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Salma Hayek had all eyes on her after gracing the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2025. But behind the stunning photos where she showcased her confidence and curves in barely-there bikinis, the Oscar-nominated actress admits there was an accident the day of the photoshoot in Mexico.
“I said yes and then when it was time to do it, I tried to back out,” Salma confessed to the Today show, sharing the moments ahead of the shoot. “I said, ‘No,’ because the bathing suits never fit me, how am I gonna do this? There’s nothing my size — I always suffer.”
She also admitted that she was suffering from impostor syndrome and having second thoughts about her body. Salma confessed she never imagined herself gracing the cover, especially at this stage of her career.
“I still can't believe it,” she said. “I remember when I was young and hot, I used to look at this magazine. I wanted to see who was the new gorgeous model, the new girl of the moment. And it never crossed my mind that I could be on that cover because they didn't look like me.
"My body’s not necessarily the model type… And for it to happen when I’m 58? It’s really shocking," she said during the interview. The actress talked about her preparation for the photoshoot after trying on "more than 100" bathing suits.
“A lot of them needed to be altered," she explained, adding that the alterations were done and sent to Mexico in a suitcase. However, the bag went missing. “They lost the suitcase,” she said. “Nothing was there!”
Fortunately, the production team had a small backup, but she says many of the pieces did not fit correctly. “That’s what I wore,” she shared. “So you will see, they don’t all fit perfectly. If it’s extra small, it was accidental!”
“I was really not confident and very nervous,” she said. “I showed up feeling, ‘What am I doing here?’” “And then, just as I walked in, a whale jumped behind me,” she smiled. “All of a sudden I felt, ‘This is magical. This is my land. I’m 58, I’m doing this.’”
“My generation, especially Mexican women, we thought we were going to be dismissed at 35. And I got so excited, I felt really free. I put on Bad Bunny, I started dancing, I loved it!”