May 15 (UPI) -- Salma Hayek says she "tried to get out of" modeling for the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue.
The Mexican American actress, 58, opened up about the experience on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon Wednesday.
"I thought I was being punked," she said of being approached for the cover. "It was so surreal."
"At the beginning I was petrified," she added before singing, "First I was afraid, I was petrified," in a nod to Gloria Gaynor's 1978 hit "I Will Survive."
"I tried to get out of it. I did. I became a diva," she said.
