Salma Hayek will host the fifth annual Caring for Women Dinner in New York City on September 10 at The Pool. The event is built around fundraising to end gender-based violence, and this year’s roster pushes the dinner beyond a single-host charity appearance into a broader industry-style mobilization.
Eight Hosts, One Auction
Six co-hosts join Hayek: Pamela Anderson, Simone Biles, Benicio Del Toro, Nacho Figueras, Dakota Johnson and Lorna Simpson. The dinner will also include a live auction of luxury items from Gucci, Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, McQueen and Bottega Veneta, turning the evening into both a donor appeal and a high-value sales event for the cause.
More than $4.5 million came in at the 2025 dinner, a figure that sets the baseline for how much money this format can generate when celebrity reach and luxury inventory are paired in one room. The 2026 proceeds will go to Activating Change, Fondo Semillas, JBWS and The New York Women's Foundation, which gives the event a clear distribution plan rather than a generic fundraising pitch.
François-Henri Pinault’s Pitch
François-Henri Pinault said, “Salma and I created the Caring for Women Dinner to raise essential funds for organizations working to end gender-based violence and to mobilize a broader community around this critical mission at the heart of the Kering Foundation's work.” He also said, “As we mark its fifth edition, the dinner stands as a powerful reminder of what this community can achieve when it comes together with purpose.”
That framing matters because the dinner is not just a social fixture; it is a recurring fundraising mechanism tied to the Kering Foundation’s work. For donors, the live auction and the named beneficiary group are the operational pieces that matter most: who is involved, what is being sold and where the money is headed.
Hayek, Pinault, and the Story
Hayek has spoken publicly about her relationship with Pinault in a way that cuts against the easy money narrative. On the Armchair Expert podcast, she said, “When I married him, everybody said, 'Oh, it's an arranged marriage. She married him for the money.' I'm like, 'Yeah, whatever, bitch. Think what you want.' Fifteen years together. And we are strong in love, and I don't even get offended.”
She also said, “They just took me to the court. My parents, my brother, they were all ganging up on me. I had a phobia of the marriage thing.” Later, she recalled of the moment, “Oh, it's okay. I don't feel any different.” Then: “Okay, this is kind of exciting.” And finally: “Can we have a party now?”
The clean read is simple: Hayek is fronting a fifth annual dinner that already raised more than $4.5 million in 2025, and the 2026 money is already earmarked for four charities. September 10 is less a red-carpet date than a test of whether the event can keep turning celebrity access into cash for organizations working on gender-based violence.
