Salma Hayek Instagram post with dog and owl© Salma Hayek

Salma Hayek’s pet owl Kering loves expensive wine and sleeps with her at night sometimes

Kering is living is her best life.


Jovita Trujillo - Los Angeles
Senior WriterLos Angeles
FEBRUARY 4, 2021 8:20 PM EST

It’s no secret that Salma Hayek loves animals. She’s had nearly 50 animals before but right now her coolest pet is straight out of a Harry Potter book. Hayek is currently in London where she has 3 dogs and a rescue owl named “Kering” she adopted in 2019. Hayek starred on Wednesday’s edition of Global’s “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” and revealed not only does Kering “sleep” with her at night some times, she also appreciates expensive wine.

Hayek has been promoting her new sci-fi film “Bliss” starring Owen Wilson and told Colbert, “I love animals. I have a lot of them. In London, I have three, two dogs and one owl. The owl is there with the dogs.” Colbert laughed and asked, “Are you a student at Hogwarts?”

As to why Hayek has an owl? She responded, “I don’t know, I became obsessed with the owls and dreaming about it. And I didn’t understand, they were everywhere. And I said ‘can you even… can people have owls?’ And it turns out that you can, in London it’s legal.” Hayek continued, “And I said, ‘Are there any owls that need some rescue? Can you rescue an owl?’ And I started doing some research. And, yeah, sure enough.”

Their relationship runs deep too. One time Kering ate a mouse off of her head. “It’s disgusting,” Hayek said. “It’s the only time she’s ever done that. I mean, she’s amazing, because it’s a female. But, you know, sometimes they bring you gifts that you don’t necessarily know what to do with.” After snapping a photo Hayek kicked Kering off her head though, “because that’s where I draw the line.”

The mom of 1 (human) also confessed that Kering sleeps in her room with her “sometimes.” Colbert stumbled on his next words before asking with a giggle, “wait how do you sleep… owls are awake at night.” Hayek explained, “Exactly… I don’t sleep much but sometimes when I sleep she just flies around and I just feel the wind as she passes. Sometimes she lands on my leg or my head. At the beginning it was scary but now I‘m used to it and she just kind of stays with me sometimes… for a little bit and then flies again.” “So she’s free in the room,” she finished.

Hayek also shared a fun fact that owl’s don’t drink liquids. Kering however, has a taste for “expensive wine.” “But there is one kind of wine that when we take it out, it’s an expensive wine too, we have to cover the cups because she’ll dig in it! And it’s not that she thinks it‘s blood because the other red wine she doesn’t go for, she has an expensive taste in wine.” Nobody needs to call PETA though, Hayek insists she doesn’t let Kering have any of the good stuff. “We cover the wine or we don’t have the owl in the room, cause she goes for it.”

Not everyone gets along with Kering, Hayek admitted that her 13-year-old daughter Valentina isn’t a fan. “There’s a lot of people at the house that don’t like the owl… And also she’s very quiet and you don’t know she’s there and then she just flies and everybody screams.” “And I love it when they scream... isn’t it fantastic to see the reaction of people when they are afraid of something that is not going to harm them?” Hayek said with a smirk. The whole thing is very Frida Kahlo. Kahlo had a collection of wild animals including chickens, sparrows, macaws, parakeets, Bonito the parrot, a fawn named Granizo, spider monkeys Fulang Chang and Caimito de Guayabal, an eagle named Gertrudis Caca Blanca, and a hairless Xoloitzcuintli dogs with ancient Aztec lineage, per Artsy.

“The Late Show With Stephen Colbert”, airs weeknights at 11:30 p.m. ET/PT on Global.