'I really want to celebrate that with all my friends': Penelope Cruz embraces 50s with open arms

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Penelope Cruz has embraced her 50s with open arms.

The 49-year-old Academy Award winner will enter a new decade of her life, but she told ELLE in her new cover story that aging isn’t something she’s worried about in the slightest. 

“Because people have been asking me about age since I was twenty something,” she told the outlet, admitting she was more “bothered” about getting older back then.  

Cruz 'really wants to celebrate' her 50s with her friends 

“Now it makes more sense, to discuss turning 50. It’s a huge, beautiful thing, and I really want to celebrate that with all my friends. It means I’m here and I’m healthy, and it’s a reason to have a party", Cruz said.

Still, she's a bit wary when it comes to talking about the topic when it doesn't deem appropriate. “But when I was 25, they would ask me these psychotic questions, things you would not believe, and the only weapon I would have was not to answer. Even now, on the red carpet, when they shout to ‘Turn around,’ I always pretend I didn’t hear what they said.”

Cruz on why she wants to keep her kid's life private 

In the interview, Cruz explained that she's always been dedicated to making sure that if her children, daughter Luna, 10, and son Leo, 12, both of whom she shares with Javier Bardem, ever want to step into the spotlight, it's on their own time and on their own terms.

"It’s for them to decide if they are going to have a job that is more exposed to the public or not. They can talk about that when they’re ready," she shared. 

Cruz admitted that she doesn't allow her two kids to have phones, explaining, "It’s so easy to be manipulated, especially if you have a brain that is still forming."

"And who pays the price? Not us, not our generation, who, maybe at 25, learned how a BlackBerry worked," she continued. "It’s a cruel experiment on children, on teenagers.”

Penelope Cruz can't wait to work with her 'number one hero' Meryl Streep

Meaww previously reported that Penelope Cruz harbors a single unfulfilled desire, the opportunity to collaborate with Meryl Streep, a 21-time Oscar nominee.

During a recent BAFTA Life in Pictures event in London last month, the acclaimed actress expressed her utmost eagerness to collaborate with the iconic 'Kramer vs Kramer' actress.

“Meryl Streep. I’m always begging my agents to take me to her set, just to bring her coffee or anything,” Cruz said on a funnier note.

“Every time I see her, I run to hug her. And she’s so patient because every time I act like this is the first time I do it," she added.

Cruz's sentiment harks back to the moment she "could not believe it" when Meryl Streep mentioned her in a speech while accepting an Icon Award at the '3rd Annual Academy Museum Gala' in Los Angeles.

The 46-year-old added, "And I watched [Streep's speech] twenty times to make sure. It was like she knows that I exist, you know? She is my number one number one hero and would love to work with her.”