Penélope Cruz has revealed she is now seriously “thinking about” finally getting her driver’s license at 52, after receiving an unexpected birthday gift from Bono: a car.
During an appearance on Hot Ones, the actress said the 66-year-old rock icon gave her the extra motivation she needed when he surprised her with the vehicle for her birthday in April.
In the episode, which premiered Thursday, Cruz told host Sean Evans that she has lived with a “very deep fear of driving” since childhood, after witnessing her sister being hit by a car.
Still, she said the U2 frontman’s generous gesture has encouraged her to confront that long-held anxiety.
“My friend Bono gave me a car for my last birthday,” Cruz said on the show, though she did not disclose the vehicle’s make or model.
Penélope Cruz said she hopes to move past her driving phobia and earn her driver’s license at 52 after Bono gifted her a car; pictured in June
The actress said she wants to feel comfortable enough to drive the birthday present Bono gave her in April, despite her strong fear of driving and even riding in cars; pictured in September 2019
“He gave me a car and I think that is like the ultimate push to do it,” she said of her renewed interest in getting licensed.
‘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,’ she continued.
Cruz previously opened up about how she has had a ‘fear of driving’ ever since witnessing her younger sister get struck by a car when they were both kids.
Her sister Monica Cruz, a fellow actress who is three years younger, made a full recovery but witnessing the traumatic car accident left her with a lasting phobia.
On the show, the Vanilla Sky star revealed the trauma she still suffers after so many years.
She told Evans: ‘Every time I get in a car, I feel like, “OK, here we go. Are we going to make it or not?”‘
Cruz said that even being in a car for as little as 10 or 15 minutes with a professional driver behind the wheel still causes her to feel that deep fear.
‘My feeling is, “Am I going to make it today?”‘ she explained.
‘My friend Bono gave me a car for my last birthday,’ she shared on Hot Ones recently and admitted she knows ‘how crazy that sounds’
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She said her longtime friend, the U2 frontman, encouraged her with the gift. ‘He gave me a car and I think that is like the ultimate push to do it,’ she said about getting her driver’s license; pictured in June
On the show, Cruz opened up about how she feels intense anxiety even sitting 10 to 15 minutes in a vehicle with a professional driver behind the wheel because of a traumatic childhood incident; pictured in February
‘I think there is a name for that,’ she said at another point earlier in their chat. ‘They came up with a name recently because there are a lot of people like me.’
An intense, persistent fear of driving or riding in a vehicle is clinically called amaxophobia, per the Cleveland Clinic.
There is also another term; vehophobia refers to the intense fear of driving, specifically the act of operating a vehicle.
Vehophobia is usually triggered by past traumas such as car accidents or witnessing crashes, according to the Manhattan Center for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.
Two years ago, Cruz also opened up about the traumatic incident from her childhood, recalling the experience and sharing how it still causes her anxiety as an adult.
Cruz previously opened up about how she has had the phobia ever since witnessing her younger sister Monica get struck by a car when they were both kids; Penelope Cruz (left) and Monica Cruz (right) pictured in November 2016
Her sister, a fellow actress who is three years younger, made a full recovery but witnessing the traumatic car accident left Cruz with a lasting phobia; pictured in June
‘My sister was run over by a car in front of me when I was eight or nine,’ she told Elle in February 2024.
She recalled how it felt like ‘time stopped’ in that moment.
‘I remember she was wearing a red coat. Speaking of red! And for me, time stopped,’ she recalled.
‘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 said that if the same traumatic incident happened when she had been an adult, she imagined she would act differently and ‘would have been hysterical.’
