Salma Hayek Tells Press that Being Hot is Good After 40

Spike TV’s honoring Salma Hayek for a decade of hotness and the 48-year-old actress couldn’t be more thrilled. But why is celebrating a decade good news?

“You really like to be ‘hot’ after you’re 40,” Salma Hayek told reporters at Spike TV’s Guy Choice Awards. According to People, the actress explained the difference between starting in Hollywood and succeeding in Hollywood.

“When you start you’re like, ‘No, I want them to see me for my talent, and know me as an actress,’” especially important with young actresses facing casting couch coercion and rumored love interest drama. Instead of embracing the experience, many women are forced to be on the offensive before rumors even start.

Things are a little different today, though. “Now?! They want to give me a decade of hotness – I’m like, ‘Bring it on!’ “

Tinsel Town’s radar picked up the Mexican actress while appearing alongside Antonio Banderas in Robert Rodriguez’s Desperado. The 1995 film was second installment of the Mexican trilogy that included El Mariachi (1992) and Once Upon A Time in Mexico (2003).

One of the director’s most prolific work, the breakout performance earned a lot of positive feedback. Even if some of the meanings were lost in translation along the way.

“My English was worse than now and I read the reviews that, ‘Salma Hayek was a bombshell,’ and to me this means that I was terrible, that I had bombed!” But explanation of word meaning implied quite the opposite, even if a little disappointing.

“Everyone told me, ‘No, no, it means that you’re great, that you’re sexy!’ And [I was like], ‘That’s it? They didn’t talk about my acting?”

Salma Hayek proves why she is worthy winner of the Decade of Hotness award http://t.co/4ECWNSE7Aj pic.twitter.com/PudzGwAMQ4— The Sun Showbiz (@TheSunShowbiz) June 7, 2015

So if she knows she’s hot in Hollywood now, what makes her so hot? Love.

Married to French businessman François-Henri Pinault, she believes that being hot for a spouse makes all the difference. “I have the hots for my husband,” which “keeps that [hotness] in you.” But does lust equal love?

“When you like somebody it comes out of you, almost naturally, and you’re motivated. Love motivates you.” Not just to open communication, but to incite—for both partners. Even on a bad beauty day.

Of course, it probably helps when your husband is worth $15 billion and is part of a company that owns brands like Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Stella McCartney and Gucci. If feeling a down, the director only has to ask for help and motivating her self-image to stop taking a backseat.

But she also is willing to walk the talk when it comes to beauty, like opening a line of products sold exclusively at CVS pharmacies. Speaking to Style.com, Hayek opened up on why she won’t be using Botox anytime soon.

“If you kill the muscle, if you paralyze it and your face is not moving, this is going to affect all the other [muscles] around it.” And aging naturally with a beauty team on hand has helped maintain the hotness factor. Instead, go to a masseuse and ask for a little TLC help.

“Massage oxygenates, activates the circulation, and keeps the muscles healthy and firm.” Firmness without toxicity. She also points out “the back of your neck is an important place that everyone forgets about.”

The industry focuses on all the obvious places, but the Dogma star’s more concerned with maintaining instead of instant fixes. Her line Nuance is about affordable care that allows women to remain hot beyond Hollywood’s 25-and-under casting decisions.

Salma’s hotness isn’t just generous lips and sultry eyes. She’s smart, globally keyed in and willing to use fame for causes. Working with Beyoncé and Frida Giannini in Gucci’s Chime for Change campaign pushes for female empowerment in male-dominated societies.

Including Hollywood, which is why telling Frida Kahlo’s story was important enough for the actress to co-produce and star in 2002’s Frida. Founding Ventanarosa around 2000 offered leverage in an industry known for not advocating equality when it comes to screen time or production.

And it showed that women can be successful producers since El Coronel No Tiene Quien le Escriba received an Oscar-nomination in Best Foreign Film—Mexico’s selection for the category. The company also produced ABC’s highly successful dramedy Ugly Betty.

A proud supporter of women’s rights, Salma Hayek has spent the last decade testifying before the U.S. Congress, breastfeeding advocacy, and pushing international political leaders to listen to women worldwide. Her line and stance on procedures like Botox are also about allowing women to age without stigma and shame.

Salma Hayek is hot, but it’s more about leadership than looks. Catch her on Spike TV’s Guys Choice Awards on June 18 at 9 P.M. ET/PT.