Penelope Cruz Says Men Should Still Be Able to Compliment a Woman's Appearance

Penelope Cruz is on the cover of TATLER‘s August 2019 issue, out on newsstands on June 27.

Here’s what the 45-year-old Everybody Knows actress had to say…

How ten years ago she and husband Javier Bardem made a decision: “A really good decision for us, not to talk about our relationship. It would feel very strange to do it a different way. I just couldn’t do it.”

On the dangers of men complimenting a woman’s appearance: “This is a worldwide problem. This is a big thing. And for us to be commenting, oh, no, in 2019, you cannot say a woman looks good? Are we f–king crazy?”

On hormones: “Hormones rule the world…I bet you weren’t expecting to talk about hormones. Okay. Hormones…there are times in the life of a woman that have to be acknowledged, and understood and called by their name. There are too many taboos surrounding women’s bodies and I think it equals a big lack of respect. You might be thinking, ‘What is the relationship between hormones and respect?’ It’s completely related. Words like ‘period’, ‘post-partum depression’, ‘menopause’. Even today, those words, you bring them up at a dinner table, everybody gets nervous. Even if it’s a group of women, if men are also at the table, the energy gets very nervous. The peri-menopause goes from 40 to 50, and nobody talks about that. Society keeps things as a taboo and I’m really angry about this. I feel like everything that they’re asking us in interviews…they ask us about the changes that have happened in the business over the last couple of years, in terms of the movement towards equality for women and respect for women. Of course it feels like there’s been some improvement. But it’s only the beginning.”

For more from Penelope, head to Tatler.com.