One of the perks of being a fabulously successful actress married to a literal billionaire is that you get to adopt all kinds of exotic pets if you want to – much like Salma Hayek, who has paid tribute to her much-loved owl in a wild interview with People.
Hayek spoke at length about the creature, who is named Kering and who has a “mesmerising” energy, for the mag’s Beautiful Issue. Honestly, the whole interview is bonkers and is pretty much all I plan to think and talk about for the rest of the weekend. We Stan a crepuscular queen.
Salma Hayek said that she adopted the southern white-faced owl around two years ago, after she responded to an advertisement about rescuing the birds. The way she explained it, Kering was originally a gift for her husband François-Henri Pinault:
“I gave it to my husband as a Valentine’s present and named her Kering because that’s the name of his company and their symbol of the owl. And he was like, ‘Well, thank you, but I know this is your own present for yourself.’”
The two quickly formed a bond:
“When my husband is not in town, she sleeps in the room with me. We have certain routines before we go to sleep. I watch TV with my iPad, and she likes to stand on the iPad … Even though owls don’t drink liquids because they take everything from their prey, she likes good wine, this one.”
I assume Salma Hayek does not give actual wine to her owl and that Kering only eats a diet of, like, the finest insects and small mammals and whatever else you give to owls, but it would be a tiny bit iconic if she was just giving little sips of thousand-dollar vino to this creature.
Salma went on to say that Kering has a “mesmerising” energy that you feel from just being in the room with her, and that she often sits “on my head or my shoulder, my arms. Sometimes, when she is really close to me, I can feel her rubbing against me, which is really nice. And I feel so blessed.”
Anyway, we must protect Salma Hayek and her extremely spoiled owl at all costs.
