Salma Hayek: I Didn't Believe in Marriage

Salma Hayek didn't have much faith in marriage until she took the plunge herself. The actress, 46, wed French billionaire François-Henri Pinault in 2009, and said it changed her whole outlook.

"I didn't think marriage worked," Hayek admits to More magazine in the October issue. "I thought everybody who was married was secretly miserable -- that it was something they just put up with for their children."

Now, she says, "my life and my career are better" -- not least of all because her mega-successful husband is "a master of decision-making." But the father of Hayek's daughter Valentina, 5, also knows when to stand back and just be supportive.

"If I’m insecure or afraid, I can talk about it, and he’ll give me strength and courage," Hayek says of Pinault, 50. "I noticed in the past, a lot of guys who like strong women, they really freak out if you’re not strong 24/7. Or they complain about you being strong, then the moment you’re not strong, they’re like, 'Oh, no, no, no.' 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."

The couple also has a secret for keeping things hot: sexy text messages! The Mexican-born actress says that the kind of messages on her phone "would surprise you."

"I can show you a thousand things," Hayek tells More. "But I'm not going to."