Salma Hayek covers the latest issue of The Edit, net-a-porter’s in-house online magazine. Salma is 50 years old! I just thought I’d point that out, because Salma is talking about menopause in this interview. It’s interesting, to me, to see these major celebrities that became famous in the 1990s (my coming-of-age era) as they navigate the new media landscape and try to talk about ageing in a real way. Anyway, Salma chatted with The Edit about her husband’s feminism, how he likes her to dress up (ugh) and how her failing eyesight is worse than menopause. Some highlights:
Salma wants women to know that we are enough: “We are a lot more demanding of ourselves than men are. It’s a horrible sensation – we’re not enough at work; we’re not enough for the guy who’s cheating on us; we’re not enough for our children who always want more of us, no matter what we give. My husband has a company that is very feminist [François-Henri Pinault, the chairman and CEO of luxury fashion conglomerate Kering]. They do a lot of studies on how to empower women and I’ve learned some really interesting details. Women work harder than men and are more demanding of themselves, yet they have the sensation they don’t do enough, and therefore they are less daring about asking for a better position or salary. Men do a lot less, they are less demanding on themselves and their standards are lower, yet they feel entitled to ask for a raise or a promotion.
True ambition: “I wanted everything, but I wanted to be a good person, and I wanted to get it with principles – that’s true ambition. The other type is desperation. My biggest ambition now is to become an organized person. It might seem like nothing, but I’m telling you, I’ve been trying it for 50 years and I still can’t do it. In parts of my life I am disorganized; a procrastinator. My god, that’s been a hard one to conquer. If I don’t want to do certain things, I don’t do them.”
She doesn’t have discipline: “I am better with exercise, I am better with food, but I am still not where I should be; I am getting older and I still don’t have the discipline. I always find excuses for myself – and they’re all brilliant, by the way. I will sometimes say, ‘I am 50 years old! Why do I have to look good? I already got my guy!’ But then, I don’t want to lose the guy, either.
On menopause: “The menopause is not the same for everyone – some women go through it with no problems. If you are not there yet, visualize that you’re going to go through it with no problems! It’s not fun. But the worst part of the aging process has been my eyes. Not the wrinkles – the eyes themselves. I’m such a visual person and [now] I cannot read without depending on glasses, and I lose them everywhere. I never hear other people complaining about their glasses. I really resent having to depend on my glasses to look at the world. It has been really, really sad. The eyes, for me, that’s worse than the menopause.
She doesn’t dye her hair?! “I don’t dye my hair, but I recently wore a pink wig. Naomi Campbell inspired me; she’s always changing. It’s fantastic. My husband hated it; he said, ‘You are crazy.’ But he likes makeup, and he likes me to dress up, because he loves fashion. And he loves my curly hair. I say, ‘I cannot go to the event with my crazy curly hair,’ and he says, ‘But that’s who you are – you are electrical. They connect you to the power and you’re electric. That’s why your hair is like that.’”
I’ve had bad eyesight since I was a kid, so I’ve gotten used to being half-blind. I wear contacts or glasses all the time, so that’s how I don’t lose anything – because I’m literally like a helpless baby who can’t do anything without my glasses. So, awesome, you’re telling me that my vision is probably going to get worse as I hit menopause? Something to look forward to. Also: I flat-out do not believe her about not dyeing her hair. SHE TOTALLY DYES HER HAIR. COME ON. You’re telling me that she’s 50 years old and she literally has no grey hair? Bish, please. She’s not dyeing it crazy colors, but she’s dyeing it to hide the grey.
Photos courtesy of The Edit.
I got my eyes lasered a few years back to fix shortsightedness and the dr warned me that by the time I get to 45 I’ll need glasses for long sightedness due to old age.
Same for my mom. She wanted to get it fixed and they found she had cataracts and glocoma. So I guess thank God she hates wearing glasses…
Yep, I had laser surgery about 15 years ago and now have to wear glasses for old-age.
Same, had my eyes lasered to correct short-sight over 10 years ago, am now long-sighted and need glasses.
If you’re going to have the procedure for myopia, take the practician’s advice and have your eyes under-corrected.
I’m 3 yrs younger than Salma and have like 3 grey hairs, my mother didn’t get grey hair proper until her 50′, it’s genetic.
Ohh I use glasses since I’m ten! Is laser difficult? I’m so afraid of it after seeing videos of how it’s done:/ Never even talked to the doctor about it. I wear contacts since I’m 15.
I had lasik after the age of 50. I went from 20/800 blind as a bat vision to 20/30, a good result for someone with such bad eyes. I still wear glasses to crisp up my vision a little, and to not have to lug reading glasses around with me. But now my glasses are lightweight, no longer digging into the bridge of my nose, and I buy them with no frames, just the sides and nose piece. I can function without glasses which is a huge bonus to me. I will say the lasik procedure was not fun and games for me. I got a raging inflammation after the procedure and had to insert steroid drops into my eyes several times a day for weeks. My eyes were also very dry for a few months afterwards. Everything resolved eventually.
Definitely covering greys.
Not necessarily. My husband’s side of the family has a whole bunch of cousins who at 70-75 literally have maybe 5 grey hairs in amongst the black. And hair that, male or female, remains hedgehog thick as well. No balding, no thinning and no grey. That may not be Salma’s case, but some people just have really really good genes in that regard. So it’s possible. They also all have really long and thick eyelashes. I’d be really annoyed except that my kids both got the eyelash gene, lucky girls!
Same, mom will be 59 in a couple months and her hair is black as ever with a handful of silvers; maybe five silver hairs total. Other hand my brother is 25 with plenty of silver hairs, genes are random.
My family take a long time to grey as well, but I personally went through a very stressful time for a chuck of 6 straight years and the Gray’s sprouted. They’re not really Gray’s, more like long silver strands, cos it glimmers when the light hits it. Its also much thicker than my ordinary black hair. Its all in the centre (sporadically) so I only see it when I’m blow drying my hair. It always reminds me to take life easy, stress is a degenerator of the human body, every ailment possible will come upon you.
Yeah, Felicia, almost the same with my family. There are people who had no grey hair, throughout their 50’s and then only went grey very slowly when they get into their late 60’s- 70’s. One of my great aunts is 86 and always jokes about how she wants to get a white wig, because she feels like people don’t respect her age or her wisdom because her hair is mostly brown still. Her father didn’t go fully grey until his 90’s. Then there are other relatives who didn’t get the no-grey hair gene and went nearly fully grey in their early 50’s. Guess which group I hope to be in 🙂 (though I’m strawberry blonde and people have told me my hair won’t go grey so much as it will just fade out)
So, yeah, I’ll take Salma at her word about her hair.
@ Hannah
I hear you! I’m blond(ish) and it’s kind of fading into silver at my temples. My brother on the other hand, got his first grey hair at 16. So…genes are an odd thing.
I also totally hear Salma on the needing glasses thing. I had 20/20 vision until I hit my 40’s. I hate needing reading glasses. They should install a GPS on the damned things that you can make beep with a phone app so you can find where you’ve put them down.
@Hannah and Felicia
A fellow blondie. My hair is light blonde so judging from family members will go dull and flat.
It can be true she doesn’t have any gray hair but it is not common, so I am skeptical. We don’t have early gray in my family but it is varied. My mother colors hers but she is minimal gray at 70ish.
I have a friend that didn’t get her first gray hair until her sixties.So yes I believe her.I am going on 54 and yes for me is the glasses thing.Marketing is horrible now,I can’t see small print without readers.
My grandmother is 96 and has black hair, never dyed it
Add my family to the list. My mother’s father didn’t start going gray until he was in his 70s. My mom was in her 60s. She’s 84 now and still more dark than gray. I’m 49 and have almost no gray. My four siblings are in their 50s and also have little gray.
My grandma passed away at 85 and didn’t have a grey hair on her head. My uncle is now 75 and he has the same thick black hair. Dad went grey and lost most of his by the time he was 60. I lost all mine at the age of 30 from alopecia. Life is strange sometimes.
I’ve had very bad eyesight since Inwas a kid, and my eyes have actually improved as I’ve gotten older – no cheaters for me!
It’s been a few years since I was 50 but I didn’t have any gray hair at that age.
Yeah, my friend is 49 and has pure, pitch black hair, not a single gray. Her mother only has a few strands of gray, and she’s 78. It’s just genes–I have no reason to doubt Salma on this one.
While I don’t totally believe her I can buy it about the hair and totally agree about the vision. I’m 51, dark brown hair, aside from a random gray strand haven’t felt the need to start coloring it yet (and my stylist agrees). The vision thing though…I started wearing glass for computer work a couple of years ago but could read a paper or book just fine. Once I hit 50 (and menopause) though, reading glasses everywhere.
Preach! I need a pair in every room, and it’s only gotten worse with perii-then-full-on me no!
Um…i have two friends and three cousins who do not grey, all female, all with very dark hair, and all possessing the inherited the trait from their maternal lines. Not saying it’s happening here, but it does happen.
My mother has this trait and so do I. I am 60 and only have a few random gray hairs. My mother has no gray at all and she is 85. Now the color is no longer dark and glorious, more like dull, but she does not have any grays.
All my relatives on my mum’s side of the family start getting greys in their late 70s. My mum is close to 60, not a grey hair in sight. Her brother is in his late 40s and still has jet black hair. I totally believe her.
My grandmother is 97 and still has mostly black hair, only with a spray of grey at the temple – it was 100% black until she was in her 70’s and she didn’t dye it, and her sister was the same – mostly black with sprays of grey into her 90’s. I have suburn and in my 40’s and don’t need to dye it although I do pull out the stray white ones – and have done since high school.
Losing your eyesight does suck. It might be harder if you’ve never had to depend on glasses. I was tired of losing track of my readers so I got a pair of progressive bifocals, they’re awesome.
She forgets to mention the one upside of menopause, no periods! So far I’ve gone six months at a stretch without one and I love not dealing with it monthly. I will not miss it at all.
‘ I will sometimes say, ‘I am 50 years old! Why do I have to look good? I already got my guy!’ But then, I don’t want to lose the guy, either.’
Hmm. OK.
Yeah that comment was really telling.
My mom has that attitude, too. She’s always after me to lose the last ten pounds of baby weight because she thinks my husband will leave me if I “get fat.”
I just tell myself it says a lot about messages she’s internalized and nothing about my husband.
I caught that too,she’s going to potentially lose her husband whom she just said was about feminism in the workplace.Quite contradictory.I hope she doesn’t really have to be made up all the time for fear of him leaving her.
@Millennial,my mom would offer the same kind of advice.You are so correct when you question what she has internalized her entire life.I wonder if men are telling their sons to not get fat/old/grey hair/wrinkles or SHE will leave you.Oh wait I don’t wonder ,because I know men don’t have to worry about this 🙄
Yes, that comment, Tulsi. Never mind about the eyesight, Salma. For you, your biggest worry is whether your feminist hubby is going to trade you in for a younger model. Isn’t that how she got him? If not, I apologise.
Salma comes from a rich family on her own, so I think she never had to really struggle for money and work, I find her opinion about working women struggle eyerolling.
She is a trophy wife who sometimes read a thing or two about feminism.
What really is amazing for me is that she is not even capable “to dress up” properly, because with all her husband’s brands she usually looks like crap.
I don’t really think there’s anything wrong with that statement. It’s not pleasant being with a partner who’s stopped caring about their appearance.
I don’t either. I like that my husband is good looking and fit. Sorry but I do. I like when he likes what I am wearing or says I look pretty. How many times are women criticized by other women for “letting themselves go” or not caring about their appearance? It isn’t wrong to care about how your partner cares for themselves.
Have you seen her husband? He’s no oil painting. But I guess when you enter the trophy wife/rich husband arrangment you have to keep up your end of the deal.
@Tulsi
I should clarify. I was preoccupied when I responded.
She married a very wealthy billionaire who I doubt would have looked at her twice if she didn’t look like she does and is who she is. I doubt she would have looked at him twice if he were a mechanic. They made a bargain in a way.
Someone told me once that if you marry for money you are going to earn every single penny. From what I have seen it is absolutely the truth. If a person marries someone who marries them for money then they better keep earning it.
It isn’t a bargain I would make. I want love and acceptance. I wouldn’t leave my husband if he lost all of his money or had a career slump. I would support and find a way to work together. I wouldn’t if he became disabled or gained weight. But Salma can’t say that and neither can her husband.
When I say looking nice for your partner is fine to think or feel I don’t see it as a reason to leave anyone but of course, we like our partners to look attractive to us whatever that means for each person.
The stakes are much much higher for her.
I’m glad others are responding to this because I did NOT like that comment.
I can think of a lot worse things about the aging process than needing glasses (people with serious vision problems excepted). Like being sick and tired of working but being unable to stop, because money. Or not having the energy to do all the necessary things that were easy at age 30. Or getting autoimmune diseases because your immune system is haywire. That quote obviously rubbed me the wrong way, I think because she’s so rich she doesn’t seem to have any actual stress.
Yeah, the autoimmune stuff is fun. *raises hand*
Not to be a jerk BUT the question was about menopause so clearly it was a personal question attributed to her own experiences. She can’t comment on the things you mentioned because they probably don’t apply to her…and even if they did, that doesn’t mean they would be the worst part for HER. Not everyone at the age of 50 has all the problems you’ve mentioned anyways.
Yeah, the real shit may have yet to hit her, health-wise. Ask her again at age 55. It’s a long, sometimes late process for some women.
I just officially hit peri this year–first irregular period in my life (3 periods in a month, joy), plus heart palps and crazy anger and sadness emos. No hot flashes yet, but I suspect they are coming my way in a few years…
Even though I’ve been in glasses since the age of 10, have -9 and -8 vision, am completely helpless without glasses/contacts, and am now in my 40s dealing with far-sighted crap to boot and very severe focusing issues (progressives don’t work for me–I need a big deal operation to replace my inner lenses, not just lasik), still I feel bad about anyone coming new to eyesight issues. Every now and then it hits me how shitty (and expensive) it is to be a true mole, on top of any of our other health issues. Meanwhile my brother has 20/20….
This totally. She can’t discuss something that doesn’t apply to her. She is very wealthy so she will most likely skip many of the things that happen to some women. Not everyone gets health problems as they age either.
I think she was simply saying that she found the bad eyesight worse than the issue of menopause itself. A comparison was made between two things.
I am 50 this coming September and I have never dyed my hair yet. I have very few gray hair. It’s possible!!!!!
I had no gray hair at all until my late 50’s. Now 62 and just sprinkles around the temples. Eyesight definitely took a dump though.
My grandma didn’t go grey until her 70s, it’s definitely possible.
My grandmother didn’t get gray hair until she was 80. I don’t get your beef.
I don’t know what Salma does, but when my grandmother died at age 94, she had only a few silver hairs among the black ones. She never dyed her hair or wore makeup.
My father was almost 90 when he died and just like Grandma, had only a few silver hairs.
I let my hair go natural this year. So I now have white hair with blonde streaks supplied by my hairdresser. I love it and it’s so much easier than trying to keep up with hiding roots. But I am helpless without reading glasses!
That sounds attractive and practical at the same time. I am sure it looks good.
i wore glasses since 3rd grade. i got lasik two years ago at 31(started to develop contact lenses intolerance and hated the thought of needing glasses as an only option) and it was the best money i’ve ever spent. i got my astigmatism, distance vision and light halos fixed. i was really nervous but not a day goes by that i don’t wake up and rejoice in seeing clearly. i will eventually need reading glasses but it is a small thing compared to not needing them for distance anymore. i can’t recommend it enough.
I’m so happy to hear this from you Lizzie ,my daughter began wearing glasses third grade too.She is now going into ninth grade,and her vision is still poor,like you she has astigmatism and she literally sees zero without glasses/contacts (-5.50 right,-6.50 left)She wants lasik but doctors say it’s too early until her mid twenties.She just started wearing contacts though so at least she has the convenience of not always wearing glasses.I truly hope your vision continues to improve I’m glad to think someday my daughter can be free from constant eye wear.I am 42 ,20/10 vision both eyes.I’d gladly give her mine if I could.
I wish humans, and women in particular, could come to peace with aging. It’s almost always presented as a negative, but given that most people’s life goal is to age, can we talk about the positive aspects of aging? Things like the peaceful wisdom that’s borne of experience, a decreasing concern for the good opinion of others, and the opportunity to be a mentor or role model. No worrying about periods or pregnancy, but still fit and strong enough to be mentally and physically active.
So far my 50s are the best decade yet! I’m old enough to make fewer mistakes, and forgive myself when I do; old enough to value my life and understand how much I can control the quality of it; and young enough to carry my own kayak.
End of rant. I just wish everyone could enjoy aging–ie living–and treasure the moments we do have on this earth, rather than worrying about covering grey hair. Although not losing my glasses would be a bonus! 😊
+ 100000.
“Young enough to carry my own kayak “THIS !!!!☺️
When you’re no longer young enough to carry your kayak, will you still be “at peace” with “ageing”? Life does go on after you exit your fifties, I am told.
Thanks, Mel. I think so too. (I’ll report back in a decade!) It’s important to spread that message, because north american culture disdains aging and elders.
Maybe it’s because my parents are such great role models, but I’m generally enjoying getting older. (They’re in their 80s and still quite active mentally, physically and socially.) Each year seems better than the last and I think “oh this is the best age!” Even the really challenging years show us how tough we are.
To answer your question, when I can no longer carry my own kayak I intend to have a young hottie carry it for me 😊
Lascivious, you have a wonderful attitude (and a great sense of humour!). There are so many positives to aging — but our society places so much emphasis on appearance that it’s easy to forget. It’s possible to stay fit and healthy well into your 80s and 90s now. It takes commitment and perseverance, but my goodness, it’s much easier and cheaper to walk everyday and hit the gym a couple of times a week than it is to subject yourself to regular procedures to minimize wrinkles or fill your lips and cheeks so you can look 45 instead of 65!
I’ve been watching Frankie and Grace, and while I think Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin’s lips and faces look ridiculously filled, pulled and tight, I am constantly impressed by their level of fitness. My mom, who’s 76 and is in very good physical health, has become really sedentary and can barely walk up a flight of stairs. Meanwhile Jane Fonda is squatting like a 3 year old in some of those beach scenes. I know she and Tomlin have all the money in the world to spend on personal trainers and top-notch medical help, but they’re still pretty inspiring.
I know people, maybe from her same Mexican heritage or her Arab one, that don’t grey at all until yes they are 60 +. Si yes maybe she has some on her back head, but not still worthy of a full dye.
My mom is Mexican (no euro heritage, unlike Salma) and she was totally silver-grey at age 35. My dad, African American, went grey in his early 40s. At high school I had a teacher who was Arab and had hair as white as a sheet in her (I think) early 30s and another Indian prof at college who rocked waist length silver hair in her mid 40s. Her mom had apparently also gone grey early too. So, anecdotally, I’d say it’s no different in other ethnicities or heritages on general. It seems to be family clusters rather than ethnic ones. I’ve got a few greys (I’m 27) but I guess we’ll see how things are in a few years time… *fetches magnifying mirror*
I think the only thing that gets worse with age is the need for reading glasses. Which I guess some people need despite having prescription glasses? Not really sure
Which is why I wouldn’t do Lasix. Because then you need glasses for close up. I’d rather wear my glasses for driving, contacts for dancing and be able to read without any assistance.
My near vision had finally become bad enough that I asked my eye doctor about Lasik. He explained that as we get older the lens in our eye becomes less flexible and thus less able to focus on objects close by. It usually doesn’t affect distance vision, and Lasik is not effective for this particular problem, which would only get worse. I expressed disappointment that modern medicine couldn’t really solve my issue, and I swear his exact words were, “It sucks to get old.”
Just age natural and be yourself.
She may be telling the truth about the dye. My mother is African American, 64 years old, and just got her first greys last year. A lot of the women in my family went grey way after 50. On the other hand, my Latina mother-in-law has been covering greys since age 35. Everyone’s different.
Black and began greying I’ll n high school- just a few strands. By 22, Clairol , highlights and lowlights we’re besties. 45 and completely white under the dye. I went natural and let hair go in summer but I look so old. Dyed yesterday because back to work tomorrow. Believ Salma about not dyeing, My sister greyed at 35, her husband is 67 and just now acquired a few streaks. She has white hair and he has jet black.
my unlce and his side of the family doesn’t go grey unless they’re stressed about something and then it goes back to black. weird, but it does happen. me, on the other hand, found my first silver lady when i was in the second grade. i’m still in my twenties, but there are a couple strands of grey.
Can I be frank? I think that you are all silly about gray hairs. The truth is that one has nothing to look forward to, but diminishing. We are dying of age – who cares about gray hairs? I admit that menopause felt like losing my best girlfriend – the one that made babies… I love watching mothers and their children. I always think how happy these women should be, while they struggle with their young on the playground. This is the time of loving and being loved truly.
This is a much bigger transition than something so minor as gray hair – damn, remember the days of puberty handbooks? The real issues are that of suffering – things like enduring organ failure. Thinking of the next 20 simply makes me cry.
However, I am not concerned about my sexuality or attractiveness. I have that down and done. But suffering? Euthanasia will find me.
Wolfpup — I only know about kidney failure, this from a relative’s struggle. I wish you the best. My trite advice: Ask for better pain management, and get into nature when you can.
I totally understand her eyesight comment. I had perfect vision until I was 45 or so, then suddenly it just started getting bad. I hate that I can’t see perfectly all the time. I have a hard time with contacts so I mostly wear glasses and that messes with peripheral vision. I was really nervous driving for awhile because I didn’t have 100% perfect vision.
There’s a chip that they’re testing to put into your eyes that gives you better than 20/20 vision. As soon as it’s approved I want it.
I don’t think bad eyesight is a menopause thing, it’s just an age thing, it happens with men too. And some people who have bad eyesight growing up, their sight actually improves a little as they get older.
Grey hair depends a lot on genetics & heritage, I’m 45 not one grey hair as of yet. Keep waiting for it but it hasn’t appear, if anything my hair is getting darker and losing some of its lightness. My mother didn’t get her pepper grey hair until her mid 60s and my father in his late 50s. Its common in my family to not gets greys until our mid-late 60s.
Well, this is the woman who said she “prayed” for bigger breasts so anything she says I’d take with a grain of salt.
@ Ann, She said that, really?! It’s just that prayed and paid sound so similar 😊
“You are electrical” is one of the cutest compliments I’ve ever heard.
I really liked that too.
I like it too.
I think she is giving safe answers in this interview. If she was going through the classic menopause symptoms she would never say it. Her Hollywood image is built upon her looks and sex appeal. I believe she is truly vain enough to never say stuff that would taint that public perception. Just like she would never admit to the breast implants or nose job that she clearly has had done awhile back.
My mom started dying her hair in her early twenties to cover the gray but my dad, while mostly bald, has managed to retain a lost of his brown hair in the hair remaining and in his beard (and he is 60, he is kind of salt and pepper now). My grandfather is in his 80s and now gray but still retains a thick head of hair. I’m 29 and have a few grays here and there but you can barely tell, still pretty brown. I’m assuming in the next 5-10 years that will probably. Everyone’s genes are different.
I’m 49 and don’t dye or color my hair at all and it’s still brown. I’ve even had people sitting behind me on the bus asking what shampoo I use because it’s so glossy. I’ve had a few grey hairs from time to time, but I pull them out! My grandmother is in her 90s and isn’t fully grey and my mother is in her 70s and just has a bit of grey. It seems to be our one weird genetic resistance to aging.
Having said that, I’m getting wrinkles and am starting to need reading glasses.
I’m 53 and have no grey hair on my head. None. In my eyebrows, a few. It’s genetic – both my parents went grey late.
I’m really into eating well and I really wonder if all these things we think are inevitable are actually so. For example anthocyanins are known to help out the eyesight. Eating a high-antioxidant diet can help, even just a little, I think.