“After you get a car from Bono you don't get your license? How crazy is that?" she said
Credit: Europa Press Entertainment/Europa Press via Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Penélope Cruz opened up about whether or not she plans on getting her driver’s license anytime soon
- The Bride actress revealed that a childhood trauma has prevented her from wanting to be in vehicles
- A car that U2 frontman Bono bought her as a birthday present might be the “ultimate push” she needs to learn how to drive, she said during an appearance on Hot Ones
Penélope Cruz is considering learning how to drive after being gifted a car by her dear friend Bono.
The Ferrari actress, 52, told Hot Ones host Sean Evans that despite her “very deep fear of driving,” she thinks it's time to learn how to operate a car, after receiving one from the U2 star, 66.
“My friend Bono gave me a car for my last birthday,” she said, admitting she didn’t plan on sharing the story.
Credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage
“How crazy that sounds, but he gave me a car and I think that is like the ultimate push to do it,” Cruz told Evans of the possibility of her finally getting her driver’s license.
“After you get a car from Bono you don't get your license? How crazy is that? So now I'm thinking about it again, but it's such a deep fear. Every time I get in a car, I feel like, 'Okay, here we go. Are we going to make it or not?'” she said.
Cruz told Evans that traveling for as little as 15 minutes with a professional driver still causes her to feel anxiety.
“I think there is a name for that,” she said earlier in their conversation. “They came up with a name recently because there are a lot of people like me.”
Vehophobia is an intense, irrational fear specifically tied to the act of operating a motor vehicle, while amaxophobia is the fear of being inside a vehicle, whether you are driving or simply riding along.
Cruz previously revealed where the phobia stemmed from.
“My sister was run over by a car in front of me when I was eight or nine,” she told ELLE in a 2024 interview of the crash involving her sister Monica, who survived and ultimately made a full recovery.
Credit: Raul Terrel/Europa Press via Getty
“It’s a great trauma, because I saw her losing consciousness. And I was numb in the hospital, telling people, ‘Oh, my sister just got run over by a car,’ ” she told the outlet.
During the interview, the Bandidas actress added that the “hypersensitivity” is something she’s been working on in therapy.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
The following year, PEOPLE spoke to Cruz’s husband Javier Bardem at the New York red carpet premiere of his film F1, where he opened up about the irony of both him and his wife choosing not to drive, even though they've both starred in movies about driving.
“It's funny having in mind that neither of us drive,” the Academy Award winner, 57, told PEOPLE. “She doesn't drive. I barely know how to drive.”
Unlike his famous spouse, Bardem shared with PEOPLE that he does not know where his disdain for driving comes from.
Read the full article here
