Salma Hayek rushed to help Linda Evangelista when she felt 'half dead' amid cancer battle

Los Angeles, Oct 3 (IANS) Actress Salma Hayek helped to look after model Linda Evangelista when she was undergoing cancer treatment for the second time.

The 58-year-old supermodel was shaken when she was diagnosed with the disease in her pectoral muscle in July 2022, four years after she had a double mastectomy, and when she told the 'Eternals' actress she didn't feel up to celebrating the holidays because she was "half dead" from chemotherapy, the 57-year-old beauty didn't hesitate to jump on a plane and cook for her friend. 

"Salma called and I said, 'We're not doing Thanksgiving this year.' I was half dead. I couldn't. There's no way I could do it. And she said, 'Yes, you are. I'll be there,' " Linda told The Sun on Sunday newspaper, reports aceshowbiz.com.

"I said, 'Please, please don't. Please don't.' And she said, 'No, no, no, it's important' - and poof, she was there. She cooked. I said, 'I want your Mexican chicken' and she put on a whole shindig all by herself. I don't know how she navigated my kitchen so quickly. She did a great job."

Linda, who privately battled lung issues throughout her career, was first diagnosed with breast cancer following a routine mammogram and she initially thought she was "set for life" by having the double mastectomy.

She said, "I had a lumpectomy but after it was biopsied the margins weren't good. Because of my lung issues and radiation, I said, 'I'm gonna be so radical.' Because I did not want breast cancer to kill me, and I thought I was taking care of it. I was happy with my decision and I thought I was set for life. I wasn't going to die of breast cancer."

But last year, Linda found another lump when she received a call to say Augustin had gone missing during a school trip and she tried to ease her heart palpitations by rubbing her chest. She recalled, "I was having heart palpitations and I'm rubbing my chest saying, 'Calm down, calm down.' "

"That is when I felt the lump. It was a bump, and I was not sure so I am pressing on it. I'm like, 'Is this where my rib was removed?' I had a rib removed for one of my many, many, many lung surgeries."

After further tests, Linda was told she had cancer again. 

She added: "They said, 'You have cancer again. And it is cancer of the muscle.' I'd never heard of that." Looking ahead to the future, the Canadian star has just one ambition. She said, "I hope I get really old."