Who Is Salma Hayek's Husband? New Details About François-Henri Pinault — And His $113M Pledge To Rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral
He owns many luxury brands.
Instagram The world mourned on Monday after one of the world’s most iconic and treasured sites became engulfed in flames.Many feared the world would lose Notre Dame, the famed cathedral in Paris. After the building burned for 15 hours, it remains standing, and relics including the Crown of Thorns were saved by a human chain that risked their lives to retrieve the artifact. The cathedral is still recognizable, but is missing its spire, which had been reconstructed in the 1800s. Much of the wooden parts of the interior of the cathedral were also destroyed. The roof also fell victim to the fire, which investigators believe was related to renovation. Notre-Dame de Paris, which translates to Our Lady of Paris, was constructed from 1160 to 1260. It suffered desecration during the French Revolution. After Victor Hugo’s novel Notre-Dame de Paris, or The Hunchback of Notre Dame, was published in 1831, the public became interested in the cathedral. It underwent a major restoration project from 1844 to 1864. The building, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, garners about 12 million visitors each year; it is the most visited monument in the city.
Since the tragic fire, many wealthy people have announced that they will contribute money to rebuild the Parisian landmark. The three wealthiest families in France have promised hundreds of millions of dollars to fund the restoration of the cathedral. One of the families is the Pinault family. François-Henri Pinault, 56, and his father announced they would contribute €100 million (over $113 million). The name François-Henri Pinault may be familiar—he is married to actress Salma Hayek. Hayek may be well-known for her on-screen performances and accolades, but her husband is a bit more of a behind-the-scenes man. Entertainment may be an extremely lucrative business, but Pinault and his family have amassed incredible wealth through other means.
Who is Salma Hayek's husband? Below are five details about the impressive businessman.
1. He was born in Rennes, France
In case his name didn’t suggest it, Pinault is French through and through. He is originally from Rennes, France, the capital city of Brittany. It is in the northwest section of the country, and is home to the Musee des Beaux Arts. Another marker of Pinault’s Frenchness is his love of wine. His family owns Château Latour in Bordeaux. It is widely considered the top Bordeaux vineyard. His primary residence is Paris though he and his wife own a number of residences around the world.
Chateau La Tour is a very well regarded wine.
2. He heads Kerig, a luxury group, and Groupe Artémis, a French holding company
Pinault has been the chairman and CEO of Kering since 2005.
Kering is partly a family business. His father, François Pinault, founded Pinault S.A. in 1963 with loans from his family and a bank. The company was originally in the timber trading business, but then expanded its horizons. By 1994, 30 years after its founding, Pinault S.A. was renamed Pinault-Printemps-Redoute. It had swiftly acquired companies in the retail sector. It acquired the French department store Printemps in 1992 and owned 54% of La Redoute in 1994.
On the cusp of the new millennium, the company shifted its focus to luxury. It purchased a controlling stake of the Gucci group, along with Yves Saint Laurent in 1999. It acquired Boucheron in 2000, Bottega Veneta and Balenciaga in 2001 as well as entered into partnerships with designers Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney. It then sold many of its retail holdings in 2003.
François-Henri Pinault became the president of Artémis, the company that controlled Pinault-Printemps-Redoute (along with Château Latour) in 2003. Two years later, he took over Pinault-Printemps-Redoute, after it gained 99.4% ownership of the Gucci group. He changed the name of his father’s company to PPR. PPR then began to divest in many of its original investments from the early 90s, and gained more luxury acquisitions such as the Sowind Group and Pomellato. In 2013, PPR rebranded to better reflect its shift into luxury. PPR changed its name to Kering; in Brittany, “kêr” means home. The company is now a pure luxury player. It recently partnered with Apple to make in-store luxury mobile apps. As of April 2019, it opened offices in Milan, Italy.
4. He has three children with two other women
Long before Salma Hayek, Pinault was married to Dorothée Lepère. They were together for eight years, from 1996 to 2004. They had two children together. After his separation from Lepère, Pinault dated Linda Evangelista from 2005 to 2006. They had a child together in October 2006.
Ex-girlfriend Linda Evangelista posing with a soccer ball for Chanel.
5. He married Hayek on Valentine’s Day
A few months after Pinault and Evangelista broke up, he began dating Hayek. The two got engaged in March 2007, soon after reports came out that she was pregnant. Their daughter was born in September of that year. The couple got married nearly two years after they got engaged, on Feb. 14, 2009. They wed in the Sixth Arrondissement town hall in Paris, which is located less than a mile from Notre Dame Cathedral.
Alison Cerri is a writer who covers astrology, pop culture and relationship topics.