Penélope Cruz Says Salma Hayek Invited Her to Stay with Her First Time They Met: 'Love Her So Much'

The 355 actress says the years-long friendship began when the fellow Oscar winner generously picked her up from the airport

Penélope Cruz formed a special bond with Salma Hayek from the moment she first landed in Los Angeles.

During an appearance on Thursday's episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, the 47-year-old actress said her years-long friendship with Hayek, 55, began when the fellow Oscar winner generously picked her up from the airport after she arrived in the city for the first time.

At the time, the two had only met over the phone — never in person. But Hayek still made sure to give Cruz the warmest welcome possible.

"I was coming here for two months and I didn't know anyone here. And she picked me up and said, 'You're not going to the hotel. You're coming to my house because this is hard at the beginning and you're going to feel very lonely,' " she recalled to host Ellen DeGeneres.

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Ultimately, Cruz accepted the offer. "So, she took me to her house," the actress recalled, adding, "That's why now we're like sisters."

Cruz was admittedly scared when she first reached southern California. She even slept in Hayek's room to start.

"And in the middle of the night, she said I was holding her hand because I was afraid, I was dreaming, I don't know," the actress told DeGeneres, 63.

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"It was amazing, you know, that somebody that I didn't know — only on the phone — she made sure that she picked me up at the airport and she didn't let me go to the hotel," said Cruz before adding, "I love her so much."

"That's so sweet," DeGeneres interjected, to which Cruz replied, "From day one, she's been like that with me."

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Since then, the pair have remained close. Earlier in the interview, Cruz said she recently brought her children to visit Hayek's home, where they got to meet and help feed her pet owl.

"When she told me that she had one, I was blown away," Cruz said, "because when I was little, my grandmother had a neighbor who had an owl and I was really scared of the owl but I always wanted to go and see her.

"And then Salma has one at home, and she invites us to feed the owl with these little rats and give it to my daughter to give the rat to the owl. [It was] a little traumatic for her," she said with a laugh.