Back in the day, Eva Mendes would pap stroll a few times a month, whenever she was really feeling her outfit that day, or whenever she wanted us to see her dog, or whatever. She used to be a much more “public” celebrity. Even in the early days of her relationship with Ryan Gosling, she was still pretty public – they would pap stroll (and yes, both of them) quite often when they had a film to promote. But then Eva got pregnant with her first daughter, and suddenly we could go a year or longer without seeing her at all. We didn’t even know about her first pregnancy until she was just about to give birth. Eva and Ryan welcomed their second daughter with very little gossip too. And so for years, we barely even see Eva. She didn’t even come to any events for Ryan’s Oscar campaign last year.
But one thing Eva consistently promotes is her line with New York & Company. She’s had a deal to design and promote New York & Company for five years, and that’s basically the only time we see her. She did an event for the fashion line this weekend in LA, and she chatted with E! News about why she’s not going to return to acting any time soon:
E! News spoke with the actress at the Eva Mendes Collection for New York & Company at the Palace Theater in Los Angeles all about her family, working and how she balances it all.
“I’m just so obsessed with my kids that I don’t want to leave them,” Mendes told E! News’ Erin Lim in terms of whether or not she would get back into acting. “They’re just still so little.”
Mendes and her beau Ryan Gosling are parents to 4-year-old Esmeralda Gosling and 2-year-old Amada Gosling. Although she’s a rock star mom, designer and actress, she doesn’t do it all on her own. “I don’t feel like I have it balanced at all. I kind of have been figuring it out as I’m going along and it’s just important to have a support system,” she explained. “I have my family, I have Ryan’s family and that’s just like, invaluable to have family around supporting you.”
Mendes, who is in her fifth year of designing for New York & Company, hasn’t passed on the fashion bug to her kids just yet. They aren’t rocking any haute couture at the moment. “They live in jammies, you know. They’re still in diapers—well, one of them’s still in diapers, so they’re just being babies as they should be,” she told E! News.
If she doesn’t want to get back into acting, that’s fine. Her girls are very young, and I get the feeling that Eva is pretty much over the whole acting thing anyway. I also get the feeling that… Ryan likes that. He likes that Eva just wants to be a stay-at-home mom with their daughters. I also get the feeling that Eva’s family in particular – more than Ryan’s family – is very involved. I would guess that Eva’s mom and sisters are around constantly, which she says in this interview too. And if the kids aren’t going anywhere, why not just keep ‘em in pajamas all day long? That’s one thing Hugh Hefner got right – pajamas should be worn as daywear.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
I have seen lots of new mothers like that – they refuse to even leave the children for a few hours.
Most of them grow out of that overprotective feeling eventually.
Now something superficial, I want Eva’s hair….thick and glorious…
I’m sure she is doing into being a mother and the toddler years are awesome years with kids but I am also highly doubtful that her door is being beaten down with great offers for scripts, which kinda sucks because she is not a bad actress. Maybe she can return once her kids are older.
I think that could be part of it, though I could see her easily getting a part on a television show if she wanted. I find her pretty likable.
I dont know if it’s just because I havent seen pics of her in awhile but her face looks different. Maybe some cheek fillers? I could be completely wrong. I havent seen her in a hot second.
I get wanting to stay home with the kids and I guess if people have the luxury they should take advantage of it.
When I first saw these photo’s I almost didn’t recognise her but yeah she’s had work done. Dunno about cheek’s, def on the lips.
And it’s not an improvement, I’m sorry to say. She always had the Sophia Loren type of beauty, but that’s almost obliterated. The LIPS! Sad.
@Cidy: Yes, she does look different, but not so much as to look strange. If she has more work done, she will have the “cat eye” look many of the older actresses have.
As for her clothes, I don’t like what she wears.
That said, she is an absolutely beautiful woman and obviously a wonderful Mother, and that is what is really important.
Eva and Ryan found a balance that works for their family and good for them. I do miss Eva on screen, though. She has such an incredible presence.
I like them, I especially appreciate the fact they are really private and keep their life and family sacred, unlike most of celeb couples who claim to be oh so private but pimp themselves/their kids/their marriages every chance they have.
Proof you can be famous and have privacy if you really want it.
I always thought she had great comedic timing. Comedy really was he strong suit and I miss her on the screen.
Agreed. My husband and I were watching The Other Guys a few weeks ago, and I said the exact same thing. She’s excellent in those kinds of roles.
I don’t see a problem with their arrangement. They don’t have nannies and rely on their families, so if Eva is happy with being home and Ryan’s happy with it (and I think he is because he seems quite old fashioned in some ways), then who cares? I really like them.
I also miss Eva as an actress. I caught Bad Lieutenant on Prime and she was good! She has such a fun, magnetic presence that a lot of actresses are missing now.
Yes to day pj’s. I wear pajamas a good portion of the day, but not the same ones I sleep in. I have house pajamas and bed pajamas and occasionally my house pajamas become dog walking pajamas or quick trip to the grocery store pajamas.
If I ever had the option I’d also be a STHM, especially in their toddler years. It’s a luxury most people can’t afford but if you can, I’m with it.
Good for her. If her choice is to stay home and she has that ability and enjoys it, more power to her. Proof that celebs can go underground if they want to.
With my first two kids I had this thing of only having them go to nursery when they could walk. Then the third one was a mix of that and a nanny. The fourth one was at the sitter from 6 months on because I love my work and my career evolved (I had kids young). I couldn’t take care of four children only and neither could my husband.
I find it strange when women just stop everything at her age and are not eager to work. Although she is working as a designer I guess?
BUT what is it with stars designing? What does that even mean? Do they have the ability to do so? Is it really a job? Do they just land a husband, start making kids and are content with that?
I don’t get it. Crucify me right away but I don’t get how you can be content with kids without having a societal role outside of raising humans and having a placebo job like “designing”. That is why we keep getting called “mumpreneurs” and “active mums” instead of “professionals”.
I get the hiatus thing – like (argh) Gwyneth did if you can do it – but not this hybrid I am working but not really thing lots of celebs have going on. And it’s not realistic for people who can wind up bankrupt should something happen to their husbands / wives.
Both my daughters were distraught when their 3 month maternity leave ended and they had to go back to work. When you’re kid is that little, especially if you’re nursing, I don’t think Mother Nature and all her manipulative hormones make it easy for you to leave your kid for 9 hours. I TOTALLY understand why being a mom would be quite enough of a job, especially when they are real little. I think the ideal is if you could work part time: have time with your kids, and yet keep a broader societal identity. But who’s that privileged?? I stayed home with 3 kids and tutored from home and played night gigs until my youngest was in kindergarten, but it really hurt my career progress, especially compared to my husband’s, whose in my same field.
Sorry: I meant “who’s” . Need to finish my coffee before I comment!
I cried in the train when I left my fourth son at 6 months old. I cried for my job at home with him before. Such is life.
That is why we have situations like dads working while mums stay at home because women were convinced that they suffer more for their kids than them.
I’ve seen many dads (the ones who get involved since day one) really down because they can’t take care of their kids and have to go to work.
Society needs to change. If we have (relatively) affordable public transports, the same thing should happen with childcare. And malleable jobs. And 4 days weeks. Etc.
We need to change our views and build a society FOR EVERYONE.
I think its the fact that working doesn’t fulfill every woman.
Some women find more fulfillment in being with their family and running their homes.
I totally get it, its working for the betterment of yourself and your family.
If I get married and had a family, being a stay at home wife and mom would be my choice too. It would be more satisfying to me than a 9-5 job.
I find it deeply troubling that women consider not working and raising kids as a way of life since the start and men don’t.
That teen girls think of their career and the way having kids will affect it and teens boys don’t.
Either men start thinking like that too or we will never have an equal society and a notion of family where both parents do the parenting.
Think of same sex marriages and how unfair it sounds the notion of one of them automatically thinking of not working while the other one not even equating staying at home.
These things should be discussed in a couple with all options open right? I am sure lots of men are not fulfilled by a 9-5 work either.
I agree @Snowslow
If it works the other way round and the woman has a great career she loves, and the man wants to be the one running the household and kids, that’s great too.
Its just really makes sense to live on one income (if possible) and have one person care for the home if they really want to.
Some “successful” couples who both have demanding jobs live “past each other” which ends up ripping them apart.
If this works for the couple, then that’s a great situation.
I just can’t stand that some put it in a category of being “out dated” it isn’t, it works for a lot of people who have planned for such a lifestyle.
@Adee
Yes, true. Nothing is outdated – it’s a question of choice.
My husband has not been very fulfilled at his job the last few years. As a result, he now takes the role of being primary parent, running our kids to their activities and being around to get supper going while working some shorter hours. I stayed home until our youngest was in school, but my career is interesting to me and taking off now and I am really enjoying having the space to pursue my goals. I loved being present for those early years, and he gets a lot of enjoyment out of being there for their teenage years. There can be balance over time.
Snowslow, you are SO right that affordable and excellent childcare should be more widespread. It would be nice if more couples could afford to live on one paycheck, but corporate greed being what it is these days, they aren’t paying employees enough to support even a small family on one paycheck. I know very few couples who can afford to have a spouse stay home full time, even with frugal lifestyles. It drives me bonkers that companies don’t make more of an effort to accommodate working moms and dads, because if they DID, they’d tap lots of creativity and hard work, as well as have grateful employees.
My husband cnsidered being SAHD. He is one right now and I envy him so much. If he could find the job with the same pay as mine, I’d go back in a minute.
I love my job, but I love my kid more and especially now, wehn he’s little, I feel like I’m wasting my time during working hours.
I feel so offended when the first things people jump to when a woman says she wants to be SAHM (for a time, forever, no matter) is: “oh, honey, no. I bet they raise dyou with that expectation. I bet you’re partner wouldn’t even think of it. Oh, women are brainwashed.”
You know what? I was raised in a liberal home where my mom worked and my dad was primary caregiver most of my childhood. I am college-educated, currently working on my PhD and a working mom-and I miss the time I was SAHM like crazy. That is my choice and it doesn’t have anything to do with my feminism. Ehy can’t a woman do what she wants without someone constantly judging her?
*rant over, sorry, it wasn’t directed at anyone in particular*
Then again, I cannot understand how my little country drowning in debt and recession still, can have a paid maternity leave for a year, sponsored by state, even for unemployed mothers! (It’s covered by law-no firm can deny you maternity leave and you have to go on “pregnancy leave” at least 30 days before birth), yet there is nothing even slightly similar in USA. Mind boggling and very descriptive of USA as a state.
If you do it right being a mother is more than a full time job….and raising decent human beings is the MOST important ant job on the planet.
Raising kids is the most important job, but throughout most of human history, kids were raised while women had to work extremely hard just to keep the family alive. Women were hauling firewood, hauling water, washing clothes, tending the stove or fire, sewing and mending, etc. It’s only our modern society that thinks every moment needs to be devoted to child raising. And there were usually tribes, villages, or at least extended family involved, so the burden wasn’t only on one mom! Many women would go bonkers at the isolation today of stay at home motherhood, and if they want to work, that’s a fine choice too. You can raise children successfully while working; my mom did, and I was proud of her!
Why? Why do you find it strange that another woman wants something different than you for her and her children?!
Maybe she finds your choice strange?
I’m finally getting where I should be in my career and I would leave all that in a second if I could be STHM while kid is younger. In a second. I was SAHM and I miss the time spent with my kid. It doesn’t mean I’m weaker or not as good at my job than someone else who wouldn’t. It just means I have different priorities and different things make me happy. Why is that so strange and unimaginable?
I find nothing wrong with their arrangement, I just hope she is financially secured-just in case. and that’s all.
I don’t recall Eve being pap happy. I think she just didn’t care. I don’t know why every time a celebrity is photographed it’s called a pap stroll. I’m sure most of the time celebrities think screw it and just let the paps follow them. Celebrities always tell how they avoid the paps – switching cars, different routes, decoys, etc. It seems like a lot of trouble to do that every time they want to go to the grocery store.
Yeah, I will add that she specifically said that she wished magazines would blur their dog’s faces because she thought it was creepy that fans would recognize their dogs (despite Ryan bringing his on talk shows?), so I think she was just walking their dogs, not going on pap strolls.
I distinctly remember Eva looking quite miserable in many paparazzi shots, even Joaquin Phoenix commented on it. While she had some pap strolls, I don’t think all of them were organized by her.
Truth be told she was never a great actress anyway. She never had a career like Ryan. She was mostly in these action/comedy flicks as the hot girl. She’s still good looking, but obviously those offers will dry up over time. She’s wise to prioritize her private life.
Yeah, I was never impressed with her on the screen myself. I think, to be honest, if she wasn’t with Ryan she would have long faded from our memory, so it’s not surprising that she’s focused on being a stay at home mom as it is. Which is great! She seems to be happy with it, and I like that they’re very private about their relationship and kids.
I totally agree with you. Acting really wasn’t her thing and she was never going to have a hugely successful career out of it, anyway. I don’t think she was high on anyone’s casting list even when she was “successful” at it. She seems to have found her things, fashion and momming, and those seem to suit her and her family much better! It’s great to see someone find their thing and lean into it.
+1
You got to admire her for being so comfortable with being a wife, a mother and a homemaker. It’s rare for a woman to say that is content with something, be it a job or being a stay at home mom. We are all constantly forced to feel like we have to do it all and feel torn.
+1!!!!
@SM
I don’t agree. That is not what we are told imo.
We are sent mixed messages.
We are told to be torn instead of fighting.
We are told not to want to work or if we want to work not to have children because we will have to take care of them. That does not make sense to me.
Why can’t we have a nice long maternity and paternity leave like the Scandinavians and then go back to work? Allow for work hiatus and a career after for both genders?
I may be a weak mum but I had a hard time doing it all: taking care of the house and the babies even when not working. I could not have done it without my husband.
And I am sure Mendes has at least a nanny and a housemaid. I didn’t.
I could also claim that we are naturally drawn to raise kids with two people if possible – so how is society telling us that we have to do it on our own while the dads work?
This HAS been recognised and there is now paternity leave. But it is not truly thought through as nothing seems to be when it comes to people’s rights (people who aren’t rich that is).
great comment, wholeheartedly agree. thank you!
Of course she has help. Good for her for finding happiness, truly, but her situation is not applicable to the average mother. She’s very wealthy, older and already lived a full life including with a career she thrived in and presumably enjoyed.
Bravo! This is also the same stance my grandmother, born in most rural environment in 1912. you could imagine, always said: women should have a choice, make it themself and never be pressured to regret it.
To each their own! Good for her. I was able to take 3 months off before going back, and though I was sad it felt good to take a break from being a mother 24/7. Now my son begs me to go to after school care instead of me picking him up when school is out.. I haven’t decided if I should be offended yet..
I don’t blame her one bit. My last ‘baby’ turns 20 tomorrow and I can’t believe how times flies. Don’t blink…it goes so fast.
I think it’s lovely that she has the means to stay home with her girls if she wants to.
On a side note, I think she has had work done and it’s making her look hard. She is beautiful and doesn’t need to be messing with her face!!
She seems very happy and content with being a mom and a designer/businesswoman so more power to her.
Kyle Chandler mentioned everything stopping on set because Ryan’s “wife” showed up with the kids and Ryan just bashfully smiled at the mention of her. And I saw she was asked about it on Entertainment Tonight and her face just lit up talking about how her daughters now think “papi” is an astronaut. She and Ryan really seem to adore each other, I’m rooting for them.
I’m weirdly into this outfit she’s wearing. Plaid with leopard? I’m digging this 💃🏼
This is the kind of outfit (well, not the shoes) that Catherine Cambridge would look great in. Very stylish without being over the top. Her usual blue jewelry would make the blue plaid pop.
I assuming it is from her New York & Company Collection. The style of that collection is very nice…a lot of the cuts would not look great on my body type, but it is a classic, kinda preppy, kinda glam style.
Eva, girl, why you wanna mess with your lips like that? Smh
Eva Mendes is one of my BECs (b****es eating crackers). To me, she comes off as condescending when she makes these remarks about staying home with kids or always making sure she’s dressed to the nines when she steps out of the house. I get it: she’s a girly-girl who revels in her femininity and embraces a more traditional role. But I always detect a not-so-subtle putdown of women who choose to live their lives differently. If Eva wants to get all dolled up to go put gas in her car on Saturday morning, fine; but don’t try to side-eye me if I run the same errand wearing a pair of jeans, my comfy bra (i.e., not the best support), and a t-shirt. That goes double for the SAHM stuff. She has the means to make that choice, so yay for her, I guess. However, a lot of women don’t have a choice but to work, and they don’t need to be guilt-tripped by Eva crowing about how awesome it is to spend every waking moment with one’s children.
You are absolutely projecting your negativity on her, nothing she’s said appears to be “crowing” or side eying anyone. She’s talking about her experience and feelings and hers alone in regards to a question asked of her.
Her face really is looking harder, and puffier. I hope she isn’t falling into that “older woman younger man” needy trap. She’s GORGEOUS & I hope she knows it…leave your face alone, mama!
I’m a SAHM and my husband and I have sacrificed and planned a LOT to make that happen. I think it’s great that she doesn’t make it seem like it’s an easy job. I wish I had the support system she does.