Salma Hayek's 'hidden daughter,' fashion heiress Mathilde Pinault

Actress Salma Hayek caused quite a confusion when she sent birthday wishes to a young woman on her Instagram account @salmahayek. "Happy birthday, my champion. You are a shining light in our lives. I love you from here to the moon and back," she wrote alongside a photo. While it looked like a birthday wish to her daughter, this girl was very mature to be a biological child of Salma Hayek. What was going on?

It didn't take long for one of the actress's 17 million Instagram followers to ask: "Is that your daughter? Is she that big now? But you're so young."
Salma Hayek has a daughter with her husband François-Henri Pinault, Valentina, who was born in 2007. (She's depicted here and obviously uninterested in appearing on her mom's Instagram.)

Salma's response made it clear who the young woman in the photo was. "I inherited her from my husband but it's as if she were mine." The girl in question is Mathilde Pinault, the daughter of Salma Hayek's husband and his previous wife.

Mathilde Pinault, daughter of Salma Hayek's husband, François-Henri Pinault, and his ex-wife, Dorothée Lepère, is depicted here with her father and stepmother at a younger age.

Salma Hayek has accepted Pinault's children (including his son François, on the right) as her own. Mathilde has just turned 20 and her brother is 23.

Mathilde Pinault had just under 30,000 followers on Instagram before her birthday. After the publication of the photo with her stepmother, and thanks to Salma Hayek's 17.6 million followers, the French heiress has now surpassed 70,000. It's a small number compared to the most powerful influencer in the house, Salma Hayek, but still, it was a significant growth within a few days.

In any case, Mathilde Pinault has already started to make a name for herself in the Parisian and fashion star system. In 2020, she attended the Paris Fashion Week where she rubbed shoulders with Anna Wintour and Bella Hadid on the front row.

It doesn't seem that she's had much trouble finding the front row, since her father is president and CEO of the Kering group which controls fashion brands such as Balenciaga, Saint Laurent, Stella McCartney and Bottega Veneta.

Obviously, Mathilde Pinault has inherited a passion for luxury, fashion and exclusivity, and she often shows it on her Instagram account where, little by little, she is gaining relevance as an it girl of the most exclusive brands.

Apart from the promotion of brands on social media, the young Mathilde Pinault is also a model. She's the ambassador of brands like Miasuki and Olgana.

However, as reported in '¡Hola!', the catwalk is a hobby for Mathilde Pinault. At the moment, she lives and studies in London because, in the future, she could inherit a whole fashion empire. It's good to know how to manage it.

In addition to fashion, Mathilde Pinault's social profiles have a major protagonist: her horse.

The daughter of billionaire François-Henri Pinault is a passionate equestrian, to the point of competing in several equestrian jumping championships.

In this type of event, as could not be otherwise, she has met two other well-known and recognised rich heiresses, Carlota Casiraghi and Marta Ortega, with whom she maintains a sincere friendship, despite their age difference.

It's clear that Tildie, as she calls herself on Instagram, is ready to fly solo. However, it never hurts to get a boost from your world famous Mexican American stepmom on social media.

She will probably follow in the footsteps of young billionaires like Anabel Yao, the heiress of Huawei's founder, and amass more and more followers over time. Mathilde Pinault is ready to jump over any obstacle that is put in front of her.