Salma Hayek's Husband Says He's Been Good Father to Son with Linda Evangelista

Actor Salma Hayek arrives at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala in New York, Monday, May, 7, 2007. ( AP Photo/Stuart Ramson)

French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault, the husband of actress Salma Hayek, insists that he has never neglected the once-secret son he had with catwalker Linda Evangelista, the New York Post reported Wednesday.

"[The boy] is totally integrated within my family," Pinault told French Elle magazine of Augustin, his now four-year-old love child with Evangelista. "At every possible opportunity, [Augustin] has participated in my family life, whether in France or the United States."

Pinault spoke out for the first time about the boy following Evangelista’s recent $46,000-a-month child support request in Manhattan Supreme Court.

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The fashion model’s lawyer accused Pinault of not forking over a penny to Evangelista since little Augie was born in 2006, while lavishing Valentina -- Pinault’s daughter with Hayek -- with luxury.

The furious Frenchman insisted that he has always "recognized" Augustin as his own -- and treated him as such.

In July, the Post was the first to report that Pinault had fathered Augustin.

Pinault is CEO of the Paris-based luxury conglomerate that owns Gucci, Yves St. Laurent and Bottega Veneta.