On Friday, Salma Hayek became the 2,709th star to receive a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.

During her speech, Hayek spoke about her love for cinema and encouraged others to “find something to love.”

“If you think you aren’t good at it like I did, make yourself good at it. It doesn’t have to be the movies. Be your best at everything you do,” she said. “Work hard. Prepare. Don’t care what anybody says. But most importantly, don’t listen to yourself when you bring yourself down.”

Hayek also touched on some of the struggles she faced early on in her career, including an incident where she was almost stabbed.

She said a man attempted to attack her after she ignored him catcalling her, but was able to stop the man after some “gentlemen” from the Hells Angels stepped in to help and escort her and her friend to their car.

Every time I thought about Hollywood Boulevard, this is what I remember,” she said. “The truth is that when I went home that night, I said ‘What am I doing here? Nobody wants me. I mean, I almost got killed today.'”

The actress also recalled the racism she faced, from both the public and other professionals.

She recalled a studio telling her “Why don’t you go back to the (Mexican) telenovelas? You’ll never find a job here,” which she said happened “many times.”

“So I said, ‘Nobody wants me here. They want me in my country,'” Hayek said she told herself.

Luckily, she chose to continue pursuing her passion.

“If you ask yourself what gave me the courage to stay, I say it was you because although they didn’t know me, here in Hollywood, the studios, all the Latins that are in the United States knew who I was,” Hayek said. “They understood that I came here with dreams like they did.”

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