11 October 2007

MADRID - (EFE).- Spain's Hola magazine published pictures confirming "the romance of the year" between actor Javier Bardem and actress Penelope Cruz, who were photographed in the Maldive Islands.

The extensive "exclusive," titled "Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem, Love in Paradise," shows the couple kissing passionately on a small secluded island.

Hola said the couple took advantage of "a break in their Hollywood commitments to prepare their escape," which was supposed to be "as secret" as possible.

The 38-year-old Bardem has been linked by the gossip press to a number of actresses over the years, but little had been known about his romantic life until now, while the 33-year-old Cruz has had affairs with musician Nacho Cano and actors Tom Cruise and Matthew McConaughey.

The magazine goes back 15 years to when the two up-and-comers had roles in Bigas Luna's "Jamon, jamon."

"During all those years, each lived their own life, they fell in love and out of love with their respective partners, worked hard and managed to conquer Hollywood," becoming the only Spaniards to be nominated for Oscars as best actors, Hola said.

The couple traveled to the United States for the New York Film Festival, unaware that their romantic getaway in the Maldives was no longer a secret.

"All that remains to be seen now is if this love will be permanent for the two," with proof perhaps coming in a few months, when they will once again work together on the adaptation of the musical "Nine" after having been "colleagues" in the last Woody Allen movie, which was filmed in Barcelona, Hola said. EFE

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Subject: Spanish news