Salma Hayek Says Her 'Big Butt' Split Her 2003 Oscars Gown - So Renée Zellweger Loaned Her One
Salma Hayek is thankful for her good pal Renée Zellweger — and her stylish dress collection.
While presenting the best actress award to Zellweger, 50, at the National Board of Review Awards Gala in N.Y.C. on Wednesday night, Hayek, 53 opened up about the time when Zellweger loaned her a spare dress at the 2003 Academy Awards after hers (literally!) burst at the seams.
In 2003, both leading ladies were nominated for Best Actress, Zellweger for her role in Chicago and Hayek for Frida.
“It was annoying because at some point I would go, I wish she wins, she’s so amazing,” Hayek said as she presented Zellweger with the award on Wednesday.
“And even the night before when my big butt exploded the seams of my Oscar dress and I had no dress for the Oscars, she ended up giving me one of her dresses that, thank God, was wide here [gestured around her butt] and stretchy here [gestured around her breasts]. That’s what I wore for that night,” Hayek said of the Carolina Herrera gown she wore, featuring a black embellished lace bodice and a white A-line skirt.
While both looked like winners on the carpet that year, both actresses lost the category to Nicole Kidman for her performance in The Hours.
“I really wish that they would have a tie so that we could both win but we both lost,” the Like a Boss star continued.
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Hayek went on singing Zellweger’s praises, adding that the Golden Globe winner has a heart of gold and never says unkind things about others.
The two met in 1996, and spent New Year’s together with Hayek’s family.
In an interview with New York Magazine in Sept., Zellweger said she bumped into pal Hayek at the airport who gave her sound advice when she took a six-year hiatus from the acting business in 2010.
“She shared this beautiful … metaphor? Analogy? ‘The rose doesn’t bloom all year … unless it’s plastic,’ ” Zellweger said. “I got it. Because what does that mean? It means that you have to fake that you’re okay to go and do this next thing. And you probably need to stop right now, but this creative opportunity is so exciting and it’s once-in-a-lifetime and you will regret not doing it. But actually, no, you should collect yourself and, you know … rest.”
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Zellweger’s made her big return to the industry to film the 2016 movie Bridget Jones’s Baby. Most recently, the 50-year-old actress earned a Golden Globe win for best actress in a motion picture for her portrayal of Judy Garland in Rupert Goold’s biopic, Judy.
“Wow, I really am up here. Well, hi everybody, it’s nice to see you. Y’all look pretty good 17 years later,” Zellweger jokingly said while accepting her fourth Golden Globe award (her last win was in 2004 for Cold Mountain). “Thank you to the [Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the Globes’ organizing body] for inviting me back to the family reunion, especially with all these extraordinary ladies this year.”
“I mean it, your work moves me. It moves me,” she said of her fellow nominees, which included Cynthia Erivo (Harriet), Scarlett Johansson (Marriage Story), Saoirse Ronan (Little Women), Charlize Theron (Bombshell). “And I’ve been cheering for y’all from theater seats for a long time.”
