Salma Hayek: "I wanted a boy"

New mum Salma Hayek has raved about her baby daughter - but admitted: "I wanted a boy."

Salma says she is "obsessed" with baby Valentina Paloma Pinault, calling motherhood at 41 "the best thing that's ever happened to me".

"Every second s magical, every smile," she gushed. "I cannot get enough of it."

But the actress - who says she will "probably" marry boyfriend Franois Henri Pinault - was initially disappointed when she found out she was having a girl.

"I have to confess something - I wanted a boy," Salma told a U.S. magazine. "Probably because I was afraid. I think women suffer a bit more than boys, and there is always conflict between mothers and daughters."

But she insisted: "Now that she's here, I'm so happy she's a girl.

"And I can't imagine there ever being conflict between us, because I'm in a state of innocence where I love everything she does.

"If she does a poop and I have to change that diaper, I love that moment!

"I just feel so fortunate to be her mother, and it makes me excited about the rest of my life, because I get to witness her transformation every day.

"I feel I was born to have this girl."

Salma also revealed that she had a health scare during pregnancy.

"I had diabetes while I was pregnant," she said.  "I became huge. And I said, 'This is what it takes for me to have this baby, and I really want it.'

"Then you don't know if it's going to be healthy; you are completely out of control.

"So the experience really makes you humble."

She says motherhood has completely changed her.

"I don't remember very well who I was before," she insists.  "Part of me feels like it's so new and so strange to have a baby, and part of me feels like I've known her face forever."

She is also adamant that being 41 is not too late for a first child.

"I think it's very good to have a child at this age. I'm in a great place.

"I'm 41, and I know a lot of women think that this is the time when you start getting depressed.

"To that I say, 'No, no, no, no, NO!' I'm having the best time of my life."

Salma admits her relationship with Francois - where he lives in Paris most of the year while she is in L.A. - is "too crazy" for most women to accept.

But she insisted: "Every relationship is unique.

"You have to be brave enough to say, 'This is who we are: we might not look like the perfect couple, or like our parents did, but this is OUR love story'."

She also makes it clear that she needs the distance they have in her relationships.

"Francois is very generous in his respect for me - he not only gets out of the way, but he's completely supportive," she said. "He challenges me with a sense of humour.

"I feel lucky to have found a man who is smart and successful in his own way, so there is no competition between us

"He understands I was happy and had a great life before him."

Asked about marriage, she said: "Right now I'm enjoying the baby."

But she added: "Do I think we are going to get married? Probably.

"Will it make a difference? I hope not.
"I don't have a need for marriage."