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Penelope Cruz, 49, is one gorgeous woman — and she’s passed down her beauty to her kids! The Spanish actress is the proud mother of two children, son Leo, 12, and daughter Luna, 10. She shares her kids with her husband, actor Javier Bardem, who she married in July 2010. Although Penelope and Javier are both in the public eye, they do their best at keeping their children’s lives out of the spotlight. As busy as she is, the Parallel Mothers actress really does a great job at prioritizing being a mother.
“I don’t do long trips, and I try to work in my own city when I can, because I want to raise my kids myself,” she told Harper’s Bazaar in a January interview. “I’ve been lucky like that, and I hope it continues, because it’s kind of a gamble, to try to balance both.”
In a January 2024 interview, she explained that she protects her children by disallowing cell phone use. “It’s so easy to be manipulated, especially if you have a brain that is still forming,” she told ELLE for a February 2024 cover interview. “And who pays the price? Not us, not our generation, who, maybe at 25, learned how a BlackBerry worked. It’s a cruel experiment on children, on teenagers.”
Penelope also shared that she wants her kids to know that if they ever seek out the public spotlight she lives in, it’ll be their own initiative. “It’s for them to decide if they are going to have a job that is more exposed to the public or not,” the actress said. “They can talk about that when they’re ready.”
Get to know more about Penelope’s two children below!
Leo Encinas Cruz
Penelope gave birth to her first child, son Leo Encinas Cruz, on January 23, 2011, at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, California. Penelope and Javier became parents just six months after they tied the knot, so their marriage really started off with a bang! A few months into motherhood, Penelope told Vogue that she felt “so much love” immediately after she gave birth to her baby boy.
“It is a revolutionary experience. That’s the best way I can describe it,” she said in the June 2011 interview. “It transforms you completely in a second. Nature is very wise and it gives you nine months to prepare, but in that moment, when you see that face, you are transformed forever. Even if you have heard from all your friends and family, ‘This is what’s going to happen,’ until it happens to you, it’s hard to understand in your soul,” Penelope added.
In the decade since baby Leo arrived, Penelope has kept her son away from social media completely. But the paparazzi have captured Leo out with his parents on several occasions over the years. For example, Penelope and Cruz took their son out to dinner in Italy ten months after he was born. Leo also enjoyed a trip to Cape Town, Africa with his parents in August 2014 when he was three years old. Leo was an only child for just two years before his baby sister was born.
Luna Encinas Cruz
Penelope’s second child, daughter Luna Encinas Cruz, was born on July 2013. While Leo was born in Los Angeles, Luna was born in Penelope’s native Madrid, Spain. Penelope and Javier have chosen to keep Luna away from the spotlight just as they’ve done with Leo.
In December 2021, the Murder on the Orient Express actress explained why she doesn’t let her children on social media. Penelope told CBS Sunday Morning that she uses social media “in a very careful way” and that it’s dangerous for young people. “There is no protection for them, for brains that are still developing and how that affects the way they see themselves, how everything related to bullying, so many things that are not the childhood that we had,” she explained. Penelope also said her kids can’t use social media “until at least 16.”
Both of Penelope’s kids, especially Luna, resemble their famous mother. That was evident when Penelope and Javier took Leo and Luna on a family vacation to Italy in August 2022. Luna downright looked like Penelope’s mini-me in photos from the trip. Luna and her brother both wore shorts and tees, while Penelope looked gorgeous in long-sleeved floral print blouse and casual denim jeans. Penelope has raised two wonderful children and hopefully we’ll see more of them as they grow older!