about her medical history, Salma revealed to Red in 2017 that she had wanted more children at one point, but it wasn't in the cards for her. "I always wanted to have a lot of children, and I was not able to. My body, as a miracle, had one," she told the outlet.
Salma also acknowledged how fortunate she was to have become a stepmom: "The huge blessing I've had is that my husband has three other children. So I have four. And they are all so different."