Salma Hayek is a diva, known for her excellent acting skills, straightforward personality, and her commanding presence. The actress has been a part of Hollywood for decades now and has left an indelible mark with her roles in films like Frida, Desperado, and After the Sunset. She even joined the Superhero universe with her role of Ajak in Eternals of the MCU.
In her journey, she has made a lot of close friends and a few enemies. The actress, too, had a not-so-great experience working with the disgraced producer, Harvey Weinstein. The reports against Weinstein made the headlines during the #MeToo movement, which led to the once-powerful producer losing it all in Hollywood, he was even kicked out of The Weinstein Company as soon as the report surfaced and many directors parted ways with him.
Salma Hayek recounted her experience working with Harvey Weinstein
The Marvel actress, Salma Hayek gave an interview to Hadley Freeman of The Guardian. In the interview, the interviewer brought up her op-ed that she wrote for The New York Times, where she shared her experience working with the disgraced producer, Harvey Weinstein. She shared more details with Freeman.
In The Guardian interview, she was quoted saying,
“If you really look at my piece, you’ll see that I really focused on the bullying [rather than the sexual harassment], and I do think women got it worse [from him]. Weinstein is not the only man to reassure himself by knowing he can destroy women.”
When Freeman asked if she ever normalized the abuse she experienced, to cope with it, the actress was quoted saying,
“To a degree. And I did feel alright [when he bullied me]. OK, I would shake [afterwards] and it did depress me, but there was a cartoon aspect about the whole thing. When he would call me up [during the making of Frida] and scream, ‘Why do you have a [monobrow] and moustache? I didn’t hire you to look ugly!’ I was like, ‘But didn’t you ever look at a picture of Frida Kahlo?”‘If a man was playing Cyrano de Bergerac, he wouldn’t say, ‘What’s with the nose?'”
The Guardian also stated that the actress had previously stated that the producer never was able to s-xually assault her, crediting her friendship with Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino, and George Clooney for the same, claiming that it saved her. She also added that it was also because “I was very strong. I didn’t just say no. I’m a force to be recognized. He never saw me weak. It’s not that I’m not afraid, but you’re not going to see it. I can be almost intimidating in my calm strength, you know?”
She also further explained that the reasons for her bullying by others was not limited to her looks or her being a woman, but her ethnicity too played a huge role in the same.
Salma Hayek faced rejection due to her ethnicity
In the same interview with The Guardian, she mentioned that Weinstein was “not the first or last one” to bully her in Hollywood. She recalled that while she was starting off, or even after making a name for herself, many have treated her not-so-nicely, but she added that she doesn’t hold a grudge against those because she believes it is “systematic.”
She was quoted saying by The Guardian,
“I’m sure — it was systematic. But one of my strengths is I don’t hold a grudge. I also believe people can change … I’m not interested in shaming anyone. I just want it to stop. When they disrespect your background, they feel you’re weaker and they prey on weakness”
Despite everything the actress faced, she fought and made her place in Hollywood, becoming one of the most talented, renowned, and highly acclaimed actresses.
Source: The Guardian
