Valentina Paloma Pinault with friends© @salmahayek/@bucuaron

Salma Hayek's daughter Valentina Paloma turns 12 - see how she's grown!


UPDATED MARCH 30, 2020 10:17 AM EDT

Valentina Paloma, Salma Hayek's daughter celebrated her 12th birthday over the weekend. Check how this young lady has turned into a beautiful mini-Salma!

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Happy birthday Valentina!

September has been, with no doubt, Salma Hayek's lucky month, with so many things to celebrate! Not only she turned 53 years old looking absolutely fab on September 2, but also Monarca, her new series for Netflix was released worldwide ten days ago becoming an instant hit. This weekend, it was time to celebrate the sweetest, most special moment for the Mexican actress. Her daughter, Valentina Paloma turned 12 on September 21, and Salma shared a sweet video on her social media to mark such a special day: "Valentina I love you from here to the infinite and back a million times and every day I love you more happy birthday!" she wrote - showing the deep love she feels for her girl.

Valentina Paloma Pinault has grown into a beautiful young woman with an entrepreneur mindset like her dad, fashion mogul Henri Francois Pinault, and the character, determination and beauty of mom Salma. Here's the proof!

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Salma\'s happiest day of her life

Salma Hayek is a successful actress, director and producer, but of all her achievements, welcoming Valentina is the biggest and most important of all. On September 21, back in 2001 when Salma was 41 years old, little Valentina arrived, making mom Salma and dad Francois the happiest parents in the world. "I had my child so late in life," said Salma to People magazine, "I thought I wasn't going to be able and it was such an important thing to me."

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A life under the spotlight

Having such a powerful and famous couple as parents, it's only natural that Valentina, at this young age, is completely used to red carpet events and media attention. Salma has found the perfect balance between normalizing her way of life and sharing her profession's best moments with her daughter and still protecting her from over-exposure.

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Smiley kitten with mama in Puss in Boots

After Valentina's birth Salma decided to stop working and completely focus on her daughter, but the actress says it was a good decision to go back to do what she loves: "It’s important that your kids understand that they are the most important thing but it’s not all about them. You set an example that you are also your own person and you have to continue to grow in the field that you are working,” she told People . Salma led by example on 2011, when she worked on the movie Puss in Boots, voicing the character Kitty Softpaws, and of course, she took Valentina Paloma to the premiere.

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Best friends

Salma and Valentina share a strong bond and apart from being mom and daughter, they are also best friends. The Mexican beauty has shared adorable moments with Valentina on social media showing how special their relationship is, like this image of a (twinning) PJ party. Cuuuuuute!

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Best of both worlds

There is one thing Salma and husband Francois find difficult to agree on. "I think she, (Valentina) is more like him and he thinks she is more like me,” she said in the same interview with People when asked about who does Valentina most resembles. “I think she looks like him and he thinks she looks like me.” What is clear is that the 12-year-old gets the best of both worlds, dad's entrepreneurial spirit and mom's force of nature character. Oh! And her fashion savoir-faire!

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A heart of pure gold

Salma has made sure Valentina understands she has a privileged life and therefore the need of helping out other people who are not in the same position is a priority. These images from 2013 belong to the charity gala dinner 'Les P'tits Cracks,' but Valentina also donated her own hair to raise awareness on the needs of children with cancer. "My daughter Valentina is growing her beautiful mane so she can cut it and donate it to make a wig for children with cancer, " explained the actress on social media.

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Music is her passion

Salma's daughter loves cinema, but there's another thing she enjoys even more. According to her grandmother, professional soprano Diana Jimenez, Valentina wants to be a singer. "That girl sings Mozart's aria The Queen since she was little!", she told Reforma newspaper. Her doting parents, aware of her passion for music, took her to see the musical Beauty and the Beast, in the Gaumont Ópera, back in 2014.

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Salma\'s mini-me

And here we have the three generations of powerful women! If Salma is her mom Diana Jimenez's lookalike, we can say the same about Valentina and her famous mother! Dark brown hair and eyes and beautiful skin are the trademarks of the family!

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Following in dad\'s steps

You can tell Valentina is the proud daughter of fashion mogul Francois Henri Pinault. She started her first business venture when she was a nine-year-old by selling home-made slime at school. It went extremely well!

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The celeb life with celeb friends!

This is how Oprah Winfrey greeted Valentina at the premiere of A Wrinkle in Time. Such a tight hug! Salma Hayek's daughter's down-to-earth approach surprises people surrounding her, mom's friends included!

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LatiNext Generation

In one of the latest pictures shared on social media by Bu Cuarón, daughter of Oscar-winning film director Alfonso Cuarón, we can see a grown-up Valentina, posing like a proper teenager in a Tupac T-shirt and smiling to the camera with her friend, pop sensation Billie Eilish. Both girls attended her concert in London and shared their love for music. Salma and Alfonso are good friends and proud of their roots, so it's not strange their daughters are starting to develop a special friendship.