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Penélope Cruz may very much be in the spotlight, but as for her personal life, the Spanish actress chooses to keep that sector private. However, the 45-year-old star opened up to Gwyneth Paltrow and had real girl talk on the topics of motherhood and perimenopause at the In Goop Health Summit in London. The Hollywood star, who shares her two children, Leo, eight, and Luna, five, with actor Javier Bardem, gave insight into her experiences giving birth and how they were each done differently.
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VIEW GALLERY Penélope opened up to the Goop founder about motherhood and perimenopause
target="I realized what a lot of fairytales and movies and messages from society have put in my head because the way I left the hospital the first time and the way I left the second were two different women,” she explained. “The first time I pushed myself to be superwoman like I’ll do it natural birth and then twelve hours later I’m out of the hospital in high heels.”
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The Everybody Knows actress continued by adding: “Now I look back and say 'who asked you to do this? And who asked you to not delegate, to feel like you have to do everything yourself 24 hours a day and forget to take care about yourself?' That has nothing to do with feminism. I was not respecting myself by doing that."
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VIEW GALLERY The Spanish actress told Gwyneth how her two birth experiences were different
target=Throughout their relationship, Penélope and Javier, who got married in 2010 have kept a low-key life, and even made it an agreement between them to not talk about their private life. However, the Chanel ambassador was sure to mention how helpful he was after she had their second child.
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After giving birth to her daughter in 2013, the Loving Pablo actress said, “I’m going to stay in this hospital for three days. I laid down in this bed with my baby and my other baby was coming over and my husband was great and really really helpful, but you need to realize you need to eat, sleep, basically take a shower."