Salma Hayek has a new family role to celebrate, and she has already chosen a special nickname for the newest member of the Pinault family.
The 59-year-old actress shared an Aug. 16 Instagram video of herself cradling her new grandson and speaking softly to him in Spanish. The baby is the first child of Hayek’s stepson, François Pinault Jr., and his wife, Lara Cosima Henckel von Donnersmarck.
Just Jared noted that the baby’s arrival continued the Pinault family’s naming tradition and made Hayek a grandmother for the first time. Hayek, however, revealed that she already has her own affectionate name for him “Panchito.”
“He seems to love it, and I cannot love him more,” Hayek wrote. The announcement also offered a new glimpse into the blended family she has frequently described as one of the great blessings of her life.
Hayek Already Has a Nickname for Baby François
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Hayek’s video shows her holding the baby while speaking gently to him in Spanish as he rests in her arms. As PEOPLE reported, the newborn is named François, continuing a name found in four generations of the family.
Hayek put her own Mexican touch on the tradition. “Although I will call him Panchito,” she wrote. “He seems to love it, and I cannot love him more.” Panchito is an affectionate Spanish diminutive associated with Pancho and Francisco, the Spanish counterpart of the French François.
In the video, Hayek also speaks directly to the baby in Spanish, asking what he is dreaming about and affectionately referring to him as a “chiquitito hermoso,” or beautiful little one.
The Baby Represents Four Living Generations of the Pinault Family
Hayek’s reference to a “fourth living generation” reflects an unusual family naming tradition. The baby’s father is François Pinault, commonly referred to in recent coverage as François Pinault Jr. His father is Hayek’s husband, François-Henri Pinault, while his grandfather is businessman François Pinault, who founded the company that eventually evolved into the luxury group Kering.
Hayek married François-Henri Pinault in 2009, two years after they welcomed their daughter, Valentina Paloma Pinault. Through the marriage, Hayek also became stepmother to François-Henri’s three children from previous relationships: François, Mathilde and Augustin.
The New Parents Shared Their First Month as a Family
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Lara Cosima Henckel von Donnersmarck had revealed the new arrival several days before Hayek’s post. Her Instagram carousel offered a glimpse at the couple’s first weeks as parents, including photographs of François feeding his son and handling diaper duty.
“My husband (the world’s coolest françois) and our son (the world’s cutest françois) … our first month as parents,” Lara wrote. She also publicly referred to François as her husband.
The couple had announced their engagement earlier in 2026, and German outlet Bild subsequently reported that they had married privately.
Hayek Has Long Considered Her Stepchildren Part of Her Family
Hayek’s enthusiasm about becoming a grandmother fits the way she has spoken about her blended family for years.
François-Henri was already a father to three children. François and Mathilde are from his previous marriage to Dorothée Lepère, while he shares Augustin with model Linda Evangelista.
Hayek has never spoken about those relationships as though her stepchildren were peripheral members of her family. “I always wanted to have a lot of children, and I was not able to,” she told Red magazine in a 2017 interview later cited by PEOPLE.
“My body, as a miracle, had one,” she said. “The huge blessing I’ve had is that my husband has three other children. So I have four. And they are all so different.”
She has continued publicly celebrating milestones involving her stepchildren over the years, including birthdays and family gatherings. Hayek has also spoken about how important it was to her to continue acting after becoming a mother.
She told PEOPLE in 2015 that François-Henri encouraged her to return to work after Valentina was born, and she later said she came to see maintaining her own career as an important example for her daughter.
“It’s important that your kids understand that they are the most important thing but it’s not all about them,” she said. “You set an example that you are also your own person.”