Who is Sami Hayek? The kid brother of actress Salma Hayek is an interior designer and artist whose exhibitions attract A-listers – from Demi Moore and Sofía Vergara to Anthony Hopkins

Emmy-winning actress Salma Hayek just can’t seem to catch a break.

Recently, she faced an unpleasant round of virality thanks to an old clip from a 2017 episode of The Graham Norton Show, with Liam Payne, doing the rounds on the internet. The late One Direction member – who passed away at only 31 after falling from the third-floor balcony of a hotel in Argentina – can be seen in the clip talking about meeting disgraced rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs at a party, which Jay-Z and Leonardo DiCaprio also attended. Observers noticed that Hayek, also a guest on the show, lost her smile as soon as Diddy was mentioned.

Social media went into a frenzy, linking the Frida actress to the Bad Boy Records founder and the sex-trafficking and other allegations against him – not least because her husband, François-Henri Pinault, is president of the holding company that owns Balenciaga, the brand accused of sexualising children in a 2022 advertising campaign.

The House of Gucci star, 58, also became the subject of speculation after a seemingly awkward encounter with fellow actress Nicole Kidman at the Balenciaga show during Paris Fashion Week. Hayek had tried positioning Kidman to face the cameras in front of them, but The Perfect Couple star moved her hand, turned to hug singer Katy Perry, who was nearby and walked away after exchanging a few words with the Desperado actress.

While netizens believed there was tension between the two, a source told People, “This whole situation is silly. Salma and Nicole love and respect each other.” A Page Six source also clarified that “there’s no bad blood” between the two and they “adore each other”. Paris Fashion Week was the first time Kidman had been seen in public since her mother’s passing.

Controversy aside, Mexican native Hayek recently posted a carousel of photos on her Instagram account with fellow Hispanic artists and actors in honour of the United States’ National Hispanic Heritage Month. In one picture she poses affectionately with her brother Sami. The younger Hayek may not be in the entertainment industry, but he is well known in his own creative industry.