Salma Hayek in tears while filming Desperado sex-scene

Salma Hayek has remembered an upsetting moment on the set of Desperado when she discovered she would have to shoot an intimate scene with co-star Antonio Banderas.

The Mexican and American actress told Dax Shepard on his Armchair Expert podcast that she feared filming a love scene with Banderas for the 1995 action film would embarrass her family.

"When we were going to start shooting, I started to sob, saying, 'I don’t know that I can do it. I'm afraid'," Hayek shared.

"One of the things I was afraid of was Antonio," she explained, caveating that although Banderas "was an absolute gentleman", and still a friend, that "he was very free".

"It scared me that, for him, it was, like, nothing," Hayek went on.

Describing the shoot, Hayek recalled: "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," she recounted, insisting that director Robert Rodriguez was "amazing" and never put any pressure on her.

"When you're not you, then you can do it. But I keep thinking of my father and my brother," Hayek added. Reflecting on the double standard, she mused: "are (my family) 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!'"

Hayek, now 54, starred as Carolina, one of the lead characters in Desperado, a role that went on to create her breakthrough in Hollywood.