Salma Hayek Reveals Near-Fatal Battle with COVID: I Told Doctor 'I'd Rather Die at Home'
The actress shared details of her secret battle with COVID-19 and the difficulty she's had returning to work
Salma Hayek is opening up about her battle with COVID-19, revealing she didn't think she'd survive it.
The 54-year-old actress is featured on the latest cover of Variety where she shared that over the past year she's been recovering after testing positive for the virus fairly early on in the pandemic. She told the outlet that she decided to keep her battle with COVID a secret until now.
Hayek said that she condition escalated to a point where she was put on oxygen and spent about seven weeks isolated in a room of her house.
"My doctor begged me to go to the hospital because it was so bad," she explained. "I said, 'No, thank you. I'd rather die at home.'"
Though the actress was quiet about her fight, in November she shared a montage on Instagram of the many times she received the COVID test, showing her cringe at each nose swab.
Hayek has since returned to work following her recovery, although she told Variety that she still hasn't regained the energy she once had. She noted that regardless, she got back into work pretty quickly with the filming of House of Gucci.
"It was easy. It was the perfect job to just get back into it. I had started doing Zooms at one point, but I could only do so many because I would get so tired," she said of shooting the Lady Gaga film.
Now, Hayek is preparing for the release of The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard, the sequel to the 2017 action movie. The trailer for the film was released in April, revealing that the film will pick up four years after the events from the first movie with Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson.
The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard was originally set for release in August 2020 but was pushed back due to the COVID-19 health crisis. It's now set to premiere on June 16, 2021.
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