Salma Hayek thinks it’s funny when her owl lands on people and scares them


Salma Hayek is promoting The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, out this week with Ryan Reynolds. She was on Ellen’s show from home, which Ellen is still running for some reason. I guess there was a live studio audience again but the laughing was so over the top it sounded like a laugh track. Salma had her “rescue” owl, Kerrig, with her for part of the interview. I put rescue in quotes because the way Salma has explained it makes it sounds like she wanted an owl and got one. Owls are not pets, but in London where Salma lives it’s legal to have one at home. Salma told Ellen that the owl sleeps in the room with her, which she’s said before, but that she keeps the owl out of the bedroom when her husband is home. Sometimes Kerrig will land on her head or try to attack her toes when she’s sleeping, which sounds pretty scary to me. Salma is used to it, but her house guests are not. She told Ellen that the owl has hacked up part of a mouse on Harry Styles’s head and that the owl will scare workers in her house by landing on them. She sounded really blase about that, like it’s no big deal to her. Salma switches pronouns for her owl but has previously said it’s a female owl.

On her bikini pictures
I have a trick. I go on a diet, like severe diet, for a short amount of time right before I go on vacation. I take a lot of pictures. Once I have them in the can I start eating again. I save the pictures and I start releasing them every couple of weeks so people think I stay like that, but no, I don’t stay like that.

On if her owl surprises people
She lives among the house so sometimes I forget. People come to work on the house and it’s so funny, I’ve seen really big guys, workers. All of a sudden she flies on top of them and they go “waaaa!” Not even with a snake they can get so scared, because they’re not expecting it. I find it hilarious I love it. I don’t do it on purpose but when it happens I do enjoy it.

On if the owl poops on stuff in her house
Yes. I kind of find it. The worst is when there is this ball of hair that comes out of their mouth. There was this really important celebrity [she later said it was Harry Styles] who was really excited about the owl and was hoping that the owl would go on his head. The minute he least expected it, he came on his head, but then… this ball of rat hair was on his head. He was super cool by the way even with that happening. He’s the best.

[From The Ellen Show on YouTube]

If you have a dog and it’s going to be menacing to people you put in in a room or a crate when you have people over. It should be the same with this owl! Owls are predators that should not be flying around the house! The courteous thing to do would be to put the owl in a room when people are working in your house. Instead she thinks it’s funny, which says a lot about her that she would admit to that.

Also I kind of love that she says she’ll diet just before she takes a bunch of bikini photos and then just release them over time. It’s not my job to look hot or I would take that advice. That’s a great tip for celebrities and influencers. Plus I’m sure some photoshop is involved, not that she doesn’t look great just that they all do it.

Here’s that interview:

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34 Responses to “Salma Hayek thinks it’s funny when her owl lands on people and scares them”

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  1. Claire says:

    She was only able to get a rescue owl, not a wild one. Because she wanted one does not negate the fact that it was a rescue. It cannot be released into the wild, it will perish. Allowing it to fly around when there are other people in her home is no bueno. Check out Falconry and Me on YT, Amy is terrific with her birds.

  2. Lightpurple says:

    Salma is scheduled to be on just about every talk show over the next 2 weeks so we will probably be getting lots of stories about the owl.

  3. Neners says:

    The owl is soooo cute! I would never want one as a pet but….d’awww!

  4. NotHeidisGirl says:

    Rude!

  5. EnormousCoat says:

    Well, this is weird. I get that the owl can’t be rehabbed and released, but shouldn’t it be kept in its more natural environment? Not a big fan of keeping wild animals like pets, especially when it scares people, which automatically creates safety issues for the owl and for people.

    • Agirlandherdog says:

      This. If the owl cannot be released into the wild, it should be in a refuge where it can at least live in a natural habitat.

      Also, appearing on camera with her owl will only cause more people to say “aww, I want an owl!” and buy an owl! It’s irresponsible.

    • Kristen says:

      Honestly it probably has more space to fly around in her house than in an enclosure at a facility.

    • Mrs.Krabapple says:

      She had endangered tigers as pets, so obviously she doesn’t have the same respect for nature that you do.

  6. Calibration says:

    I loved her years ago. That’s all I got. She has lost the plot.

  7. jen d. says:

    Remember when she freaked out about that snake during an interview? What if someone had a pet snake and laughed when it came up to her?

  8. CROOKSNNANNIES says:

    “Severe diet” could mean a lot of things. I know she’s not giving advice to anyone else, but I hope she’s not starving herself just so she can space out thirst traps.

    • SK2 says:

      Yeah, I hate this talk of going on a “severe diet” … it’s not healthy. Not good role modelling for her daughter

      The owl is also not great

  9. Robin says:

    Sorry, but I’d be alarmed if an owl landed on me. It’s like when people tell you their dogs are friendly. We knew of a woman who was always telling kids in our local park that her dog was really gentle, and quickly the obvious happened. It bit some child, badly. Your impression of your pets is your own; it’s not how they behave around others.

  10. Angie says:

    It’s a very cute owl. But yes, I agree she should be put away and not allowed to swoop wherever she wants whenever she wants. Gotta control the owl.

  11. Willow says:

    Wow, can’t wait for the day that owl swoops down on someone who is bald and breaks open the bare skin with sharp claws. Or maybe uses it’s beak to take out an eye. And won’t it be sad when Selma goes on her next talk show tour and her only story is about how the mean animal control put her funny owl to sleep.
    (The tone of this comment is bitter, bitter, sarcasm and no blame at all to the owl)

  12. SusanRagain says:

    Dammit, no owls loose in the house!
    How many times do I need to say this?

    No, nope, no.

  13. Marisol says:

    She had three tigers as pets and numerous monkeys, when she was a child but they all had bad endings iirc (a quick Google search confirms this). She was spoilt by her parents and given anything she wanted, even if those things were living wild animals that she, her nannies and her family’s household staff knew nothing about. This is just an extension of that. She does it because it’s a status symbol and because she can rather than consider that perhaps she shouldn’t.

    • Mrs.Krabapple says:

      Yep, that’s why I refuse to watch anything with her in it. Everytime I hear a story about her, it only makes me dislike her more (like the one where her chef gets sad when her kids want different kinds of pizza; her comment above about “severe diets” just for an instagram; etc.).

  14. Moxylady says:

    Oohhhhh ok. I adore owls. I love owls beyond measure. But owls are alpha predators and you don’t keep an alpha predator around people who are unaware of it or how to behave around it. Owls can seriously mess someone up. This is very unsafe for people but also for the owl. If I was working at her home and saw a thing heading for my face, I would try to hit it out of instinct.

  15. lascivious chicken says:

    She’s right!

  16. olliesmom says:

    Yeah, I’m sure that is frickin hillarious. Many people are terrified of birds (me included).

    Doesn’t she let this bird fly around her bedroom? Doesn’t it relieve itself all over the walls, bed……?

  17. SarahCS says:

    I really wish she would stop with these ‘cute’ stories about the owl who is completely out if it’s habitat (even if it can’t be released fully into the wild) and making life unpleasant not only to invited guests but people in her house just to do their jobs. She’s so self absorbed its atrocious.

  18. Ann says:

    I love owls and birds, but it freaks me out when one gets close to me suddenly and without my permission! In my neighborhood, during nesting season when the birds have babies to protect, they will dive-bomb my dog’s head as I walk her because they perceive her as a threat. My dog is oblivious but it scares the crap out of me!

    Not cool. But again, I love owls. She’s a beauty but that’s not an appropriate set-up for her….or for the people in the house.

  19. KPS says:

    Dumb ass! Salma, not the owl

  20. Robin says:

    At least she’s honest about how she gets her bikini photos. Too many pretend it’s all wellness when she has the honesty to say she starves herself. I suspect “severe” also means dehydration. The thing is, and it is totally her choice, but why put out bikini photos as a female actor? Would we find it odd for male actors such as Benedict Cumberbatch et al to instagram themselves on the beach? Would we be similarly blase about a male actor talking about starving himself for a beach shot? And I repeat – it is her choice. But it does make me think how we approach our celebrities’ bodies and what we have come to accept as normal for women.

    • Jensies says:

      Yeah she’s talking about having VERY disordered eating like it’s nothing, so she’s a pass from me.

    • Jayna says:

      English is her second language. I took a “severe diet” to mean she goes on a “strict diet” before her vacation, no cheating. Myself and plenty of people I know go on diets before their summer beach vacation to look our bathing suit best or get off the winter pounds. I doubt she starved herself.

  21. North of Boston says:

    Allow your pets to roam free in your home and jump on/land on or startle, scare people who are just trying to do their jobs (home repair, etc) is a jerk move. Not funny, not an amusing anecdote for Kimmel, but a jerk move.

    “It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye” is an actual risk here, to people and owl alike: owls have sharp beaks and talons and startled people can knock a small bird into next week.

    • Robin says:

      I agree. I posted up thread about this. It’s all very quirky and sweet but it’s actually putting the stranger and animal in a threatening situation. I’m not praising it.

    • Justjj says:

      Not to mention, I highly doubt it’s Salma who is cleaning up all of Keurig’s giant owl poops.

  22. Mel says:

    I’ve had no use for her since she opened up her rich, privileged, entitled mouth in a conversation with Jessica Williams and dismissed her experiences. It figures that someone that clueless thinks it cute to use her pet to scare people.

  23. chitowngal says:

    Congrats to Salma on her acceptance to Hogwarts School of Bitchcraft and What-in-the Fuckery.