Salma Hayek fell into a months-long depression after discovering she wasn't the only actress who had suffered sexual harassment and bullying at the hands of disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
The star was stunned when she first read the exposes which helped bring down the powerful producer at the height of the #MeToo movement in 2017, because for years, she had kept the terrible treatment she had endured while making 2002 movie Frida to herself.
Hayek finally shared her story in an op-ed for The New York Times in December, 2017 - two months after the publication's initial article on Weinstein, who was accused of decades of sexual misconduct from a group of actresses, including her Frida co-star Ashley Judd.
Detailing her experience so publicly was "excruciating" for Hayek, as she initially didn't consider herself to have been a victim, and had actually turned down the opportunity to join Judd in revealing all in the first Times piece on Weinstein's bad behaviour.
"That's why it took me so long," she explained to Variety. "It was so hard because I chose not to be a victim even though I was a victim. I had to convince myself that I'm a fighter and above all else, a survivor.
"When all this happened with the Harvey story (initial expose), I didn't know that it happened to so many women. I went into such a depression for months. It really took an army of women to make me see I was true survivor, and a true fighter (sic)."
Even after putting pen to paper to recount her ordeal, Hayek was hesitant about having it published.
"When I wrote it, I didn't even know if I was really going to show it to anyone," she admitted. "I kept saying, 'Who wants to hear my story? Why am I giving myself self-importance?' They had been asking me for it from the beginning, but I put it down on paper just for me."
Hayek credits the support of her "amazing" husband, Francois-Henri Pinault, with helping to pull her through her bout of depression, although he was "shocked" she hadn't confided in him about her trauma sooner - and he wasn't the only one.
"A lot of people were upset with me," she said. "Friends were upset with me that I didn't tell them what really happened. Then I thought, I have to do it (get her account published). Afterwards, a lot of people wrote to me. A lot from the industry said, 'This happened to me.'"
Weinstein has long denied allegations of inappropriate behaviour, but is currently serving a 23-year prison sentence after he was found guilty of sexual assault and rape in the third degree last year.
