“That’s what matters most”: between her career and her children, Penélope Cruz has made her choice

Radiant on the red carpet of the 79th Cannes Film Festival, Penélope Cruz went to the Croisette this year to present the film The Black Beladirected by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo. Exploring the intertwined lives of three gay men in Spain at different times, the feature film won the Best Director Award, tied with the film 1949 de Pawel Pawlikowski.

Despite this important artistic recognition, the 52-year-old Spanish actress explained to our colleagues at Figaro that she gave more importance to her role as a mother.

Penélope Cruz’s new organization for spending time with family

In an interview given on May 23, 2026, the day of the closing ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival, Penélope Cruz revealed that she placed her children before her acting career. “My priority is my children and their education. I have always been very attached to family, that’s what matters most“. She and her husband, actor Javier Bardem, are the happy parents of two children: Leonardo, born in 2011, and Luna, born in 2013.

If she still loves her work as an actress, Penélope Cruz also explained that she was trying to better organize her schedule so as not to stay too far from her family. “I am lucky to have a job that I love and which gives me time,” she said. I’m not making four films anymore per year and I can organize myself to reconcile the two”.

A family life far from movie sets

In an interview given to the American site Variety and posted online on May 5, 2026, Javier Bardem confided that he and Penélope Cruz avoided talking about their work within their home. “We have no posters, no photos, nothing to remind us of what we do for a living. We don’t waste too much time talking about workeven if we love what we do. We try to compartmentalize private life and fiction.”

The actor was full of praise for the woman who has shared his life for more than fifteen years. “I feel so blessed to be lucky enough to live at the same time, in the same place as this woman and [d’être dans sa] ways. (…) Penélope is an incredible personbeautiful and good — in the way she behaves with her family, her friends, our children, myself and towards herself.