AWARD-WINNING actress Penelope Cruz is flipping the script as she prepares to dish out honors rather than accept them at the 2025 Oscars.
For over a decade, Spanish star Penelope has been supported by her devoted husband and actor Javier Bardem.
Here is what we know about their relationship since the pair met in 1992.
How did Penelope Cruz and her husband Javier Bardem meet?
When Penelope was just 17 years old she met 23-year-old Javier on the set of the movie Jamón, Jamón.
Despite having an instant connection, it was not until years later that they started dating.
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Javier told GQ in 2017 that they had “obvious chemistry” but “nothing happened”.
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He divulged more information about their first meeting in 2024 with Gentleman’s Journal saying they met while working with the wardrobe department for the movie.
“We met on the wardrobe test, where we looked at each other, and I guess something happened,” he said.
“Something that doesn’t have any explanation and goes beyond logic and reasoning.”
Jamón Jamón
The Spanish romantic tragicomedy was Penelope’s debut film where she played teenage beauty Silvia who is pregnant with her first child with a man whose mother does not approve of the relationship.
The mother hires an aspiring bullfighter called Raul, played by Javier, to seduce Silvia in a bid to ruin her relationship with her son.
When did Penelope Cruz and her husband Javier Bardem start dating?
In 2007, Penelope and Javier reunited for the rom-com movie Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
After meeting again on set, the pair started dating and have been inseparable ever since.
However, it was not an instant rekindling of chemistry, Javier told GQ in 2017, and had a friend not taken action they may never have got together.
“Neither of us would make the first move. I don’t know if we were shy or trying to be too professional,” he said.
“Anyway, it got to the very last day of filming and nothing had happened.
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“So I thought, ‘F***! We better get drunk!’ Luckily a friend of ours threw a wrap party and, well, the rest is history. Thank god!”
Dating rumours emerged in fall of that year when the pair were snapped in the Maldives on a romantic getaway together.
In 2024, Javier shared more about their reignited connection.
He told Gentleman’s Journal: “It happened that we were both single at that moment, so naturally what had to happen happened — two people reconnected because they shared tons of things, way more than they expected.
“But we also shared that we met each other and knew each other before all of the noise, before success and before anybody saw us with different eyes because of who we now were, what we had become.
“And that’s an important base, to rely on someone because you know them for real, and they know you for real.
“You see me, I see you. That’s important.”
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
In the 2008 film, Javier played artist Juan Antonio Gonzalo in the movie that follows two women who visit Barcelona for a summer.
Juan ends up in a relationship with Cristina who realises he is still in love with his mentally unstable ex-wife Maria Elena, played by Penelope.
In 2009, she won her first Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film.
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She had previously got her first Academy Award nomination in 2006 for Best Actress in the Spanish film Volver.
Javier won an Oscar the year he reunited with his wife-to-be for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in No Country For Old Men.
The pair made their first official debut as a couple on Valentine’s Day in 2010 at the Goya Awards Gala in Madrid.
Despite keeping an extremely low profile, engagement rumours had already been swirling for a year at that point.
When did Penelope Cruz and her husband Javier Bardem get married?
Soon after their debut, the couple got married in an intimate ceremony in the Bahamas on July 13, 2010.
The secret nuptials took place at the home of a friend.
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Two months before the wedding, Javier publicly spoke about the bride-to-be for the first time in a speech at the 63rd Annual Cannes Film Festival.
After winning Best Actor for his role in Biutiful, he said: “I share this joy with my friend, my companion, my love: Penelope.
“I owe you a lot and I love you so much.”
Penelope later revealed that the couple had decided to keep all details about their blossoming relationship private.
She told Tatler it was “a really good decision for us, not to talk about our relationship.
“It would feel very strange to do it in a different way. I just couldn’t do it.”
How many children do Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem have?
Just months after their wedding, Penelope was spotted with a growing baby bump when they attended a Lakers game.
They welcomed their first child Leo in January 2011.
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When Penelope got her star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame in April that year, she thanked her husband and son “for making me happy every day.”
In February 2013, the actress announced that she was expecting her second child.
On July 22, 2013, Penelope gave birth to Luna Encinas.
The couple keep their children out of the spotlight and the family live in Madrid.
The pair have starred in numerous movies together including Loving Pablo and Everybody Knows.
In March 2022, the couples both got Oscar nominations — Penelope for Best Actress in Parallel Mothers and Javier as Best Actor in Being the Ricardos.
The couple said was “very special” and “beautiful” to be nominated at the same time.
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Content shared from www.the-sun.com.