For most of her adult life, Penelope Cruz has stayed out of the driver’s seat entirely. That could be changing- and the reason traces back to a birthday present from a friend with a habit of making grand gestures: U2’s lead singer, Bono.The Oscar winner revealed on the YouTube series “Hot Ones” that Bono gifted her a car for her last birthday, an act she now describes as impossible to ignore. Turning down a car from a rock star, she reasoned, is one thing. Refusing to even get licensed to drive it felt like a step too far.Cruz’s reluctance isn’t casual nervousness- she describes it as a long-standing and specific fear, one severe enough that even sitting in a moving car with someone else driving can bring on anxiety within minutes. Experts distinguish between two related conditions: vehophobia, the fear of driving, and amaxophobia, a broader fear of riding in vehicles altogether.The root of that fear appears to date back decades. Cruz has previously said she watched her sister Monica get hit by a car when she was around eight years old-an incident she has called one of the most traumatic memories of her childhood. Monica recovered without lasting injury, but Cruz has said the moment left a permanent mark on how she relates to cars.She isn’t alone in her household on this front. Her husband, Javier Bardem, has said in past interviews that he barely drives either, despite appearing at motorsport-adjacent events like last year’s premiere of “F1.”Whether Bono’s gift actually results in Cruz passing a driving test is still unclear. But for an actor who has spent decades avoiding the wheel, the fact that she’s even talking about trying again marks a shift.