Salma Hayek was forced to overcome her snake fear or lose her job.
Salma Hayek
The 54-year-old actress had to dance with a snake for her role in 1996 horror film, 'From Dusk Till Dawn', and she admits she nearly quit the movie.
She said: "I have a phobia. It was not in the script. I agreed to the movie and then, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino decided that the dance is with the snake on me. They said, 'Ok then, we'll just go to another actor that wants your part.' I really needed to pay the rent."
And Salma found that researching snakes helped her overcome her fear.
She added to E! News' Daily Pop of her research: "In some culture, the snake represented - I started doing research - your inner power. And my whole thing that I brainwashed myself into doing this was about dancing with my own inner power."
Meanwhile, Salma previously revealed how she was told she would never make it as an actress because she's Mexican but she loved proving people wrong.
She said: "They told me my career in Hollywood would die in mid-thirties because there was no one. First of all, they told me a Mexican is never going to make it because, at the time, with the new generations, it was impossible for a Mexican to have a leading role in Hollywood ... I think it's great; I'm proud of it. I want to shout it to the world because I was told so many times it couldn't happen, and I almost believed them. But I fought it. I fought and won. And I want other women to realise that. It's a beautiful thing."
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