Penelope Cruz sees social media as 'cruel experiment on children'

LOS ANGELES: Actress Penelope Cruz believes social media is a "cruel experiment" on young people.

The actress and her husband Javier Bardem ban their children Leo, 12, and Luna, 10, from accessing sites such as TikTok because she thinks it easy for kids to be "manipulated" online.

"They don't even have phones. It's so easy to be manipulated, especially if you have a brain that is still forming. And who pays the price? Not us, not our generation, who, maybe at 25, learned how a BlackBerry worked. It's a cruel experiment on children, on teenagers," she told America's ELLE magazine, reports aceshowbiz.com.

Despite their own fame, the couple are keen to protect their children's privacy as much as possible.

Penelope explained, "It's for them to decide if they are going to have a job that is more exposed to the public or not. They can talk about that when they're ready."

The 49-year-old actress also revealed her 54-year-old husband is an "incredible" husband.

The actress gushed of the 'No Country for Old Men' actor, "He sings and he's a great dancer. And he does this amazing impression of Mick Jagger. He'll imitate Al Pacino and De Niro talking to each other. It's incredible."

Asked when the impressions feature in their lives, she replied, "Truly, any situation."

Penelope has worked frequently over the years with Pedro Almodovar and she thinks he cast her as a parent even before she had her kids because he "always saw (her) as a mother."

She added, "We have known each other since I was 17. He would watch me going to talk to strangers just to see their babies. He always saw that strong, inevitable instinct in me, and I saw him see it.

“But also, ever since I was a little girl, I knew I wanted kids. But I knew I wanted them older. I wanted to wait until I felt I was ready. I was sure it would be the most important thing I would do in my life."