All About Salma Hayek’s Husband, François-Henri Pinault
Actress Salma Hayek has been with her husband François-Henri Pinault since 2006, and the couple share one daughter together. The radiant performer certainly grabs the spotlight, but her French partner is generally at her side on the red carpet and any big events where she’s being honored. In his career as a business man, he’s a pretty big deal, too, but fans of Hayek might not have much crossover knowledge.
So here’s everything to know about Pinault and his relationship with Hayek over their many years together.
Pinault’s family built an empire after his father, also a François, started a business that specialized in building materials. They expanded over the years, and by 1999, their company owned a 42 percent stake in the Gucci Group. Originally called “Pinault,” the business has since rebranded as a luxury goods company called Kering. Kering owns Gucci, Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, and Alexander McQueen, just to start.
Pinault has worked at the company or its subsidiaries since 1987, and took over the role of CEO in 2005 at only 40 years old. He also has a business degrees from HEC. Pinault founded his own company as well, Artemis S.A., a holding company. Through Artemis, The Sunday Times reports he owns auction house Christie’s, French construction company Vinci, and the Bordeaux wine estate Château Latour.
Additionally, he owns French soccer team Stade Rennais F.C., too.
Hayek keeps how he met Pinault close to the vest, though People reported that they most likely met in a palace own by the Pinault family called Palazzo Grassi in Venice at a gala party in 2006.
In 2009, Hayek told Town & Country, “It’s such a romantic, amazing story, but it is mine. I don’t want to vulgarize it by making it into a story to make myself interesting.”
The couple had a number of wedding ceremonies, first at a Paris courthouse on Valentine’s Day in 2009, then again in Venice, and once more in Bora Bora in 2018 to renew their vows.
“I didn’t even know I was getting married that day,” Hayek told Glamour of the first wedding. “It was like an intervention. I don’t think I ever told this story. No, they just took me to the court. My parents, my brother, they were all ganging up on me. I had a phobia of the marriage thing.”
In 2017, she showed a glimpse of her Venice ceremony, posting a gorgeous picture of an opera house interior. She wrote in the caption, “My wedding party was at the oldest opera house in Europe, La Fenice.”
Hayek officially changed her name to Salma Hayek Pinault after her marriage, but she said in an interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live! that no one will use it.
“I've always had the name, but everybody refused to say it,” Hayek said. “My publicists are now saying okay—because they don’t even put it sometimes in the movies and like, ‘Why didn’t you put her full name? Oh, we forgot. Sorry, it’s been printed.’”
But Pinault doesn’t seem to take it personally and is very supportive. In 2017, Hayek told reporters at Harper’s Bazaar’s 150 Most Fashionable Women celebration, “I married the right guy. That is probably the most important thing. We support each other in everything we do. We want the other one to strive. [It] makes you happy when the other one strives.”
The couple’s only child is their daughter, Valentina Paloma, who was born in 2007 on September 21. Pinault also has two children from his previous marriage, his daughter Mathilde and his son François. He also shares a son, Augustin James, with model Linda Evangelista.
“I always wanted to have a lot of children, and I was not able to. My body, as a miracle, had one,” she told Red in 2017. “The huge blessing I’ve had is that my husband has three other children. So I have four. And they are all so different.”
On Dec. 2, 2023, Pinault and Hayek went to the Balenciaga fall 2024 fashion show together. The couple posed at the Los Angeles event, Hayek in a black dress with a statement pink bag and matching shoes.
Celebrating their gorgeous wedding ceremony in Venice 15 years ago, Hayek shared some photos of the event in an anniversary post.
“There are no words to explain the blessing of finding your soulmate,” she captioned the photos. “For all of you who found it, never take it for granted For all of you who haven’t, never give up #tbt to one of the best days of my life.”
One picture shows Hayek looking luminous in a wedding dress; another is a shot of two dresses hanging on a rack; and the third pic is the couple on the altar as he places a ring on her finger.
On May 28, Hayek shared a family photo for her husband’s birthday. “Happy Birthday mi amor,” she wrote. “As time goes by I keep falling in love with you deeper and deeper. We love you so so so mucho!”
On May 18, they attended the Kering Women in Motion Awards at the Cannes Film Festival in France. The couple color-coordinated in all black, and Hayek accessorized her Gucci gown with an emerald necklace and green clutch.
Hayek also posted some behind-the-scenes photos of her and Pinault at the event on her Instagram.
On July 9, they went to another event in France: the Balenciaga fall haute couture show during Paris Fashion Week.
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