Salma Hayek’s Unexpected Bond with Blake Lively’s Kids – The Truth Behind Their Bilingual Connection!

For Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds’ four kids, family means more than just parents, siblings, and grandparents. Thanks to their close-knit Hollywood circle, the children also have a beloved honorary aunt—none other than Oscar-nominated actress Salma Hayek, or as she’s affectionately called in their household, “tía Salma.”

The Desperado and Frida star shared rare details about her special relationship with Lively and Reynolds’ children—James, 10; Inez, 8; Betty, 5; and Olin, 2—during an exclusive interview at the 2025 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue launch party on May 15. “I’m close to the kids,” Salma told E! News, reflecting on her enduring friendship with the couple. “I got a chance to go play with them. They got to see the tía Salma.”

Hayek beams with pride as she describes the children’s bilingual abilities. “They can even speak some Spanish,” she revealed. “Especially the little one. They understand Spanish, and they’re lovely.” Hayek, who hails from Mexico, cherishes the opportunity to share her language and culture with the Reynolds-Lively brood, highlighting a family bond that transcends movie sets and red carpets.

Salma’s friendship with Blake and Ryan isn’t new. She first collaborated with Lively in Oliver Stone’s 2012 crime thriller Savages, and later starred alongside Reynolds in 2017’s The Hitman’s Bodyguard and its 2021 sequel, The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard. Over the years, their working relationship has blossomed into a genuine family connection.

Hayek’s admiration for Lively is deep and well-documented. While presenting Lively with Variety’s Power of Women award in 2017, Salma praised her friend’s fierce independence and resilience: “I still have never met anybody that, at such an early stage in their life, had such a sense of self, so much courage. I saw her take on one of the biggest bullies in this industry that everybody feared.” Salma also highlighted Blake’s strong sense of family, values, and humor, calling her “the ultimate mother—even to me.”

Salma knows a thing or two about motherhood herself. She and her husband, French businessman François-Henri Pinault, are parents to 17-year-old Valentina, who is currently focused on her school exams and, according to Salma, is blissfully unaware of the global excitement around her mother’s appearance on the cover of Sports Illustrated’s iconic swimsuit issue. “I love it that she’s just focused on her own destiny and her own future,” Salma said with a smile. “She’s focused on her own life.”

Between film sets and magazine covers, it’s these moments of authentic connection—playing with her “nieces and nephews,” sharing her language, and watching her own daughter chase her dreams—that Salma Hayek cherishes most. For the Reynolds-Lively kids, tía Salma is far more than a Hollywood friend—she’s family.