Before we got to the controversy, let’s just take a moment and look at Salma Hayek’s pictorial for the September issue of Vogue Germany. The photos themselves aren’t anything amazing, I don’t think – it seems like such a bored and boring editorial. That being said, Salma’s body is CRAY in these photos. Like, she’s an embarrassment of riches with that body and that face.
Now, on to the controversy. In the interview with Vogue Germany, Salma was discussing her supporting role in Oliver Stone’s Savages. In the film, Salma plays some kind of Mexican drug lord – her character orders Benicio del Toro to kidnap and torture Blake Lively’s character, I believe, and while Salma’s scenes probably weren’t filmed in Mexico (I think the whole thing was shot in and around LA), apparently Salma felt like it was the first time in a while that she was playing a “Mexican character”. Salma is half-Mexican, you know, and she was raised in Mexico. Which makes her comments to Vogue Germany… a little weird:
“I am proud to have been involved in this film with all these great actors,” Hayek told Vogue Deutsch (as translated from German to English). “Honestly, I hardly had any memories of what it is to be Mexican. My life is completely different now.”
“It’s true that we have a problem in Mexico and it is important to talk about it. However, the U.S. is playing a major role, even if they claim it is purely a Mexican problem. More than 30,000 people have been killed in the past few years in this drug war — mainly by arms that come from the U.S.”
“My life is completely different. It’s great thanks to my daughter Valentina and my husband.”
“It’s much easier to get an Oscar than a great husband. My career is not as important as everything else I have achieved. If they offered me to change my life in exchange for being the most famous and the highest-earning actress, I wouldn’t accept.”
[From Vogue Germany via HuffPo & Voxxi]
Do you see where there’s a problem? I will spell it out for you: “Honestly, I hardly had any memories of what it is to be Mexican. My life is completely different now.” I understood what she was trying to say – that she’s far-removed from the world in which she grew up, having lived in LA and Paris for the better part of two decades. But Salma’s words are being taken as… well, something altogether Goop-ier. (Sidenote: Can’t you just imagine Gwyneth Paltrow saying something like, “Honestly, I hardly had any memories of what it is to be American”?).
Hispanic blogs are criticizing Salma for her statements, with one blog, Guanabee, asking: “What did Salma mean by basically saying she forgot what it’s like to be a Mexican woman? That she’s too French and rich for our blood?” It’s a thing now. And so Salma’s rep went to E! News and claimed that “the whole thing has been lost in translation” and “Salma is not disparaging Mexico in any way.” Apparently, this was the original quote, per Ingrid Sischy (who wrote the Vogue article):
“I am proud to be in this movie with all these great actors. The truth is that I almost have to try and remember what it’s like to be Mexican. My life is different now. You cannot make yourself represent something. You have to be an individual, by being the best you can be.”
I really don’t see a huge different? “The truth is that I almost have to try and remember what it’s like to be Mexican. My life is different now.” Versus: “Honestly, I hardly had any memories of what it is to be Mexican. My life is completely different now.” What’s the big diff? I’m not seeing it. If anything, I think the clarifying quote might be slightly MORE offensive. It makes Salma sound like she really has to put some effort into remembering a life beyond her gilded walls.
Incidentally, I think the real money quote is “It’s much easier to get an Oscar than a great husband.” O RLY? Says the woman who does not have an Oscar, and whose husband just settled a giant child support case for the kid he fathered while he and Salma were getting started. Sure.
Vogue Germany photos courtesy of The Fashion Spot.
great cover…she’s serving it in these pics.
+10
She also needs some new poses. All the pics are basically a variation on the same, tired, swept-hair, cutting the air with your cheekbones, while contorting the body into a perfect hourglass scenes. Truth is, she does look insanely hot and gorgeous, but then I remind myself that the boobs are bought, the ass is probably sculpted, and the face, eh, don’t even wanna get started on that…
She probably does not remember either what it is to be just a pretty woman with normal, slim figure and really hard accent. You know, since she’s not been that in suuuuuuuch a long time (massive eye roll).
Salma – the poses need to go. You look like an amature soft-porn starlet.
Lastly – for the love of… when will it stop with the abuse of photoshop? It’s almost impossible to find a picture anymore that had not been messed with and ‘improved’. Come on! With all her plastic surgery ‘achievements’, even Salma still does not look like these photos.
I think you have to add what she says after Kaiser, when she starts to talk about the drug problem.
I think she was saying she forgot about the struggle a bit.
Which isn’t Goop-like at all when you think about many people who have come from nothing into something.
After so many years of being blessed, it’s probably easy to forget where your bread used to come from.
I kind of like the fact that she took a step back and realized how far removed she was. That means now she can do something about it.
Maybe I was the only one who saw it that way. *shrug
You should step in as her spokesperson. I legit just went ‘Oooohhh.’ Who knows if this is what she meant, but it sounds much better.
Lol. I would totally do PR but I don’t know how to schmooze.
I agree. You stated that well.
In terms of identity (culture/food/mores/beliefs/worldview), for her Mexican fans, who identity with her as a Mexican, as a Mexican woman and as a brown woman who has “made it”, it has to be disheartening to hear her say that she no longer identities as Mexican primarily and/or with its hurts and causes.
For some minorities who are “in the struggle” and/or the social activist types, identity is important and for young women to be able to point to her as a Mexican woman who has made it is important. I think this is way Jessica Alba is somewhat disappointing to some of her Mexican fans/detractors. Of course, there are a lot of assumptions there, my own and perhaps their own too
Also, Salma perhaps should have explained much better that she is more a global citizen than she is a local citizen seeing that she spends much more of time in LA/NY/Paris. Oh, well. Who knows what gets lost in translation.
But, hey, that’s my 2 cents . . .
I’m half Mexican but I am American vs. Mexican unlike Salma. I’m *cough* like Jessica. This didn’t offend me like Jessica does. Jessica keeps trying to claim she is Danish or something when she is naturally brown colored. I’ve worked my unemployed, newly grad student ass off studying by the pool to get as dark Jessica.
Salma came off more like Natalie than Jessica. You know that one quote where Natalie said stupid Americans think she is European. I think Salma thinks stupid Mexicans think she is European.
The irony is that my American opinion and my mother’s Mexican opinion of the French is well… less hygienic than that of Americans (any part from Canada to Argentina).
Oh yeah that other non-Mexican half of mine… it’s French. I should be browner than the Danish Ms. Alba.
I was born in Sri Lanka, my parents moved to Zambia (African country) when I was 6 months old. English is my first language and thanks to colonialism British culture was a presence in my Sri Lankan identity (always SL, cos ‘we might not be white, but at least we are not black’, oh the racism).
When I was 10 we moved to Australia, and I grieved for my Zambian childhood so deeply; it took me years to deal with it, especially as my parents couldn’t understand it. I’ve spent a lot of time Ecuador as well.
So now I am Australian- Sri Lankan. But, though I adore this country and the spirit it has given me I don’t really know ‘what’ I am.
I am an internationalist in many ways, but I am fully Sri Lankan too, and fully Australian , and forlornly Zambian too.
Sometimes you lose your country. You are the always outsider, which means you kinda belong everywhere.
I don’t think we should confuse Salma’s personal relationship with her identity with her relationship to Mexico.
She is (I feel) telling the truth and that is better than mouthing ‘affirmative’ platitudes.
@Olaf78
I can absolutely relate to what you are saying. I think that people who have only lived in one country all their lives have real difficulty understanding and/or relating to what Salma Hayak is saying and because they don’t understand it, automatically attribute something negative to her comment. Unfortunately, that is human nature, we sometimes attribute negative qualities to things we don’t understand.
+1 Naye in VA articulated my thoughts.
Salma gets a pass from me. Indeed, some things are lost in translation. Never got the snob or self-entitled vibe from her. I think she’s just being honest here.
And, no, she doesn’t have an Oscar, but, in another year, she could have won, considered she ticked off a lot of the categories the AMPAS like to see (real person, artist, period, foreign land, controversial figure). Not that I think she should have won, but, had this been 1997 or 2007, she could have arguably won. So, no, she didn’t win, but she came awfully close, which is still a tiny group of people. And considering all the effort she put into the performance, as well as campaigning for the award, as well as how hard it is to find a partner you want to spend the rest of your life, yes, I believe it’s probably harder than getting an Oscar.
P.S. Not a passionate fan of Hayek, but she earned a nod for Savages. Too bad few noticed.
I hardly have memories of liking her. And yes, I am Mexican.
High 5, Lola. Geesh.
Lest we all forget, she came to the US at the age of 24, after becoming a big TV star in Mexico. She was not an infant, she was not a kid whose family was trying to forcefully assimilate her into american culture at the cost of erasing all her ancestral roots.
She was a fully formed, educated and seemingly intelligent person, with memories, family ties, culture immersion worth a lifetime.
For her to state something so stupid, so patently false, so ridiculously exaggerated is not only offensive to Mexicans, it is offensive to Americans, and to anybody else who values their ancestry and homeland.
But it is also nothing new for Salma – in the last couple of years, as she’s solidified her position as ‘the trophy wife’ of an ugly, child-denying billionaire a-hole, her comments on a multitude of issues have become more and more eyebrow-raising. I feel that not only had she lost touch with reality, what with breathing only the rarified, perfumed air of her hoity-toity french billionaire mansion, but she is also intentionally trying to present herself as so high-brow that Queen Elizabeth should probably curtsy to her.
She clearly thinks her ugly, a-hole billionaire ‘greatest husband in the world’ worships the ground she walks on. But I can’t help feeling that SHE HERSELF also WORSHIPS the ground SHE walks on.
co-sign 100%.
Lest we forget her quote “Ive never understood the point of being privilaged if you dont get to have the privilges.”
My husband is french and he happens to live in Renne where her husband owns the soccor team…this #itch is so roundly hated, loathed and despised by everyone in that stadium and team. The stories of how she behaves in meetings are legend….counting sandwiches and denying workers small privilages….youd think shes be more gracious but shes a pig. Total elitist. Loves money more than anything. I so glad sofia vergara gets up her nose.
Getting an Oscar is easier than a great husband? Someone might want to tell her she has neither.
What is with the crawling on the floor pose? Why do photographers always do that?
+1. She has a “great husband”? I hardly remember that!
The other comment – she grew up in Mexico, surrounded by Mexicans, living it every day of her life. An experience that shaped her forever. I’m glad she likes France and the experience of living there outdoubtedly has had its impact too. But the first 20 years of your life teach you everything. Where is her pride in the beautiful country that shped her?
IDK. I’m 46. I hardly remember what it was like growing up or even in my 20s. I think people like to get upset.
Pretty sure “great husband” is her euphemism for “billionaire.”
+1
God I hate her mild adds! As if she does a damn thing when her daughter is out of milk.
Just when I can’t stand her, I remember her breastfeeding that hungry baby and like her just a little bit again.
Exactly what I was thinking.
I am a photographer and I too hate the “crawling” poses…on the floor on the ground…whatever…so submissive and degrading!
I agree, the crawling on the floor pose is a degrading looking picture. She’s incredibly beautiful, so there is no need for her to pose like that! However, I do love the picture of her with her head thrown back holding onto her heel. It’s very sexy without any try-hardness to it.
I tend to be a bit of a prude, and even I think that last pic looks like she’s preparing for some doggy-style love.
she looks beautiful in those pics.. that’s all I got
after reading the whole article in german, her comment doesn’t come off as bad as it does. she basically tries to say that it was hard for her to prepare for the role considering that she’s been living for so long abroad. then she goes on and says that she wouldn’t trade her current life because her family is the most important thing in the world for her. taken out of context her words do seem harsh, that’s all.
Thank you for posting that! After reading that it was originally written in German, I assumed that her original meaning was lost in translation.
Well if she’s having problem remembering she just need to hear herself talk after 20+ years in the USA or wherever else she lived she still have the heaviest Mexican accent so there you have it. And as a Mexican myself I have a problem liking her now she just became another Jessica Alba. Don’t you ever dare to call them Mexican despite they’re names and/or accents.
Im not Mexican myself, but I don’t think she was denouncing being Mexican, like Alba has. I think she was saying that she forgot a bit about what her background was like. Like spending your whole life picking cotton, and then one day, you’re outta there and you don’t look back, but you forget that there are other people still picking cotton.
I think it’s good she realized this, and that she is outright saying there is still a problem for those living in Mexico, and the US is directly involved.
She was rich in Mexico (wealthy family), rich in the US and now +++rich in France. No cotton picking.
Fact: Salma Hayek has never been poor a day in her life. She comes from a wealthy family in Mexico. She is totally upper class and always has been.
LOLz. Thanks guys. Must be nice to be filthy rich and hot your whole life. But you get what I’m saying right? Physical removal leads to mental removal more often than not. I dont think her statements are crucifiable.
+1 Very well explained Naye!
I don’t think she’s an Alba. I think she’s just entitled. I also don’t think the drug cartel thing was going on when she was living in Mexico. Mexico was a nicer safer place in the 80s and 90s.
well, she hasn’t had much mexican food since she came abroad
Ms. Hayek, would you like some mexi-fries with that?
I don’t know… I can’t really harp on her for this. I’m an American who’s been living in Quebec for over a decade. The culture divide between the US and Quebec isn’t gigantic, but I can say that the experience is definitely different. Once you’ve been removed from something long enough, you simply forget what some of it is like… not necessarily a bad thing, just the way it is.
Are you enjoying La Belle Province? Hope you don’t get too much grief for being from the US. Canadians can harp on it sometimes, like ex-pat Americans have been saved from the dark side by coming to Canada (I live in Ontario). 🙂
Yes, I’m enjoying it (at least enough to stay for 11 years and counting). I don’t get too much grief for being American – more surprise that I don’t fit their idea of ‘American’ (whether it’s realistic or not) and because I speak fluent French. but because I’ve been here for all of my formative adult years, it’s sometimes a bit of a culture shock to be back in the States.
We lived in Montreal and Quebec city and always felt warmly welcomed. None of us spoke French at the time and almost everyone was wonderful.
It’s weird with Salma, you would not think she is less than five feet tall in her pics. She is as tiny as our little trapeze artist. Who is about one or two inches shy of five feet.
Hi venny! Glad to hear that someone loves Quebec, the way political opinion in Canada has been going the past week ;). Kidding aside, I love Quebec. Montreal is such an incredible city, cannot wait to go back soon, see a hockey game and eat to my heart’s content (I live in Saskatchewan, formerly from Alberta). Very nice to hear that an American loves it too :D.
Agree. I don’t understand what was bad about what she said. She wasn’t disparaging anything. Some people are just over the top sensitive.
Agreed. I was born in the Dominican Republic and have been living in the US for almost 15 years- truth is, it’s a TOTALLY different culture. I struggle to identify as “Dominican”, too. I know it’s my heritage and my people, and I’m proud of where I’m from, but frankly I identify way more as “American”. Doesn’t mean I think there’s anything wrong with being Dominican, just that for me, it’s not my central cultural identity anymore.
accent accent accent accent accent accent…With no memories…?O my god, this garl is CRAZY!
Even after all these years in the US her accent is still so thick and it’s annoying. My husband has only been learning English for two years and his accent is hardly noticeable. I guess some people just have a hard time with the language.
Her accent is so super annoying. It seems to be her shtick and deliberately exaggerated.
Accent doesn’t mean anything. Some people retain their original accent in either their native or second language all their lives.. Others quickly pick up the accent of those around them – like a Hoosier (Indiana) woman I met who married a Kenyan and ended up with that British African accent. My own accent is fluid- after years in an area where 1/3 of the population has Kentucky roots, I now sound Southern enough to fool a real Southerner who was disappointed to find out I have never been below the Mason-Dixon line… A friend pointed out that Russian emigrants to the US end up speaking contaminated Russian pretty quickly-he says the inflection gets odd and English-like within a few years. Interpreters and many language teachers try to spend long periods of time abroad to maintain their native language in proper working order. A lot of people snarked on Madonna for her British-like accent, but I think she picked it up naturally when surrounded by Brits for a long while. For many people, it takes a lot of concentration to bring back your original accent once you’ve lost it.
Wish I had memories of her being a good actress.
I actually agree with the getting an Oscar thing, I mean… she is talking about Halle Berry, right?
Lolz
I just spit up my soda… LOL HAHAHAHAHAHAHH Thank you soo much for a laugh I needed
You are welcome, I guess many of us thought so…
Dont think she looks as good as she did before, there is a harshness about her face.
And HOW is marrying a two-timing douchebag billionaire an achievement?
And of course you wouldn’t swap the world you have now to be a top actress because you’d have to work your arse off instead you get the readies for free.
Oh and cheers for aiding a parental alienation case in LA when you dont even live there.
I’m just hoping she doesn’t come back to LA. She was all almost annoyingly Latina when she was plugging Ugly Betty.
Normally I think her face is too harsh. Big huge chin, beaky looking mouth, with a nose too small for her face. But I think she looks really pretty in these photos.
“he fathered while Salma was pregnant. Sure.”
His son with Linda was born on October 11, 2006. Valentina was born September 21, 2007. So no, there’s not an overlap in pregnancies.
Which doesn’t mean he’s not a douche.
It means that he started seeing Salma while Linda was pregnant. And if Salma knew about it, then she’s a douche too.
Not to defend the guy, because he does seem like a douche, but wasn’t the relationship (I use the word loosely) with Linda more or less over (a la Tom Brady-Bridget Moynahan-Giselle Bundchen triangle)?
If you haven’t lived in a country for 20 years, its hard to remember living there and feeling like you are part of there rather than where you live now. I get what shes saying and obviously the translation of the interview is odd.
I can’t stand how people get so touchy these days over stupid stuff like this. She’s allowed to feel like she wants.
My thoughts exactly.
Exactly
word.
x10000
Sheesh. People rush to the worst possible interpretation of anything said.
Yep. “Perpetual Outrage”.
So true! I think people also tend to forget she’s part Mexican and part Arab. Her fathers origins are Arab, hence her Arab name Salma Hayek.
So true! I think people also tend to forget she’s part Mexican and part Arab. Her fathers origins are Arab, hence her Arabic name Salma Hayek.
So very true! I think people also tend to forget she’s only part Mexican, she’s also part Arab. Her fathers origins are Arab, hence her Arabic name Salma Hayek.
So very true! I think people also tend to forget she’s only part Mexican, she’s also part Arab. Her father’s origins are Arab, hence her Arabic name Salma Hayek.
Lola I have a good cure for the hiccups if your interested.
“Weapons coming from the US”. Kudos to Salma for having her finger on the button and not being afraid to say the truth. Maybe she’s well aware of “Operation Fast and Furious” and the Obama administration’s grotesque role in the deaths of dozens of drug cartel murder victims including one U.S. border agent. All this which the media refuses to report on. Maybe her one comment will get people curious to research more. As for her comment about being Mexican: we live in an era of Perpetual Outrage. Everybody is offended by something someone else says. She did nothing wrong.
Agree with you. I was surprised she referenced the Operation Fast and Furious scandal, although not by name.
+ 10
Impressed that you know, too.
I will have to look it up. That comment kinda bugged me about 30,000 killings – mostly by US guns. OK, but having a ruthless, violent, bloodthirsty drug war is not what occurs in other countries that get guns that come from the US.
The deaths directly attributed to Operation Fast and Furious do not total 30,000 (that we know of!). Salma is using an *overall* figure of deaths from drug cartels, and then she threw in the bit about “guns from U.S. government”. I don’t think she meant to imply all those deaths are caused by U.S. government, just that certainly the U.S. government has had a stupefying role to play lately. I believe the deaths attributed directly to Operation Fast and Furious are around 300, with one of those being a U.S. border agent. Anyway, research will tell you more.
The drug war is intrinsically connected to Mexico’s relationship with the USA as well.
I hardly have memories of her not being a pretentious, self-absorbed, narcissistic bitch. (Actually, I’d use another word. Starts with ‘C’ and truly fits…)
No matter how much you hate her, slagging her off for being female is gross and tacky. And that is what those words do. As an (apparent) female yourself, you might consider not choosing words that equate the female anatomy with the worst thing you can call someone.
Sorry to offend, but in her case I think it fits. Does this mean no man can call Tiger Woods a ‘Dick’?
(And, for what it’s worth, I didn’t actually use the word.)
And why the label? Hmm… well, besides the whole ‘elitist/denial of my background’ crap, she denies her step-child and tries to sabotage the relationship of another father and child. In my world, that’s more than a ‘bitch’.
Oh, and also for the record, that same label applies to Sarah Palin as well, only for much different reasons.
I think her comment would have made sense if she has said “It is difficult for me to remember living in Mexico or speaking Spanish, etc” but she is referencing her own heritage? Which really doesn’t make sense to me. How do you forget your own heritage? Even if she is “half-mexican” she has raised there and worked there professionally for a large part of her life.
It doesn’t offend me but I don’t get her point in even bringing it up. If she doesn’t remember her life in Mexico, that’s fine but the wording is a little weird. (both in the published/interview version)
I just LOL’d reading the “oscar” comment. Go back to your lovely mansion, Salma.
+1. I don’t like Salma Hayek, but in this time I give her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe it was the magazine, or maybe she was no using the right words.
She is beautiful but snobbish. You never see her doing charity work or mingling with the poor people like Eva Longoria does. Eva Longoria is beautiful inside and out.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1141584/Salma-Hayek-breastfeeds-strangers-baby-Africa-mother-runs-milk.html
She does do charity work. In fact, she even stirred up some controversy while on a pro-vaccination campaign in Africa when she breastfed another woman’s starving baby. She was still nursing her daughter at the time and did it out of compassion since the kid was, you know, starving, but also to make a social statement.
The statement was in response to the stigma associated with breastfeeding in many parts of Africa, which largely stems from the belief that nursing women can’t or shouldn’t have sex. Unsurprisingly, this leads to men pressuring women to wean early or avoid nursing at all. Unfortunately, the subsequent use of formula has caused all sorts of other issues:
– Formula mixed with not-so sanitary water = Sick and/or malnourished, or dead African babies.
– Crippling poverty and attempts to make formula last longer by dilution = Sick and/or malnourished, or dead African babies.
-Shady formula companies “donating” their expired/spoiled/otherwise lacking products to impoverished African countries = Sick and/or malnourished, or dead African babies.
Meanwhile, in the West there’s a huge “Breast is Best” movement pushing for white/Western babies to receive all the benefits of breast milk, even as we’re also kinda secretly grossed out by the bodily-fluid-coming-from-a-for-sexy-times-organ nature of it. Which is why a lot of people were really grossed out by what Salma did. Which is why I actually really commend/admire her for the … up-close and person sort of way she approached such a tragic (and largely overlooked) problem.
Africa is a continent. Stop generalizing its peoples (including me). But I get your points.
I need to apologize. I have not double check your post. You did not generalize, sorry.
She didn’t come across snobby at all in real life. She was down to earth, with her kids, no makeup and took the time to come backstage and talk to all the performers and take tons of pictures.
Im not getting involved in her quote. No thanks.
“Oscar” must be her nickname for her husband, that’s all.
Oh, snap!
Being born and brought up in Mexico till I was 11, I have lived in the U.S. the rest of my life (12 years now) I have no accent, and I speak the language well enough to where people are always surprised when I tell them my background.
I have always thought Salma only brought up the fact she was Latina to her convenience. Just like Alba, if it’s convenient, if they can milk it some way, then they are Mexican, of not, forget about it.
It’s been a long time now that Mexico does not like Salma Hayek, and with good reasons.
I think I understand what she was trying to get across. I’m half Hispanic (on my mother’s side) and it was very important to my grandparents that their kids assimilate; to the point where they weren’t even taught Spanish and were told to use the anglicised version of their names (Luís became Louie etc). Perhaps she is so far removed from Mexican culture that she just can’t identify with it anymore. I’ve heard my mother say something similar. It’s sad and unfortunate, but somewhat common in a culture that favors WASPiness (for lack of a better term).
True that happens a lot but she grew up in Mexico, its a careless remark.
That seems pretty irrelevant. @cmc is saying something similar, and she grew up in the Dominican Republic. When you’re no longer immersed in the culture you can become removed from it. I’m glad your cultural identity is strong (as you so eloquently stated downthread) but that’s not the case for everyone.
I don’t understand what is irrelevant? Its very common for first generations to move and want to be Americanized. My careless remark comment was about Salma not your statement!?!?!
She said most likely flippantly (carelessly) and not fully understanding the ramifications of her comments. Some people wish to keep the cultural marks and others don’t because its what makes the different, its not hard to understand.
BUT when you are a celebrity, particularly one who has cultivated a fan based on being of certain nationality and did interview after interview on the labor of love a biopic was for another celebrated artist from the same country; the same movie that earned your sub-par acting an Oscar nod. Then you trash it all in 1 interview 10 years later, that my dear is careless and stupid.
I don’t see the issue. She didn’t say Mexicans are bad, she is saying that she does not feel as connected to Mexican culture which can happen. Why should she lie if that is how she really feels? Her Mexican heritage doesn’t change, but she may not be as familiar with the culture because she has adopted another culture. I can totally relate to what she is trying to say. I was born in the U. S. but lived in West Africa the first few years of my life but eventually moved back to the U. S. When living in Africa, I didn’t feel American, but now that I have been here for 20+ years, I feel very “American” and I have embraced American culture if I went back to Africa, I would have to re-adjust to the culture and the environment. That’s just a fact, no need to be offended. I have lived in three different countries and everytime I had to go through a process of adjusting to a new culture.
I’m also half Mexican. My mom never liked the Eastside, so I was born in Downtown LA and grew up in West LA and the San Fernando Valley. I’m so assimilated that I’m “whitewashed” or a “coconut”. I’m so assimilated that when I went to be tested for a learning disability in “math” my native language was listed as “English”. This was my mom’s goal and she worked hard at it. It is not an accident and perhaps she did her job too well. I don’t identify with the more multi-cultural people on the Eastside of LA at all. I hate the kind of Mexican music they play on LA radio and find tele-novelas horrid (although I also hate US soaps so that may not be related). The point is for the children to do better in the US. However, I never say I am not Hispanic.
Ironically… (LA snob time) Jessica Alba is from the Eastside.
This is not to say I don’t LIKE people from the Eastside. I have friends who grew up there and their experience is different. They had bilingual education. Their Spanish is immaculate but they have a slight accent in English. They dream in Spanish.
I’m not sure which is better but there are different experiences here. However, we all seem to hate Alba…. just notice how quickly she came up in this story.
I can also go into the Mexican – race and color system. Perhaps there is a reason Salma forgot she is Mexican. I totally forgot until now. Salma isn’t light skinned enough for most Mexicans.
It might have to do with the Mexican color system but since Salma Hayek supposedly comes from a wealthy family, which would automatically give her a higher social status, and went to private school in the U.S., she probably did not experience a lot of that. It is very likely that she doesn’t relate to Mexican culture as much or at all. It happens often to people who emigrate to another country, adopt the culture of their new country and over time lose a connection to the culture of their birth.
Hot hot hot!
no memories of being mexican, really if your mexican your mexican period !! sounds like she thinks her shit dont stink !! your heritage is your heritage and you should be proud of it !! omg salma you made the movie Frieda, did you forget about that also ???????? just cause you marry a french man doesnt make you french, and by the way your daughter is also mexican, and she looks like a mexican !!
Wouldn’t her daughter be of Mexican descent from her mother’s side but because she was born in France to a French father, wouldn’t that make her French? My mother was German but I consider myself an American first and foremost because I was born here as was my father who was of English descent. So I would be of German/English descent but 100% American.
Her daughter doesn’t look Mexican. Her daughter is hideous! She also doesn’t look French… she is hideous!
~Love a half-Mexican/half French person.
Seriously, that kid is not attractive. She looks like Frida who was not attractive by Mexican standards.
lol too funny
Frida Kahlo is also of mixed heritage. Half mexican and half German.
I take a lot of issue with this statement for a lot of reasons but mostly i think it make her sound like a dumbass.
I am 100% Mexican but I didn’t grow up there, my parent are both Mexican, children of immigrants who met in US and married. I grew up upper-middle class in the middle of Iowa in the suburbs where everyone had beautiful lawns, spacious homes and 2.5 kids. I went to private schools where with the children of some of the wealthiest people in the state. it was a far cry from how the rest of my family lived and I have spent the rest of my life explaining my waspy/valley girl accent.
BUT NOW I live with my Puerto Rican husband in one of his family homes in Chicago in the middle of the Puerto Rican ghetto. How i live now is such a far cry from how I grew up but that doesn’t mean i have changed who i am or how i dress because of it. I still think the same way, shop at the same stores, and appreciate the same things in life its just that i live in a different place.
When Salma was first making it big in the US she was the first to call out people like JLO who wanted to be considered Caucasian. This is a very sad statement from someone who used be such a proud Latina, between this and Halle I am losing my faith in her. Being Mexican isn’t about eating tacos and picking fruit its about celebrating our contributions to art & culture and remembering how far we have come and what we have accomplished a rich and diverse people.
Humboldt Park? The largest Puerto Rican parade and enclave in nation outside of New York–used to be anyway.
If you are talking about Humboldt Park, it wasn’t like that back in the day. Drugs devastated a lot of communities in Chicago. Now, I even hestitate to call Humboldt Park a Puerto Rican enclave cause the yuppies have it firmly in their grip.
I no longer live in Chicago but my family is still there.
Um maybe the east side but the west side is still very Puerto Rican. I know that everyone who has moved out like to pretend that its all yuppie but its not. The PR’s are holding out hard core after losing Wicker & Lincoln Park and and new Puerto Rican high school was just established, So. Some streets are better than other and ALL but 3 houses on my street at PR families. The drugs are on the other side of the tracks but the its still LK territory…….. I don’t know what to tell you, the flags still fly
The flag on Western & Division, across from Clemente High School? Smile. Back in the day, I attended Josephinum High School.
The eastside is gone, i.e., Wicker Park area. But I can see what you mean when you are talking about the westside and the LKs. You are right. The actual border around the park seems to be falling too–at least on the north and east endx. Will drive through when I come home for a Christmas visit. I live out-of-state now.
Thanks!
JLO wanted to be Caucasian? I thought she wanted to be black. Seriously! I never got an Alba vibe from JLO.
So its easier to get an oscar than a great husband? Halle Berry must have put her up to that comment, or is this testimoney for the custody case.
@Lori – god you are right. We can spot scary berry’s transparency even in interviews with other celebs. Oh wait isn’t this woman an “expert” witness? LOL
Of course Salma wouldn’t trade a billionaire husband for being the highest paid actress. She would rather be a well-kept woman than earn her bread. This woman is insufferable.
Can’t stand this pretentious woman. Before she got that sleazy billionaire to marry her she was going on and on about not needing to be married and her “art”
Update on Guannabee: http://guanabee.com/2012/08/salma-hayek-german-vogue-clarification-1/
Oh Salma talk about putting your well pedicured foot in your mouth. One might not remember what it’s like to live in Mexico, but one most certainly never forgets what it’s like to be Mexican. Sorry love, your husband can give you access to unlimited riches and couture clothing, but once you open your mouth to speak, Mexican is all anyone hears. Such a shame about Salma, she used to be a person to admire. A woman who made something of herself. Now she’s nothing more than the sterotypical real housewife of a wealthy man.
She’s out of the loop So what. Her comment is truthful and hey, if that’s how she feels, so be it. There’s nothing wrong with what she said. People can’t open their mouths these days, specifically celebrities, without someone or some group taking offense.
I don’t think anyone I upset about her speaking her mind. It’s that it is an ignorant comment coming from someone who up until she married her billionaire french husband was a very out and proud Mexican. So much so that she really never spoke oh her other nationality of being Lebanese.
unless i’m dreaming here, and theres a different Salma, she was raised in a pretty wealthy family and NOT in mexico.
Her parents shipped her to a private school in the states at 12, and she stayed there until she got expelled (catholic schools were much more strict back then). Then shipped back to mexico city to finish high school.
She actually spent a short amount of time in mexico compared to the states as a kid.
Poor she was not.though she definately upgraded to mega-gold-digger status with her nupitals..
I don’t find it offensive, has she been living as a Mexican woman? And I don’t mean just by having Mexican heritage, I mean in Mexico with Mexicans who are nationally Mexican and ethnically Mexican. Its not hard to see how she could lose touch. I know a lot of friends who came from other places and have started to forget their language and what life was like before. It’s inevitable.
wow ppl like salma! i find her pretentious and obnoxious…and i’ve never seen her in a film.
she is drop dead gorgeous, and always comes off like an A-hole to me, this article no exception.
but we crucify goopy-who i think is more sincere and actually probably does care about ppl and the world in general, beyond herself. [though she is also pretentious].
salma’s just obnoxious, but you gotta love that she is who she is….she quite loves herself, too, to be sure. i think her sense of self-importance comes off a little too strong in every interview i’ve read with her, however.
Not surprised…she also denies her Arab roots. Why wouldn’t she belittle her Mexican ones?
I sure hope that was taken out of context. As my Abuelita would say…La boca mensa tonta!
This what happens when you marry a billionaire and all of a sudden you have more money than you ever dreamed of nd because of that you think you are better than anyone else. I had admired her because she seemed to be proud of her heritage but now that she has proven to be a snob I just can’t stand her. Our childhoods stay forever in our minds, especially it should be in her case since she left mexico when she was in her 20’s … That’s a lot of memeories. What a fool she has become. In a few years watch her say something stupid about the US too. Ugh watch a bitch she has become!
She’s the Mexican Goopy.
Who cares. she’s a stuck up her own ass twunt and marrying a bilionaire has just brought it out more.
Funny how she harped on for years about being Mexican and now that she’s some fancy French socialite she’s like actually, no. The only people who really supported her were Mexican Americans, let’s see if they stick by her.
No. Jessica alba is the mexican goopy.
Jessica Alba is NOWHERE near relevant enough to be the mexican Goop. Salma Hayek has been an a-hole since before she made it in the U.S. She was one to the latin media and continues to be one to this day. No one in mexico really likes her or claims her. Especially now hat she’s trying to do the Maria Felix (google) biopic, people got their panties in a knot over that. Surprisingly that woman (Maria) bad mouthed mexico to the french a lot. Perhaps it’s performance art, a really poor version of it since she’s trying to get that film going. Anywho, At this point we’re like… meh.. the french or the americans can have her. We don’t care.
I work with Mexican women who have told me that they can’t stand Salma because she denies her heritage. I have heard this time and again long before this article came out.
I’d always thought Salma’s looks were overrated, but she looks astonishing in these photos – except for that ridiculous crawling on the floor one. Yes, they are photoshopped, but not massively so.
And yes, she has become the stereotypical boring billionaire’s trophy wife. Yawn.
What is the big deal about beeing mexican?why are famous women (alba,salma) so..uhmm..unhappy with their mexican roots and why they are always talking about it? I’ve never heard mila talking about ukraine in a negative way or heidi klum about germany.. Sorry for my awful englisch 😉
As a Mexican who has stayed and lived for short times at the US, I met wonderful people but also the opposite. I recall clearly a woman asking me if I was from Greece or maybe Italian because I am tall, not dark and hazel eyed… When I said Mexican, her attitude was clearly different, like I had offended her… Also many spanish speaking immigrants to the USA have a higher academic level that those Mexicans. Many Mexicans (not all) that emigrate to the US, have dropped out from elementary school due to economic causes and look for any kind of jobs all over Mexico and in the neighboring country (yes, within Mexico we see immigranst from the South and Central America too). Many are natives who many times do not even speak Spanish. Taht is one of the causes of working in drug related bands and crops, they pay better, even in dollars…
Meanwhile, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Colombians, etc, are in a different situation when they emigrate and I feel that sometimes they look down on the Mexicans… Whatever.
So, maybe some of these artists feel that saying they are Mexicans is not so glamorous.
If it were possible to jump through computer screens and give hugs, I totally would! That is an excellent assessment!
I agree with you except for one thing: the Puerto Ricans. Mexicans at least in California totally look down on Puerto Ricans. Cubans look down on everyone. That last part was an inter-Latino joke.
The other thing is that Mexicans in Mexico tend to be more European looking that the ones in the US, at least in my experience. When Americans think of a Mexican they think of an indigenous Mexican. The kind that come here to work the fields. The ones in the big buildings in Mexico City or Guadalajara don’t need to come here.
South Americans are too far from the US for the poor to be able to make it all the way over here. They tend to emigrate to (ironically) Mexico.
Tnx for the hug, Relli!
It’s been ages since that happened and it made me think how different people can be regarding race or ethnics origins.
I like that Salma is darker, and short, and looks very Mexican whatever her ethnicity is. Shame that she can be or seem so… But I still like her because she is a woman, she is successful and was succesful before her husband happened.
I can stand her, with the exception of her helping Halle, that’s a big no-no.
I agree with you, Zen, I don’t know a lot about all those cultures, and I assumed since Puerto Ricans have a closer relationship with the US, they might “feel” better than us shoeless Mexicans. I loved reading about the Dominican diaspora, tho, and I have relatives who are practically 100% mexicans or just half Mexicans and they are totally assimilated (they are very white, or have American fathers) and cannot even recall or know anything about Mexico, I find it a bit sad, but it is their life anyway. (read your comment below, ITA.
@Xxxx you apologized for your English which means you are probably not living in the US or if you are you are new to us.
In the US, historically the best thing you can be is white: preferably English but with roots in the US going at least into the 1800s because rednecks don’t trust “them thar Euro-peens”. The worst thing you can be in black. These things are slowly changing but that is the history.
Now we have Mexicans who are racially some kind of indigenous American mixed with some kind of Southern European – usually Spanish, Portuguese or Italian.
In the racial hierarchy of the US *some* Mexicans can pass for white. If you have read the comments many, many Mexicans pass for white without trying. This means that life for a lighter Mexican can be pretty easy here as long as you act white. This is where the old assimilation idea comes from. If a lighter Mexican assimilates, he or she will not stick out and can go about his or her business without being harassed.
I personally have never been discriminated against for being Mexican… exactly. But like Ennie, I have been looked at oddly when I have told people I was part Mexican. I’ve also had people say “That can’t be your mom, she looks sooooo MEXICAN!” Um… I said she was Mexican. Although, my mom actually looks more Asian. I’ve had guys say… “You’re Hispanic!” Like its a bad thing that he was interested in a Hispanic woman. This particular guy was way too blonde, way too balding and way too Christian for my taste so I actually played it up. I suddenly became full blooded 100% Aztec. I feel guilty but whatever works.
PS: If this were the 1980s Mila would be explaining to us in great detail that a Ukranian and Russia are not the same thing and why. I had a Ukranian friend in elementary school back then Russian meant Communist.
OMG HAHAHAH to the Redneck comment. How true it is, this is coming from a former redneck — not by choice.
She is not half Mexican, she’s 100% Mexican, you can’t be half American, can you?
Her father is Lebanese so technically, she is not 100% Mexican and yes, someone can be half-American for example, the actress Sienna Miller has an American father. However, she is not expected her to deny her British side and identify herself as being 100% American. She also has both American and British citizenship.
Her father Sami Hayek Dominguez may belong to the Lebanese community, but he is Mexican too, who knows if he is 2nd, or even 3rd generation Lebanese or more. He was major of Salma’s hometown of Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz. That would make Salma not half Lebanes, maybe a quarter or even less.
She has lived a life far away from struggles, so it must have been hard for her to portray poor struggling ethnic types in her artistic career, more so if she is now so detached from her country, enjoying maybe just the glamour of Mexican art, away from what a typical middle class Mexican faces everyday.
I honestly really think it got lost in translation. I speak and write Arabic and sometimes when articles are being translated from Arabic to English, it ends up being something truly different from what the original article was trying to convey.
The clarification is way worse. The way the sentences follow upon each other, she’s saying that since she has pleasantly forgotten her roots, she would like for other people not to think of her as a Latina representing Mexico anymore. No doubt she now fancies her identity as a philanthropic Parisienne who lunches and launches face cream.
Mostly, her husband’s money has given her the confidence to be aggressively shallow.
Also, when Lucky interviewed her recently, it was also in a hotel suite. This must be a Hayek photoshoot rider: Mrs. Pineault will only crawl on the floor in hotel suites now.
What a stupid thing to say. Look in the mirror Salma or listen to yourself talk, everywhere you go and everything you do…you’re always Mexican.
Salma reminds me of Charlize Theron in South Africa we were shocked to learn that she almost lost her ability to speak her language (Afrikaans) and sounds like an french person trying to speak English, the woman can no longer speak her mother language. The only time she remembers that she a south african is when she needs some cheap publicity. So I can relate for those who dislike her comments
Yeah, Charlize sure does seem to have forgotten a lot conveniently, because there’s a genocide going on in South Africa right now, a new apartheid, and you won’t hear a peep about it from Charlize, who has an incredible opportunity to bring world attention to a terrible plight that the media and most of the international community are ignoring: the genocide of the Boer people (white South Africans, i.e. Afrikaners, like Charlize) by native black South Africans. It’s “pay back”, you see, by the formerly oppressed people. Thousands and thousands have been slaughtered, others have their land stolen by the government and are now living in ghettos. The women are routinely gang-raped, people are subjected to torture too horrible to describe here. And Charlize is just got her new baby and promoting her movies. She doesn’t say a damn word about what’s happening to HER PEOPLE. By the way, the same happened in Zimbabwe.
Save the dramatics. There is no white genocide, though SA is a violent place. They are right to redistribute land because the land is stolen. I know Boer schools tend to favor a highly edited history curricula but, how did your people get to Africa and acquire land? Don’t play stupid on this issue. You live by a philosophy of hate and violence towards others, you should expect it to come back to you.
Have to agree with Izzy: no one’s advocating violence of any kind, ever. But calling this a second apartheid is out of hand. Please show some regard for those victims whose anguish meant little more than nothing for years and years and years by robbing them of their humanity by not acknowledging the history and writing people out of their own story. I don’t support the slaughter of innocents–whoever they may be–but that kind of casual dismissal of such a large segment of the society with only the one-sided and sanitized version of history, a kind of history that we’re all given at some point, the kind that omits a lot of the history…that dog won’t hunt.
You can’t forget how to speak your native language, unless you’re suffering from brain damage. And I thought Charlize spoke only in Afrikaans with her mother, to whom she is very close?
You certainly can forget how to speak your native language. The knowledge may still be there, buried in your brain, but quite difficult to readily access. Spoken language is probably the first casualty, along with written language, since those are active linguistic functions. The passive abilities to understand written and spoken language are the easiest to acquire for an adult and probably the last to lose when unused. So although Charlize might be able to resurrect her native language if immersed in it long enough, it’s quite believable that she would struggle to speak it now. The accent is very easily lost, also, so it’s also believable that she speaks it oddly now.
Her comments make no sense to me. Is she saying she hardly remembers what it is to be Mexican because she has forgotten what it means to be a middle class Mexican growing up in Mexico? Is this because now she is a wealthy expat-Mexican living in France/America? Or is she saying that if she grew up in elite Mexico and lives the life she has now she would see less difference? Whaaaa? Lost in translation indeed.
At one point, I really liked Salma but she is a freaking sell out now. Her nose is so far up her ass that she does not even know what “Mexican” is — she’s probably “Oh my mind is Mexican”. She really put me off when she attacked Sofia Vergara — there was absolutely no need for that. She just needs to shut up and stick her tits out because at this junction, it’s the only two thing I like about her.
Lets not forget that these women are being interviewed by a racist and sexist media machine that baits them until they give the wrong (or right, depending on perspective) soundbite. Latina women are no doubt asked over and over in multiple interviews to relate their experience to their roots- which probably gets frustrating and feels icky, especially if that is not what they are trying to talk about. White actors are not asked continually– but how did this role impact your experience as a WHITE MAN? I am no miserAlba fan, but I understand why after getting asked about her heritage 600 times she snapped. And remember that famous women on the wane are asked if they are jealous of other rising famous women with similar traits. Salma was no doubt asked repeatedly about how she felt about Vergera in a desperate attempt to make the aging Hispanic queen admit she feels threatened by the new boobilicious Hispanic queen— and finally they pushed her into a bitchy quotable moment. Its gross. They rarely query aging but still attractive white male actors how threatened they are by younger rising beefcake stars. The system is a mess and these Latina women are allowed to play in the big leagues as long as they never forget to put the boobs front and center– and tolerate endless unsolicited questions about their ethnicity. They are actors and want to talk about their movies or whatever, not what country they were born in or their parents were born in. I don’t blame any of them for snapping, honestly. Rant over.
Excellent analysis. Still not a fan, but excellent!
I do agree with this analysis–I think you’re probably quite right. That said, she has been giving so many offensive and clueless interviews in the last year or two, that I have to believe some of it, at least, is really a representation of who she is and what she thinks she is entitled to. And it’s not a nice representation.
She is biting the finger that fed her. If she can’t remember anything mexican, how come she still has the same thick accent from twenty years ago.
nah! i’m mexican living in mexico from european roots and i understood what she meant it wasn’t against mexicans it was against hollywood stereotypes of what is like to be mexican under american eyes that’s all! how many times americans have told me but you have blue eyes and you’re white! how can you be mexican?
Now that’s shes married to a billionaire she thinks she’s better than anyone else. When she got to Hollywood she would talk and talk about her mexican heritage. Why? Because it was a way to get noticed. Now that she’s rich beyond her dreams she badmouths the people that got her there. What a user and a bitch!
What a bitch. She has always looked down on Mexicans and other latins. Ok let’s just clarify something here. She’s not half Mexican. She IS Mexican. She was born in Mexico to a Mexican father that is of lebanese ancestry. Her mother is Mexican of Spanish ancestry (well, along almost the entire mexican population). She made TWO soap operas until she decided she was “too mainstream” for soap operas, so she goes to USA and starts “from zero” (her family is wealthy) were she worked really “hard” to land memorable roles in such awesome movies like From Dusk ‘Til Dawn and The Wild Wild West.
Riiiight.
If she doesn’t remember she needs to look in the mirror. Mexican is across her face. She was never a Mexican star. She became famous in the US for her ta-tas.
If she doesn’t remember she needs to look in the mirror. Mexican is across her face. She was never a Mexican star. She became famous in the US for her soft core performances.