Penélope Cruz Talks to Gwyneth Paltrow About Hollywood's Obsession With Aging

Interview Magazine

Penélope Cruz first started acting when she was a teenager. Now, at the age of 43, she's still in love with the craft—appearing in star-studded movies like Murder on the Orient Express and popular TV shows like American Crime Story. But Cruz doesn't let age define her.

During a recent interview with Gwyneth Paltrow for Interview Magazine, Cruz talked to the actress about Hollywood's obsession with aging.

"Most actresses try to make themselves younger but you were making yourself older," Paltrow said, referencing how Cruz said she lied about her age in her early years.

"I've spent most of my career trying to make myself older, for different reasons," Cruz responded. "Journalists have been asking me, since I was, like, 22, ‘Are you afraid of aging?' That is such a crazy question for a 22-year-old girl or, for that matter, for a 42-year-old. I combat that craziness by refusing to answer the question."

The Loving Pablo actress went on to say that her parents raised her "without bullsh-t" and with a "real sense of rootedness in family and reality." These values helped her maintain perspective. 

"When it comes to talking about aging as an actress, I feel like, ‘What the f--k? I'm not going to give you even two minutes to honor your question. It doesn't deserve that,'" she said.

Motherhood has also helped Cruz focus on what's important. She and her husband Javier Bardem have two young children, Leo and Luna.       

"Something changed when I gave birth to my daughter. I started thinking, "Come on, it's 2017. Why do women still have to be talking about this? It's crazy,'" she said. "That sense only got bigger when I had children."

Even if Cruz could turn back the clock, she wouldn't want to lose the wisdom she's gained throughout the years.

"I wouldn't for a second change the way I feel now for the way I felt in my twenties," she said. "How I see the world, how I look at acting—everything has changed....I get so much happiness from being a student again, from exploring. Whatever happens with the result, if I've had that process, I feel like it has been something good, that it has taught me something new. If I'm 80 and I have a new character in my hands and a new story to tell, I'm going to feel that same healthy fear. It's like food for me."

For the full interview, check out Interview Magazine.