Penelope Cruz posed in a corset for the cover of a glossy magazine on the eve of her 50th birthday

Penelope Cruz, on the eve of her 50th birthday, became the heroine of the cover of the April issue of Spanish Elle. On the cover, she poses in a black Mugler strapless corset and a lime green lace Versace dress.

In an interview with the magazine, she told how she felt about her upcoming anniversary - the actress turns 50 on April 28. “If you ask me which relationship I like better with myself, the one I have now or the one I had when I was 20 or 30, I honestly prefer the one I have now.” - said the actress.

“I take full advantage of every decade, every moment and never think: “I was better before.”

The actress admitted that she misses the “antics” of her youth, because with age she began to better understand the world around her and her attitude towards it changed. "Sometimes I want to do more things and go back to that unconscious state more. Everything I've learned, all the mountains I've had to overcome, things that haven't been easy for me, and I'm not talking about anything, it's all part of my development."

She also spoke about motherhood: the actress has two children with her husband Javier Bardem: 13-year-old Leo and 10-year-old Luna.

According to Penelope, she always wanted to be a mother and at the age of 20, during a trip to India, she tried to adopt a child on her own, but was unable to. “I used to work a lot, and at a very crazy pace: at that time I had four films a year coming out. But today I feel that I am very lucky: the fact that I worked a lot for a long time now gives me the opportunity to choose ", what to do, where and when. This is very important, because from the moment our children are born, we do everything possible to be fully present in their upbringing. For us, this is the most important thing."