The now-settled actress thought marriage "was something [people] just put up with for their children"

Salma Hayek Didn't Think It Was Possible to Be Happily Wed

Salma Hayek is happily married these days, but looking back, she didn’t believe such a feeling would be possible.

“I didn’t think marriage worked,” she tells More in its October issue cover story. “I thought everybody who was married was secretly miserable – that it was something they just put up with for their children.”

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But since saying "I do" to French billionaire François-Henri Pinault on Valentine’s Day of 2009, the actress, 46, sees things very differently.

“I have a master of decision-making helping me out, so of course my life and my career are better,” she explains.

“I really enjoy having somebody that I can be weak with. If I’m insecure or afraid, I can talk about it, and he’ll give me strength and courage. With us, there’s no power struggle. I don’t mind doing things for him because he does so much for me, and he feels the same way.”

Hayek, who gave birth to the couple’s daughter Valentina, 5, in 2007, is a devoted mom, but she also makes personal time for herself and Pinault.