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In 1995, a young and unknown Salma Hayek broke into Hollywood via the swashbuckling film, Desperado.

The movie, which paired Salma with rising star Antonio Banderas, would help tremendously in boosting the careers of both stars.

But in her latest interview, Salma, 54, recalled feeling distressed by the love scene between her and her leading man.

“So, when we were going to start shooting, I started to sob,” the actress told Dax Shepard and Monica Padman of the Armchair Expert podcast.

“I don't know that I can do it. I'm afraid.”

The intimate scene, according to Salma, was not mentioned at the time when she accepted the role.

Photo by: imdb

She only learned about it when production for the film started.

“Oh, God, I'm gonna be in trouble - but the love scene was not in the script,” Salma said.

“It was demanded by the studio when they saw the chemistry test. I had a really, really hard time with that … I don't enjoy the scene,” continued the actress.

“One of the things I was afraid of was Antonio -- he was an absolute gentleman and so nice, and we're still super close friends -- but he was very free. It scared me that for him, it was like nothing. I started crying, and he was like, 'Oh my God. You're making me feel terrible.' And I was so embarrassed that I was crying,” recalled Salma.

The scene was eventually shot on a closed set and with only four people inside the room.

That four people were Salma, Antonio, director Robert Rodriguez, and his then-wife Elizabeth Avellán.

“The wife of Robert Rodriguez at the time became my best friend. Robert Rodriguez, thank God, can also do everything on a film set… He can do the sound, he can operate the camera, and he was like my bro.”

She continued, “I was not letting go of the towel. They would try to make me laugh. I would take it off for two seconds and start crying again. But we got through it. We did the best with what we could do at the time.”

Salma made it clear that she was never pressured to do the scene and that both the director and her leading man were “amazing” and “magnificent.”

That scene, to this day, is still hard for the actress to watch.

Salma also remembered having to escort her father and brother out of the cinema just so they wouldn't see the scene.

"When you're not you, then you can do it. But I keep thinking of my father and my brother,” she mentioned.

“And are they going to see it? And are they going to get teased? Guys don't have that. Your father will be, 'Yeah! That's my son!'”

Salma's story is yet another example of female actresses voicing out their displeasure in feeling vulnerable on the set.

British actress Keira Knightley recently announced that she will no longer shoot nude scenes with male directors.

“Because I'm too vain, and the body has had two children now, and I'd just rather not stand in front of a group of men naked,” Keira said during a guesting at Chanel Connects podcast.

The issue of shooting love scenes is a hot topic in the film industry in the wake of the #Metoo movement.

As a measure, producers are now entertaining the thought of hiring intimacy coordinators to protect the actors physically and psychologically.

British movement director Ita O'Brien came up with the “intimacy guidelines” in 2017 to guide directors and actors when shooting love scenes.