Salma Hayek is talking more about how pals she hadn’t confided in, including fellow actress Penélope Cruz, were hurt after reading her 2017 New York Times op-ed on her ordeals with Harvey Weinstein.
In an interview with the Sunday Times, Hayek gave an explanation of why she had remained silent about the sexual harassment for so long.
By holding back the information, Hayek argued that she was doing everything in her power to “protect” her friend and her career. She remarked, “Some people were very angry at me, like Penélope [Cruz], but I was protecting her.”
‘I kept my eye on their interaction and he never went for her. They [Miramax] were making the best movies. She didn’t have my problem, and if I told her it would have affected her choices of things that would have been good for her career.’
Salma Hayek described how Weinstein had harassed her and asked her to engage in sexual activity with him in that disturbing editorial. Weinstein is currently incarcerated and serving a sentence of 23 years. As is well known, the court case developed as a result of multiple performers who had previously collaborated with Weinstein speaking out about the producer.
Cruz’s 2009 movie Nine was produced by Weinstein, and other movies starring the Spanish actress that he has worked on include Vicky Cristina Barcelona, for which Cruz earned an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
Hayek previously admitted that she didn’t tell Cruz, who was “really angry” with her, because she reasoned, “I didn’t realize Harvey was doing it to other people, too, so I thought, ‘Why dump your stuff on someone and take away from their professional relationship with him?’ At that time Harvey was doing the best movies.”
The Sunday Times quoted The Hitman’s Bodyguard’s Wife actress as saying that the Weinstein revelations had a significant impact on her.
“Suddenly the trauma came back,” she said, becoming emotional. “I had thought that it was completely healed, but it was just hiding. It came back, out of nowhere, and it took me a long time to understand how I had to be with it.”
She continued, “Before I wrote the piece I thought I had survived that brilliantly and it was done with. To the point that I could see him and smile and pretend that everything was OK. I had held my own, I was really strong. He even said that me and Julie Taymor [Frida’s director] were the biggest ball-busters he has ever encountered. I took that as a compliment.
“He didn’t get what he wanted from me and I made the film that was so important, so meaningful to me, to my kind, and when I say my kind I don’t just mean Mexicans, I mean to my kind of woman. Frida is a woman who said, I am not a woman who is going to be like anyone else, I am going to fight for my individuality.”
The latest movie Salma Hayek appeared in was Bliss, an Amazon Prime Original with Owen Wilson. The movie in question was a science fiction thriller that took place in a post-apocalyptic future where people had devised inventive methods to use technology to ensure that life went on. She will next be featured in “Eternals,” directed by Chloe Zhao, where she plays Ajak. The movie will focus on the titular team of legendary superheroes as they battle “The Deviants,” who are said to be the greatest threat ever.
The actress is resolved to own her role in Hollywood more fully. Hayek has both a production firm, which is best known for launching the television series Ugly Betty.
“This problem, it’s not only about sexual harassment, it is about sexism, the constant undermining, and the desperation to please and prove ourselves,” she shared. “So I was like, no way, I am going to change it because, look, I am a lot more than what you see.”
