Penelope Cruz has admitted that she “did not handle” the nude scenes in her first film well.

The Oscar winner said that she was “inspired” to overcome early struggles by her mother Encarna, a fierce supporter of her acting career.

“I did not handle it at all well,” she wrote in The Sun. “I had a strong reaction to anything sexual or sensual for a while. I cut my hair short. I didn’t do any love scenes – not even kisses – for many years.

“I was told by everyone, ‘You are risking your career’, but I followed my heart. My mother was at ease with what I had done and inspired me to go on to do other things.”

Cruz, who gave birth to her first child with husband Javier Bardem in January 2010, also credited her parents for the fighting spirit that propelled her to success.

“I was a fighter as a kid and even if all these people were telling me it is impossible [to become an actress], I would try,” she said. “I was very strong about what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to do things outside the experience of my family.

“With the way my life keeps changing, I have learned to value everything I have – and thank my mother and father Eduardo for that.”

Cruz previously described becoming a mother to young Leo as the “most beautiful feeling”.

source: digitalspy.co.uk

Despite a rough year, the ‘Desperate Housewives’ actress keeps a positive attitude

After a tumultuous year following her divorce from San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker, Eva Longoria was looking to get lucky.

And, based on her recent interview with Vanity Fair Spain, the petite actress has definitely gotten lucky in love – with Penelope Cruz’s younger brother Eduardo.

“The truth is, I should be angry, resentful and disillusioned about relationships. But I’m not,” the 36-year-old actress said. “I was very lucky to find Edu.”

Longoria and Cruz, 26, were first spotted together in February earlier this year, shortly after her divorce from Parker was finalized.

But just because her three-year relationship with the French-born athlete didn’t work out doesn’t mean Longoria has given up on the possibility of romance once more.

“There’s a reason I fell in love and got married,” she said. “I believed in it.

“Love did not work with that person,” she said of Parker, whom she caught having an affair. “But it can work with another.”

Getting another cinema celebration underway, Penelope Cruz took center stage at Teatro Regio in Turin, Italy on Friday night (November 25).

The Spanish actress was joined by Emile Hirsch for the 29th Torino Film Festival Opening Ceremony.

Penelope and Emile co-star in a picture titled “Venuto al Mondo,” which is a drama that centers around a single mother who takes her teenage son to Sarajevo, where his father died in the Bosnian conflict years ago.

The Sergio Castellitto directed work will be released in Italy on September 21, 2012 and after that, debut in Spain come November 9th.

source: HollywoodGossip

Penelope Cruz is keeping Pedro Almodovar up-to-date with her son Leo’s growth progress by sending the director photos of the tot every two weeks.

The actress gave birth to little Leo, her first child with actor husband Javier Bardem, in January (11) and has been sharing her motherhood adventures with her pal Almodovar by giving him regular updates.

And the Spanish filmmaker admits he’s thrilled to see his actress muse happier than ever.

Almodovar says, “She wanted to really experience being a mother in a complete way. She sends me photos of the baby every 15 days. I see how he’s growing. He has an incredibly big smile, you cannot imagine. He’s beautiful, gorgeous and he’s big.

“She’s shooting in Italy. She’s the most happy (she’s ever been). Better than always! She’s with a man who she loves. She’s a really avocational mother. In all my movies she plays a mother. She always said, ‘I want to be a mother.’”

source: contactmusic.com

Penelope Cruz is certainly embracing being a new mommy.

The Spanish darling says her current film role as a single mom is one of the most beautiful characters she has ever played.

Cruz made a cameo appearance in Rome Wednesday night on the eve of the Rome Film Festival. She had been in Bosnia recently filming Sergio Castellitto’s “Venuto al Mondo” about a single woman who brings her teenage son to Sarajevo, where the boy’s father died during the 1990s Bosnian conflict.

She told reporters being a mother is the strongest experience a woman can have. Cruz and husband actor Javier Bardem became parents of a baby boy in January.

Cruz, stunning in a somber black suit, says every experience in life makes you change and grow.

Cruz has had an eventful month. She filmed in Sarajevo and security was tight, forcing reporters to shoot from afar. It was previously reported that Cruz arrived for filming in an SUV with a wall of bodyguards preventing the new mom from being photographed.

The stunner did not hold back and scolded a reporter who dared snap a photo of her, son in hand, despite promising the actress not to publish the image.

Multiple sources in Bosnia reported that the paparazzo took the photo while she and Oscar winning husband took a walk in between shooting for the film. The couple strolled by Bascarsija, Bosnia’s capital and historical district. Their son, Leo, was also present.

Production for “Venuto al Mondo” is set to return back to Sarajevo from Rome by late October.

The film is scheduled to premiere next year.

Source: http://foxnews.com