Penelope Cruz on 'Heartbreaking' Scene in 'Ma Ma'

— -- Penelope Cruz plays a woman who finds out she is pregnant after she is diagnosed with breast cancer in the new movie “Ma Ma.”

Cruz told ABC News’ Amy Robach that being a mother herself made filming one particular scene in the movie especially difficult. In the scene, Cruz’s character, Magda, films a message to her unborn daughter.

“That was heartbreaking, shooting those scenes,” Cruz said. “I would have not understood this character the same way a few years ago.”

Cruz, 42, the mother of a 5-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter, added that the scene in question is one of the “most beautiful” scenes in the movie.

"She’s talking to the future, to what this baby represents," Cruz said. "She's saying, 'We are alive because we are together. We are alive because of our love and because we are fighting this together. It's really beautiful.'"

The actress also described to Robach how she prepared to play a woman with breast cancer.

“I worked with a lot of women preparing the role and with a lot of doctors, and for me, it was really important that when I show these people the movie, that they would look at me and say, ‘Okay, that some of that truth is there,’” she said.

"Ma Ma" is in theaters now.