Penelope Cruz hated herself for giving into the pressure to look perfect after welcoming her first child.

The actress welcomed her son Leo with husband Javier Bardem in 2011 and during a sit down with Gwyneth Paltrow for her U.K. Goop summit over the weekend (28to30Jun19) Penelope confessed she pushed herself to get into shape just hours after the delivery.

"I realised what a lot of fairytales and movies and messages from society have put in my head because the way I left the hospital the first time and the way I left the second were two different women," she revealed.

"The first (time), I pushed myself to be superwoman like, 'I'll do it natural birth', and then 12 hours later I'm out of the hospital in high heels,'" she added.

Cruz, who also gave birth to daughter Luna in 2013, now realises she was being unrealistic.

"Now I look back and say, 'Who asked you to do this? And who asked you to not delegate, to feel like you have to do everything yourself 24 hours a day and forget to take care about yourself?' That has nothing to do with feminism. I was not respecting myself by doing that."

When it came to the birth of her little girl, Cruz adopted a much more relaxed approach.

"I said, 'I'm going to stay in this hospital for three days'," she shared. "I laid down in this bed with my baby and my other baby was coming over and my husband was great and really really helpful, but you need to realise you need to eat, sleep, basically take a shower."