Penélope Cruz And Javier Bardem Are Super-Private, But Their Body Language Speaks Volumes

Despite their superstar statuses, Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem have managed to stay impressively hush-hush about their 10-year marriage. In fact, the couple has actually gone to great lengths to keep the details about their family under wraps.

The two first met in 1992, on the set of Jamón Jamón, but didn’t act on the spark until they were reunited the set of Vicky Christina Barcelona in 2007. After that, the couple held out for a whole three years before hitting the red carpet together. In 2010, they tied the knot in a family-only wedding in the Bahamas. And when Javier was awarded the prize for best actor at the Cannes Film Festival that same year, in his first display of PDA, he publicly thanked Penélope. “I share this joy with my friend, my companion, my love: Penélope: I owe you a lot and I love you so much,” he said in his acceptance speech.

Up until that point, your best option for getting an inside look at this marriage was getting lost in the couple’s many onscreen romances, and while this public declaration might have seemed like a turning point, it wasn’t. The couple was firm about their choice to stay far, far away from the public eye. It’s been “a really good decision for us,” Penélope told Tatler. “It would feel very strange to do it a different way.” And for Javier, it’s all about safeguarding the relationship, per Vulture. “Penélope and I, we have to protect the ‘us,’” he said.

However, there is one key way the couple’s managed to express how they feel about each other while remaining tight-lipped: body language. Terri Orbuch, PhD, author of 5 Simple Steps to Take Your Marriage From Good to Great and professor at Oakland University in Michigan, took a look at the couple’s gestures and movements over the years to fill in the gaps in their relationship timeline. Ahead, everything you never knew about Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem’s relationship.