Who Is Salma Hayek’s Husband? All About François-Henri Pinault

Salma Hayek and François-Henri Pinault have been married since 2009
Salma Hayek and her husband, French businessman François-Henri Pinault, have been together for nearly two decades.

The pair began dating in 2006 and welcomed their daughter, Valentina Paloma Pinault, the following year. They tied the knot in Paris in 2009 and nine years later, Pinault surprised the actress with a vow renewal in Bora Bora.

After Hayek and Pinault were married, the actress changed her legal name to Salma Hayek Pinault. However, almost everyone in the entertainment business “refused” to adopt her new moniker.

“My publicists are now saying okay – because they don’t even put it sometimes in the movies and like, ‘Why didn’t you put her full name? Oh, we forgot. Sorry, it’s been printed.’ ” Hayek said on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Over the years, Hayek has opened up about their happy marriage, even calling Pinault the “best husband in the world.” In 2017, she said, “I married the right guy. That is probably the most important thing. We support each other in everything we do. We want the other one to strive. [It] makes you happy when the other one strives.”

During another interview, the Eternals actress explained her and Pinault’s secret to their relationship, saying, “We’ve never said anything nasty to each other. No resentment.”

In May 2023, Hayek celebrated Pinault’s 61st birthday with a sweet shout-out on Instagram.

“Happy birthday mi amor,” she wrote. “You are my sunshine, my warmth, my light, my strength, my joy, my love.”

Here’s everything to know about Salma Hayek’s husband, François-Henri Pinault.

His family owns a luxury fashion empire

When Pinault was a baby, his father, also named François, founded a timber and building materials business called Pinault. In 1999, the company bought a 42 percent stake in the Gucci Group. Eventually, the business rebranded as luxury goods company Kering, which today owns Gucci, Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta and Alexander McQueen along with other well-known luxury brands.

He went to school for business management

Pinault graduated from the HEC business school and joined the Pinault Group in 1987. According to Kering, he held “senior positions in several of the Group’s operating subsidiaries,” even becoming Chairman of Artemis, Kering’s controlling shareholder, in 2003.

He became a CEO at 40

In 2005, Pinault, then 40, took over the role of CEO of Kering from his father. “I knew it was coming, but I never expected it to happen so fast,” he told The New York Times in 2013.

As Pinault once explained, his mission is to build a sustainable, creative, purposeful company within the fashion industry.

“Business is the way to contribute to a better world and to a better future,” Pinault said at the 2019 Copenhagen Fashion Summit. “It is our duty, not only to be at the forefront of the sustainability crusade but also to share our findings and indeed this has nothing to do with competition.”

He owns a famous French soccer team — and other businesses

In addition to being CEO of Kering, Pinault is also the owner and founder of Artemis S.A., a holding company. In turn, this holding company owns Stade Rennais F.C., a French soccer team.

As he told The New York Times, he had been a fan of soccer as a child and he’s remained passionate about the sport as an adult.

Pinault also owns several other businesses through Artemis. Per The Sunday Times, these include Christie’s, a British auction house; Vinci, a French construction company; and Château Latour, a French wine estate in the Bordeaux region that dates back to the 14th century.

He met Hayek at a gala in Venice

In the past, Hayek has been quite mysterious about how she and Pinault first met. “It’s such a romantic, amazing story, but it is mine. I don’t want to vulgarize it by making it into a story to make myself interesting,” she once told Town & Country.

However, as PEOPLE reported in 2009, the couple likely met at a gala at the famous Palazzo Grassi, a marble palace owned by the Pinault family.

He and Hayek had three wedding receptions

In 2009, Pinault and Hayek tied the knot in Paris on Valentine’s Day. But according to the actress, she had to be “dragged” to the courthouse by her family.

“I didn’t even know I was getting married that day,” Hayek said in an interview with Glamour. “It was like an intervention. I don’t think I ever told this story. No, they just took me to the court. My parents, my brother, they were all ganging up on me. I had a phobia of the marriage thing.”

Soon after the ceremony, the Frida star’s nervousness subsided and she leaned into the excitement of their union. The couple then planned a second, larger wedding celebration in Venice, which took place roughly two months later.

“My wedding party was at the oldest opera house in Europe, La Fenice,” Hayek revealed on Instagram in 2017.

Pinault surprised Hayek with a third ceremony in 2018 — this time, to renew their vows on the tropical island of Bora Bora.

In February 2024, the couple celebrated 15 years of marriage.

“You still make loving you easy, fun, deep and fresh like a gentle breeze. Happy anniversary mi amor,” Hayek wrote on Instagram.

Two months later, Hayek shared throwback photos taken on their wedding day on Instagram, calling it “one of the best days of my life.“

“There are no words to explain the blessing of finding your soulmate. For all of you who found it, never take it for granted,” she wrote in the caption. “For all of you who haven’t, never give up.”

He is a father to four children

Pinault had welcomed two children during his previous marriage — daughter Mathilde and son François — which ended in 2004. He also shares a son, Augustin James, with model Linda Evangelista.

In 2007, Pinault and Hayek announced that they were expecting their first baby. Their daughter, Valentina Paloma, was born on Sept. 21 of that same year.

Hayek has become a loving stepmother to her three stepchildren. “I always wanted to have a lot of children, and I was not able to. My body, as a miracle, had one,” she told Red in 2017. “The huge blessing I’ve had is that my husband has three other children. So I have four. And they are all so different.”

He is a philanthropist

In 2009, Pinault launched the Kering Foundation, which aims to combat violence against women in Europe and Asia. In 2016, Vanity Fair reported the foundation had benefited over 140,000 women at the time.

“I’m very proud of my husband because his company @kering_official just got the Gender Equality European & International Standard label and it has positioned itself as one of the most feminist companies in Europe,” Hayek wrote on Instagram in 2016.

He became friends with Hayek’s Magic Mike’s Last Dance costars

Hayek revealed to PEOPLE that both she and Pinault became friends with her Magic Mike cast mates in an interview published on Feb. 8, 2023.

The actress explained that when her husband visited the film’s set, he would talk to her costars. “There was especially one who would come and ask him advice for business,” Hayek recalled. “He spoke French and he knew everything about François. He says, ‘I’m a big fan.’ He reacted more to François than to me!”

“By the end of the movie they all came to the house,” she continued. “They were all hanging out with me. Then François was saying, ‘You’re right, they’re adorable, they’re lovely.’ “

He and Hayek attended the Met Gala in 2023

The couple were photographed walking hand-in-hand on the red carpet at the 2023 Met Gala in New York City. Hayek dazzled in a red latex corset and a tiered, tulle skirt by Gucci, while Pinault looked effortlessly handsome in a black tuxedo.