Salma Hayek on her struggle to make it ... and how Hollywood has ‘abandoned’ older women

Opening up: Salma Hayek discusses her struggle to make it in Hollywood
Jason Kim
The Weekender

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Salma Hayek has spoken about her struggle to make it in Hollywood — and how the industry is failing older women.

Now 49 and a producer and entrepreneur as well as a film star, Hayek left Mexico to follow her acting dream in America at 25. She went on to star in Desperado and Frida, about the artist Frida Kahlo.

She said: “I came from Mexico, baby. If you’re Mexican and Arabic in the United States, it’s a long way to climb those mountains! I had a sense of purpose.

"couldn’t sit back and just complain. I had to be honest to my dream. I felt that they [casting directors in Hollywood] were wrong.

Failing? Salma Hayek claims Hollywood is failing older women
Jason Kim

She added: "They were misinformed ... I knew my self-worth."

Hayek, who has a daughter aged seven, told ES magazine’s DELUXE edition older women are not catered for by the film industry.

“There is nothing for women our age — there needs to be programming for women, working women, as there is nothing to see in the theatre,” she said.

“We don’t even know what we like because we’ve been abandoned for so long. I think we have a lot of potential, but this gender has been overlooked and underpaid and over-scrutinised and overworked and under-appreciated ...”

Read the full interview in this week's ES Magazine.

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