Penelope Cruz: 'I've spent most of my career answering questions about ageing'

Actress Penelope Cruz is refusing to answer anymore "crazy" questions about ageing during interviews.

The Vicky Cristina Barcelona star was signed on to an agent at the tender age of 15 and the mother-of-two began fielding questions about her age soon after - and now almost 30 years later she has nothing else to say on the subject.

“I’ve spent most of my career trying to make myself older, for different reasons,” she explained to actress pal Gwyneth Paltrow, who interviewed her for the new issue of Interview magazine. "Journalists have been asking me, since I was, like, 22, 'Are you afraid of ageing?' That is such a crazy question for a 22-year-old girl or, for that matter, for a 42-year-old. I combat that craziness by refusing to answer the question."

“When it comes to talking about ageing as an actress, I feel like, ‘What the f**k? I’m not going to give you even two minutes to honor your question. It doesn’t deserve that,’” she fumed.

Penelope, who shares son Leo, six, and daughter Luna, four, with actor husband Javier Bardem, admits she became more confident when dealing with the media after becoming a mother, stating, "Something changed when I gave birth to my daughter. I started thinking, ‘Come on, it’s 2017. Why do women still have to be talking about this (ageing)? It’s crazy.’ That sense only got bigger when I had children.”

Penelope also told Gwyneth that parenthood has helped her overcome several self-confidence issues.

"I’m happy to say, that my ego has gotten smaller over time," she shared. "I used to be so afraid about what people were going to think of me, if I was going to be accepted, if I was going to be loved. I put a lot of energy into the perception of myself. When I became a mother, almost seven years ago, something very deep changed in me, where I really don’t care about a lot of the stuff I used to care about before."