Salma Hayek reveals near-fatal COVID battle: ‘I said, ‘No, thank you. I’d rather die at home’

Salma Hayek revealed in an interview with Variety that last year she battled a near-fatal case of COVID-19. According to the actress, after contracting the virus early into the pandemic, things got so bad her doctor was begging her to go to the hospital. Hayek refused, saying “she’d rather die at home.” “My doctor begged me to go to the hospital because it was so bad,” Hayek told the outlet. “I said, ‘No, thank you. I’d rather die at home.’

The actress spent seven weeks isolated in a room of her house and was even put on oxygen. She was able to recover but unfortunately, still doesn’t have the energy she used to. Thankfully, Hayek is a strong, and dedicated actress and even a near-fatal case of COVID wasn’t going to stop her. She returned to work in April to film Ridley Scott’s “House of Gucci,” with Lady Gaga and Adam Driver. Hayek plays a clairvoyant in the film who was convicted of helping Patrizia Reggiani orchestrate the 1995 killing of her ex-husband and heir to the Gucci fashion empire, Maurizio Gucci. She told Variety, “It was not a lot of time,” but “It was easy. It was the perfect job to just get back into it. I had started doing Zooms at one point, but I could only do so many because I would get so tired.”

The Desperado star is back on the big screen next month starring opposite Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson as Sonia Kincaid in “Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard.” Its original August 2020 release was delayed by the pandemic but it will be worth the wait. Fans will even get to see Hayek slap Reynolds in the face. “In ‘Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard,’ I’m slapped in the face twice by Salma and once by Samuel L. Jackson,” Reynolds said “For the record, it was Salma who didn’t pull the punches. Not even once. I can still feel the sharp sting of her tiny hand working its way into my soft Hollywood cheekbones. May God have mercy on her soul.”

Hayek showed the world early on that she was worthy of the lead but it took years for the American market to accept her. She told Variety, “I was already a very big star in my country. I was bringing the Latino market into the theaters. I know some of the studios knew that. But they didn’t want to accept the value of the Latino market at the time.” Hayek continued, “Yes, I thought I was going to be an action star. That’s how I started. But at some point at a certain age, I was sure it was never going to happen because it didn’t when it made sense. Now that it doesn’t make any sense, it’s all happening.”

It’s happening for Hayek in more ways than one. The Mexican actress is playing a superhero next in Marvel’s “Eternals.” She told Variety, “It’s kind of hard to be an action hero if you’re Mexican. It’s really hard to be an action hero if you’re a Mexican and a woman. But to be an action hero, being Mexican, a woman, and my age, it felt like they were punking me.” The new superhero had to keep it a secret too, “And then the worst part is that I was one of the first people they cast. I had to keep my mouth shut for so many months. I couldn’t tell a soul. And I couldn’t wait for the day that I could say it.” She explained.