Meet Valentina Pinault, Salma Hayek's Daughter

In 2006, Salma Hayek found the man of her dreams in François-Henri Pinault (via People). "I found a man better than any man I could ever in my life imagine existed," she said of the French businessman during an interview with Latina (via the Daily Mail). "He found me, actually. I wasn't even looking."

A year later, the couple announced their engagement. If that news wasn't happy enough, they were also expecting their first child together. Born in September 2007 (via Oprah Daily), their daughter Valentina became the light of Hayek and Pinault's lives. "I never wished for someone to exist as much as I wished for you to come in my life," the actress captioned an Instagram post celebrating her daughter's 13th birthday, accompanied by a heartwarming photo of her cradling her baby girl.

"You are my greatest teacher, my greatest joy, and my greatest hope. I loved you before you were born and I'll love you forever," she ended the post, calling Valentina her "shining star."

Despite her struggles with lockdown, Valentina did get the opportunity to see her mom's new movie, "The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard,"  which Hayek was less than pleased about. "She never wants to see my stuff, but she insisted on watching this one and to go with her friends," Hayek said on "Late Night with Seth Meyers." She continued, "I was really nervous and embarrassed. I said, 'Don't bring your friends, I'm really going to embarrass you,' and she's like, 'You embarrass me all the time, every day, so what's going to be different?'"

Hayek warned her daughter that the film is "very raunchy", but Valentina remained indifferent. "Oh, I'm sure there's nothing in there that I haven't heard or seen," she told her mom. Hayek continued, "Anyway, she convinced me and they loved it. She says, 'Mom, I understand it's not you, it's the character.' I was quite impressed with that."

Kids can be difficult. There's a reason the term "terrible twos" was coined for temperamental toddlers. Yet, according to Salma Hayek, Valentina Pinault was not part of the terrible twos club. When Valentina was a baby, Hayek told People, "She's very nice. She makes me laugh all the time. I'll tell you what lesson she has given me: My daughter laughs all day and all night, even sleeping, she's laughing. She's always in a good mood." Hayek adds that Valentina's good mood was "contagious" and that Valentina's happiness has led to her own increased joy and laughter.

As Valentina has grown up, it seems she's remained a good-natured kid. Though Hayek described her daughter as "willful" in 2019 (per Town & Country), she adds that Valentina was also "very creative, very smart, very funny." Hayek admits Valentina's willfulness may be an inherited trait. Hayek was expelled from Catholic school as a child for playing pranks on the nuns. "I was ingenious," Hayek said. "I always had a sense of humor, but there was a naïveté in the naughtiness."

Valentina and her mom, Salma Hayek, share a special bond, but one unique element of their connection is that they tend to speak Spanish with each other. "When we are with more people, I like [speaking Spanish] because it is like a secret because nobody speaks Spanish," Valentina tells Vogue Mexico, adding that she usually speaks French with her dad. Salma agrees, telling Valentina, "I speak to you in Spanish if I don't want those around us to understand us."

However, their so-called secret language isn't just convenient; It's one of the ways they stay connected to their roots — and to each other. "I think it reinforces unity, the family bond; It strengthens the bond we have," Hayek says. Another thing the mother-daughter duo shares? Clothes. "In this house, we fight over clothes because she takes everything from my closet. Then I can't find anything," Hayek says.

Valentina, who may be an actress-to-be, is a fan of most of her mom's movies — but she's not afraid to speak her mind when she doesn't like her mom's work. "I gotta tell you, she's very tough. I was terrified to take her," Hayek told Ellen DeGeneres while promoting her movie "Eternals" (via People). "She's seen movies where she goes, 'My God, that was awful. Mom, what were you thinking?' So I was so scared."

Despite Hayek's concerns, Valentina gave "Eternals" her stamp of approval. From the audience of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," Valentina said, "It was fun. It was a good movie." Valentina's strong opinions on film and movies may be due to her perspective on acting and directing. She tells Vogue Mexico, "I think it must be more difficult to be a director if you don't have experience on the other side of the screen; That could help directing." Spoken like a future actor-director, if you ask us.

Like many teens, Valentina Pinault is into makeup, but rather than being interested in cosmetics from a purely aesthetic standpoint, Valentina sees makeup as a creative endeavor. She tells Vogue Mexico, "I love makeup. I have a lot of it, but I don't do it to be very pretty or because I want to remove imperfections. I don't want to apply concealer because I think dark circles add something else. I like to wear makeup in lots of colors, and I don't know; I like to explore it."

Some of Valentina's favorite products? Charlotte Tilbury's Lip Cheat in Iconic Nude, Gucci lipstick in Mildred Rosewood, and a Victoria Beckham lip tint. While she loves her lip products, Valentina is adamant that there's one thing she can't live without — an eyelash curler. "It doesn't matter where I am. This," she says, waving the eyelash curler. "It's old, but this is the only one!"

She also shared three of her favorite perfumes, including Chanel's Misia. "I bought it with my allowance. When I go to a fancier place, I wear this one ... I love it."

Salma Hayek has been a fashion legend since the day she stepped into the public eye, so it makes sense that Valentina also has a penchant for fashion. On top of that, Valentina's father, François-Henri Pinault, is the CEO of Kering, which is a company that owns luxury fashion brands like Gucci and Alexander McQueen. With parents like hers, it would be shocking if Valentina didn't have an interest in fashion.

The 15-year-old seems to have come into her own sense of style in recent years. Perhaps that's due to all the fashion shows she attends with her mom. The duo has been spotted at several designer shows in recent years. In March 2023, the pair was seen at a Saint Laurent show. While Salma Hayek looked stunning in a moody, sheer emerald gown and cropped blazer, Valentina was on-trend in a silk maxi skirt, brown mesh top, and suede platforms.