Will Penelope Cruz soon be Mrs. Javier Bardem?
According to several online reports, Cruz and her boyfriend, fellow Spanish actor Javier Bardem, are engaged. Cruz’s rep had no comment and Bardem’s rep said, “I really don’t know, but would not be able to say anything even if I did.” The couple — who first met while filming “Jamon, Jamon” in 1992, one of Cruz’s first films, before working together again in 2008’s “Vicky Christina Barcelona” — have kept a low profile during their two-year romance, choosing not to walk red carpets together, evading the paparazzi and remaining extremely tight-lipped about one another in the press. “I don’t talk about that,” she told reporters in July 2007, at the time that Cruz, 35, and Bardem, 40, were rumored to be together. “He’s a friend and the best actor in the world.” For Cruz, walking down the aisle hasn’t exactly been on her radar. In fact, the Academy Award-winning actress has spoken out against it. “I don’t know if I believe in marriage,” she told U.K. magazine Psychologies in its August issue. “I believe in family, love and children.” Though she’s been vocal about wanting kids, Cruz was adamant she was not expecting a child after tabloids and blogs were abuzz with speculation last month. “I start getting some presents from friends saying, ‘Congratulations, you’re pregnant.’ And I say, ‘No, I’m not, so return the presents,’ ” she told USA Today. But when she does start a family, Cruz says she will probably turn to adoption. “Of course I want to have kids,” she told the Spanish edition of Marie Claire in its April 2007 issue. “I want to have my own kids, but also adopt. For a while I’ve had the feeling that my life wont be complete if I don’t adopt.”
