‘Eternals’ Star Salma Hayek Reflects on Her NYT Essay About Harvey Weinstein — ‘A Lot of People Were Upset With Me’
Back in 2017, Salma Hayek wrote a bombshell essay about former film producer Harvey Weinstein that shocked many of Hollywood’s elite. The op-ed was written in the midst of the #MeToo movement, a time that saw many women within the entertainment industry speaking out about their experiences with sexual harassment and abuse from their male counterparts.
Hayek, who is set to star in Marvel’s Eternals this Nov., showed extreme vulnerability by writing about her encounters with Weinstein. Her bravery inspired many other women to speak up as well, but Hayek recently admitted that sharing her story was more difficult than one might expect.
Despite her reservations about publishing the essay, Hayek received overwhelmingly positive responses from readers everywhere. However, many people close to Hayek were upset that she never told them what she had gone through.
Salma Hayek struggled to write her 2017 essay about Harvey Weinstein
Hayek looked back on the essay during a recent interview with Variety, revealing that writing it was one of the most difficult tasks of her life.
“Excruciating! That’s why it took me so long,” Hayek said. “It was so hard because I chose not to be a victim even though I was a victim. I had to convince myself that I’m a fighter and above all else, a survivor. When all this happened with the Harvey story, I didn’t know that it happened to so many women. I went into such a depression for months. It really took an army of women to make me see I was true survivor, and a true fighter.”
She hesitated to let anyone see it after she wrote it
After Hayek mustered the energy to write the essay she struggled to find the desire to share it, thinking nobody would want to read it.
“When I wrote it, I didn’t even know if I was really going to show it to anyone. I kept saying, “Who wants to hear my story? Why am I giving myself self-importance?” They had been asking me for it from the beginning, but I put it down on paper just for me.”
Salma Hayek’s friends and family were upset she didn’t tell them what she’d gone through with Harvey Weinstein
After the essay came out, Hayek received a ton of feedback from family, friends, fans, and the media. Even though most of the responses were positive, many of the people close to her were upset that she hadn’t told them about her traumatic experience with the disgraced Hollywood producer.
“I think the support of my husband throughout the entire thing was very important,” Hayek said. “Although he was shocked that I didn’t tell him the details of what I had gone through, and he was upset that I didn’t tell him and that we were around [Weinstein], he was amazing. A lot of people were upset with me. Friends were upset with me that I didn’t tell them what really happened. Then I thought, I have to do it. Afterwards, a lot of people wrote to me. A lot from the industry said, ‘This happened to me.’”
Hayek is set to star in Marvel’s upcoming film, Eternals, which releases on Nov. 5, 2021.
