At 56, Salma Hayek Reveals What She Got Wrong About Aging: ‘Is This It for Me?’

At 56, Salma Hayek Reveals What She Got Wrong About Aging: ‘Is This It for Me?’
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Salma Hayek called aging “beautiful” in a new interview.

  • She said all of her expectations about aging—around work, love, and life—were wrong.

  • “I was also told that, as an actress, you kind of stop working around 30. Imagine? I did really feel it at the time, and it’s unfair,” she said.


Thirty years ago, if you would’ve told Salma Hayek that her “best professional moments,” as she called them, would take place in her 50s, her response would be terse: “Oh my God, do I have to wait that long?” she recently told Glamour. The good news is, all the abundance was worth the wait. And according to Hayek, the ride to get here hasn’t been all that bad, either. In fact, she called the experience of aging “beautiful.”

“I thought getting older meant I wasn’t going to work; I’m working,” the 56-year-old said. Not only is she working, but she also starred as the heartthrob alongside Channing Tatum in the recently released Magic Mike’s Last Dance, among other projects including Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and House of Gucci.

“I thought getting older maybe meant that you’re not in love anymore; I’m in love,” she continued. “I don’t feel that I lost my flexibility or my agility or even my strength. I do have to say that I have found it beautiful, getting older with someone.”

What Hayek does wish someone would’ve told her at 20 is that she had so much time left to thrive. “Because I was also told that, as an actress, you kind of stop working around 30. Imagine? I did really feel it at the time, and it’s unfair,” she explained.

That pressure to succeed is one Hayek shares with her Magic Mike character Maxandra Mendoza, an empowered entrepreneur who helps Tatum’s Mike revive his business and reimagine his art (all whilst falling in love with him, of course).

“The part that I really feel a lot of women will have in common with her is this thing that happens when you come to a certain age. It’s like, ‘Is this it for me? Have I accomplished all my potential?’ I think this is a common conflict. And it happens in your 20s, it happens in your 30s, it happens in your 40s,” she said.

As far as Hollywood sell-by dates go, Hayek is glad to see horizons expanding, though she remains skeptical about women’s opportunities at large.

“In terms of Hollywood, yeah, it’s changing. But I do still think that, overall, women are still feeling the pressure of making sure they succeed in their 30s,” she said. “And also, the world we’re living with, social media, we are more addicted to immediacy, and we’re losing the capacity to stay present and be patient. I do feel like young girls have a lot of pressure to succeed fast. I actually think they’re suffering more than my generation.”

While she’s hopeful for the future, Hayek can look back at her life so far with a prideful grin. When Glamour asked if there was any part of getting older that was different than what she expected, her answer was simple: “Everything.”

You Might Also Like