Hayek, 46, who is married to French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault, said she was worried about what her parents would think when they saw her on screen, reported Sun online.
"It was my first chance at an American film and I knew I had to take it. In 'Desperado', I had great difficulty doing the love scene with Antonio Banderas. I actually cried.
"I didn't want to be naked in front of a camera and kept on thinking, 'What will my mother and father think about this?'," she said.
The movie was a cult hit and helped launch her career but she initially thought the film had flopped and critics were blaming her for it.
"When the movie came out the critics were saying, 'Salma Hayek is a bombshell'. I was confused because I thought they were saying that the movie had 'bombed', as in failed, and it was all my fault," she said.