Smiles of relief: Penelope Cruz & Salma HayekPenelope Cruz & Salma HayekPenelope Cruz is distancing herself from her best mate's butt after she was spotted grabbing it recently.

She is denying that the two buddies are lesbians, explaining the bottom feeling as a result of the flu.

Confused?

According to Penelope, she was sick with the flu and just feeling a little delirious when she let her hand linger on Salma's booty at the press conference for their new film Bandidas.

"I grabbed Salma's ass just to keep things moving, because everyone was a little slow.

"And, of course, the energy changed when I did that.

"There are magazine covers in Mexico describing us as these lesbians because of that. A lot of people were saying we were lovers."

Here Pen's hand is firmly around Salma's waistHere Pen's hand is firmly around Salma's waistThe two actresses have been firm friends for years and are often seen out and about together on the Hollywood scene.

Penelope, who's currently dating her Sahara co-star Matthew McConaughey, recently revealed during a TV interview that her best on-screen kissing experience had been with Charlize Theron for their film Head In The Clouds.