Salma Hayek suffered terrible stage fright when she started acting.

The 'Grown Ups 2' actress admits she was so scared about appearing on stage in front of an audience in her native Mexico she tried to run away.

She explained: ''I was 18 and I was playing Jasmine in a production of 'Aladdin' for children and it didn't have a good start because I didn't know I had stage fright. I discovered it as it was time for me to get out on the stage and I ran with the Jasmine outfit out on to the street, they got me back and put me [on stage].

''I ran out of the theatre because the stage fright was so bad. So they put me on this bed carried by some strong guys and ran on to the stage.''

The 46-year-old beauty - who has five-year-old daughter Valentina with husband Francois-Henri Pinault - continued with the show, and was so concerned about getting the rest of her performance just right she didn't even notice when there had been a terrible accident.

Speaking to chat show host David Letterman, she added: ''They put me on a tower where I was supposed to sing a song, but thank god I was lip-synching. Before this, there was some special effects and I heard an explosion. Then it was time for me to sing; so I'm lip-synching and Aladdin is climbing the tower to talk to me.

''I'm supposed to touch his face. I touch him and I look at my hand, and I screamed! When there was an explosion, he was burned. He had no eyebrows, no hair ... he didn't know so he continued. I was so terrified of the audience that I didn't notice till I had his skin on my hand!''