Salma Hayek faked an affair to care for a dog

Salma Hayek faked an affair to care for a dog.

The 49-year-old actress has admitted she had promised her husband Francois-Henri Pinault she would not home any more pets, and after taking a neglected puppy under her wing she thought up a "brilliant plan" to conceal the truth from her spouse by telling him she had been cheating on him.

In a preview clip of the brunette beauty on the ‘Graham Norton Show’, which is set to air on June 9, the mother of one – who has daughter Valentina, eight, with Francois – she said: "I had promised my husband I was going to stop, because at the time I had 10 dogs, five parrots, I had alpacas, horses, cats — and by the way, one without a tail, the other one without a leg. And they always find me, they come to me, these animals — which he doesn’t believe me, but they do — and I promised him, no more.

"We were up to 30 animals. I swore no more. And I was [filming in Bulgaria], and a little puppy who was abandoned and was going to die … he came to me, and I couldn’t help it, I picked him up.

"So I came up with this brilliant idea to pretend that I was having an affair. And at the end I would say, ‘No, it’s not an affair. I picked up a dog.’ And then he would feel better."

However, the ‘From Dusk Til Dawn’ star has revealed her plan failed, and Francois knew instantly what she had done.

She explained: "I said, ‘Listen, I feel so terrible, I don’t know how to say this to you. I know this is not going to go down well, and I’m really nervous. Please have mercy on me. Have patience. Be understanding. It’s just, it’s been so stressful, and I’m so tired and I was so lonely here for so many days. And you know you do crazy things when you’re in this state!’

"He said to me, ‘Oh, please don’t tell me you picked up another dog.’"