Actress Salma Hayek has opened up about the time she breastfed a stranger’s hungry baby when on a charity mission in Sierra Leone.
The star is well-known for her advocacy work.
She is particularly passionate about women’s issues.
And on one trip to Sierra Leone, the fifty-six-year-old put her advocacy into action when she breastfed a woman’s baby.
Read on for the full story.
Raised in Mexico, Hayek started her career as an actress from the age of twelve when she attended the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Grand Coteau, Louisiana.
This was quite rare because the majority of working-class families in Mexico wouldn’t have had the resources to fund their child in an American acting school.
She began her career in Mexico…
She landed the title role in Teresa (1989), a successful Mexican telenovela that rocketed her to stardom in Mexico.
Hayek then went on to star in the romantic drama El Callejón de los Milagros in 1995, later being nominated for an Ariel Award.
She went on to study acting under Stella Adler — but as a woman with limited English and a diagnosis of dyslexia, this proved to be extremely challenging.
However, she soon established herself in Hollywood.
After a couple of minor roles, the actress landed a small but major role in the 1996 cult classic From Dusk Till Dawn alongside George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino.
Her first star billing came the following year when she landed a big role in Fool’s Rush In alongside Matthew Perry.
These roles gave Hayek a lot of exposure in Hollywood and she went on to work in movies such as Breaking Up (1997), Dogma, and Wild Wild West (1999).
Her career only skyrocketed from there…
She also starred in the movie, Frida, which was critically acclaimed.
In more recent times, Hayek played the wife of Adam Sandler’s character in Grown Ups…
And she co-starred with Antonio Banderas in the Shrek spin-off film Puss in Boots.
So there’s no denying that Salma Hayek is a Hollywood icon…
And she most certainly looks like one!
As well as being incredibly talented, she is known for her s*x appeal.
But also for her naturally beautiful looks.
Hayek married François-Henri Pinault back in 2009.
And they share a daughter together who was born in 2007.
It’s impossible to deny that Hayek is beautiful.
But many have been shocked to discover her age!
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight last February, Hayek explained she’s not going to stop!
“I had to lose a lot of weight and exercise to get into the bikini towards the end of last year.”
“I’m glad I took a lot of pictures, I have no shame on it, because it was the first week of the vacation.”
“I saved my pictures; I’m not in the same condition today, and I’m spreading the love out like every 2 weeks.”
“I’m going to put up another one. I’m almost running out of them, but I don’t know if you have that feeling, like, 2021!”
“People are sick of it, but I’m not going to let them take a break.”
“They’re going to think I’m wearing a bikini every day. No, they’re all from the same location.”
Good on her!
She’s definitely the queen of the bikini selfie on Instagram!
But that’s not all the star is known for…
The actress is no stranger to humanitarian work.
From working with Amnesty International to UNICEF, Hayek is keen to give back.
However, on one trip, the star went above and beyond in helping a mother.
She traveled to Sierra Leone back in 2008 on a charity mission.
During the trip, Hayek met a mother who had run out of milk and therefore couldn’t feed her 1-week-old son.
However, the actress had a 1-year-old herself at the time, and realized she could be a big help.
Hayek took the hungry baby and used her own milk to feed him, in spite of the cameras surrounding her.
This act of sharing breast milk is known as wet nursing, and it was common practice until the introduction of baby formula in the twentieth century.
She had mixed feelings about the event, asking herself if she is being “disloyal” to her own daughter by giving away her milk.
As per the Daily Mail, Hayek said: “I actually think my baby would be very proud to be able to share her milk. When she grows up, I will make sure she continues to share and be a caring and generous person.”
At the time, Sierra Leone had the world’s highest infant mortality rate.
This was mainly due to malnutrition.
The star was even told by doctors that many mothers stop breastfeeding after just a few months.
As per Tyla, this is because, in some areas, women face pressure from their husbands as it is considered wrong to have s*x with a breastfeeding woman.
Hayek said she was inspired by a story of her great-grandmother doing the same thing in a Mexican village years before.
Her relative found a woman and baby crying in the street, which turned out to be due to a lack of milk. Hayek’s great-grandmother then went on to breastfeed the stranger’s baby, who then went to sleep.
In 2018, the star reflected on her experience in Sierra Leone.
She recounted the experience of the desperate fifteen-year-old mother approaching her to CBS News: “‘I have no milk, I have no money, I have no food to give him. I have nothing.’ And she was sobbing.”
Hayek explained her response: “And I said, ‘I’ve got milk,’ ’cause I had milked my child for the first time, and I was weaning her from breastfeeding. And I had milk.”
She said: “And there was a lot of people that were upset I did that.”
However, as the interviewer responded, “there were many as well who said you may have saved a life,” to which Hayek replied: “Thank God!”
What do you think about Hayek’s act of generosity?