Angelina Jolie Gushes Over Rare Friendship With Salma Hayek: 'I Haven’t Had That Kind of Connection in My Life'

Angelina Jolie is grateful to have found an unusually meaningful friendship with Salma Hayek.

The actresses first worked together in Marvel’s 2021 film Eternals, but their relationship grew even stronger while making Without Blood, which Jolie adapted and directed. The drama, based on Alessandro Baricco’s 2002 novella, stars Hayek and Demián Bichir as two people confronting the lasting consequences of war and violence.

While discussing the project with People, Jolie, 51, revealed why meeting Hayek, 60, later in life helped them connect on such a deep level.

“I think it’s so nice we met at this later stage in our life,” the Oscar winner explained. “Because we’ve been through so many similar things, experienced different things, and somehow have landed as older women in a very similar place.”

“Even though I’m much older than her, by the way,” Hayek joked.

“Not that much older!” the Tomb Raider alum replied with a laugh before making an emotional confession about their bond. "To appreciate that friendship and that bond and that understanding — I haven’t had that kind of a connection in my life."

Hayek agreed that the relationship was rare, noting how difficult it can be to establish an authentic bond with another person.

“I love her mind and I get her,” Hayek said. “So I think when you know somebody gets you, you feel safe and you can be whoever you are in whatever circumstances.”

That trust allowed Hayek to speak openly while Jolie directed her on the movie’s Italian set — even when their discussions became intense.

“Sometimes we would start passionately screaming at each other,” the Frida actress recalled. “Then I start crying and she hugs me, then we’re laughing nonstop. And from the outside, I could see people say, ‘What’s going on?’”

Hayek clarified that their tears came from being moved by the conversations, not from hurting each other.

“I can say whatever. She’s never offended because it’s coming from me,” she explained. “Then we say something stupid and we start cracking up.”

The friendship arrives as Jolie continues to rediscover herself. As OK! previously reported, the mother-of-six recently said her “fighting spirit is finally back” after feeling as though she had lost it for some time.

Her six children have also encouraged her to reconnect with the parts of herself that existed outside of motherhood. With her youngest children now adults, Jolie has discussed her desire to spend more time outside the United States and live a more “nomadic” life.

Jolie has also credited her daughters with helping her reconnect with her old self, admitting that their strength, openness and “ferocity” reminded her of what she may have lost over the years.

Without Blood also marks a meaningful return behind the camera for Jolie, who previously revealed that a change in her “family situation” prevented her from directing for several years. The Oscar winner said she used to take shorter acting jobs so she could remain closer to home.

Without Blood is now playing in theaters.