The most revealing VIP awards ever!
BONO has a very interesting circle of friends and one of them is Spanish actor Javier Bardem, husband of actress Penélope Cruz.
The actor, who won an Oscar in 2008 for his menacing role in No Country For Old Men, is profiled in the current issue of Esquire magazine – in which Bono reveals that he asked the Spaniard to marry him.
‘I became his friend in the ’00s,’ Bono told Esquire.
‘He’d come to U2 shows, scare our audience with his air guitar, then steal the hearts of our womenfolk. Penélope is a friend – of course I had to make sure this man I so admired on screen was up to scratch to date the Bad Penny, as she’s known in Ireland.’
Turns out the U2 frontman took Javier out on a bender and the pair bonded over booze: ‘He came through that drink-off with flying colours, and at the end of the night I asked him to marry me. Such a macho guy needs a feminine side to be such a great actor – in touch with his feelings and all that. If you doubt me, check out the J-Man in a feather boa at U2’s 2015 show in Barcelona,’ Bono added.
The pair became pals and Bardem went on to join Bono in one of his charities. ‘There is a serious side to this man,’ Bono said. ‘He despises injustice and became a (RED) campaign warrior not just because we were paying for drugs for people who couldn’t afford them but because such inequality angered him. In that sense he has very Spanish values – I think he was brought up to be annoyed at such things. He’s built for combat.’