Penélope Cruz is opening up about one of the longest and most defining relationships in her life. In a new interview, Cruz is opening up about her mother, Encarna Sánchez, who's led a private life all of these years.
In a recent interview with Elle, Cruz shared how much her mother's hard work ethic and approach to life influenced her own work. "My mother was a feminist without describing herself as anything," she said. "She's constantly fought to be herself and is the example that my siblings and I have received. Cruz is one of Sánchez's three kids: Eduardo, a singer and composer, and Monica, an actress and dancer.
She then compared her and her mother's dynamic to the one she has with Pedro Almodóvar, one of her oldest friends, and a person she's been making films with for the past two decades.
"What I feel with her is what I feel with Pedro Almodóvar. They're people that continue to surprise me," she said. "She's transparent and teaches me very important lessons. She has a strength and an honesty that are incredible."
Cruz's relationship with her own children
Cruz has two kids with her husband, Javier Bardem, whom she married in 2010. The pair share a son and a daughter named Leo, 14, and Luna, 12. While the two are private with their marriage and family life, Cruz has opened up on occasions about her kids and the way she's raising them.
"When you have children, most of your attention goes to them, to make sure that it’s not a traumatic experience and that they know enough about what’s happening so that they are responsible in terms of protecting themselves and others," she said in an interview with Vogue, back in 2022, shortly after the pandemic.
"I feel like all the kids in the world have given adults a lesson in responsibility, empathy, and compassion. They’ve understood everything so quickly. When I tell them that our generation never went through anything like this as kids or teenagers, they can’t believe it. They’re like, 'Really?' But, I have hope that we’re now seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. We don’t know, but I need to believe that."
Last year, Cruz discussed her decision to shield her kids from the spotlight. “It’s for them to decide if they are going to have a job that is more exposed to the public or not,” she said in an interview with Elle. “It’s so easy to be manipulated, especially if you have a brain that is still forming.”