Penélope Cruz writes about Marisa Paredes: living as yourself and not asking for forgiveness | Culture

As a teenager, I was never interested in crashing parties, but I did sneak into some filming. The one that impacted me the most was one at the Villa Rosa. Someone on the street told me. “There Almodóvar is filming now.” Without thinking twice I walked in and sat on the floor, quite close to the director's monitor. I think both Pedro and the actors decided to act crazy so that that curious girl wouldn't be thrown out. From the ground, Marisa seemed like an even more gigantic presence to me. It was like from another world. It impacted me a lot.

Over the years, I continued to enjoy his work and talent from a distance. Suddenly, one afternoon I found myself sitting next to him on Pedro's couch. He brought us together at his house to read the script for All about my mother. The truth is that at first Marisa's presence intimidated me. After 20 minutes in that meeting I realized that I was in front of a woman who was a friend of women, who supported you, who was generous, intelligent, sensitive, brave, funny, committed, quirky, diva, humble and above all , good person. It was always her and she was very special. When you thought he was too high in the clouds, he surprised you with some life lesson that only someone with his feet very much on the ground can give you. And if he saw you on earth too much, he would also shake you and inspire you to dare, to dream and fly.

Marisa managed to make a living doing something that is still very difficult for a woman to this day. Be herself. And not apologize for being so. What a shame I couldn't have given you one last hug. Fly high, goddess.

[Penélope Cruz ha cedido este texto a EL PAÍS antes de subirlo a su Instagram para compartirlo con sus seguidores]