Eva Mendes Says She Gave Up Acting to Become a Full-Time Mother Even While Partner Ryan Gosling Continues to Work—And She Regrets Nothing

When Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling became parents to daughters Esmeralda and Amada, there was an “unspoken agreement” between them that Mendes’ acting career would be put on pause, she said on the Today show—and Mendes has no regrets, even though Gosling’s acting career was to continue. (Obviously, just in case you missed him as Ken this past year.)

“It was like a no-brainer,” Mendes said of becoming a full-time mother to her daughters who are now 7 and 9 years old. “[And I was like] I’m so lucky if I could have this time with my children.” Mendes notes that she still works, but prefers not to act right now as “acting takes you on location,” she said. “It takes you away.” 

Of the decision, “It was almost just like a non-verbal agreement that it was like, ‘Okay, he’s going to work and I’m going to work. I’m just going to work here,’” Mendes said. “He went and did his job. He just happens to be really good at his job. And he did it, and he came home.”

Mendes and Gosling met and fell in love on the set of the 2012 film The Place Beyond the Pines. Of meeting Gosling, Mendes told Today “I have never experienced anything like that. The way he works, his commitment to his craft, how he wants to make everything as best it could be, and that means making his co-stars as best as they could be…But unfortunately, or fortunately,  there is only one Ryan. So I pretty much stopped just acting after that.” 

People reports that Mendes has only had six acting roles since The Place Beyond the Pines came out 12 years ago, and of those, only one film credit—for 2014’s Lost River, which Gosling wrote and directed as his directorial debut. (Their daughters were born in September 2014 and April 2016.)

The girls have watched dad at work, and Esmeralda and Amada gave him some feedback prior to his “I’m Just Ken” performance at the Oscars earlier this month. “It was great,” Gosling told People. “It was so fun because they came to the dress rehearsal the day before and so they were in the front row. They gave me some tips and some notes, all great notes. They are such a huge part of this for me…it was my girls’ interest in Barbie and disinterest in Ken that got me into this in the first place. It was beautiful to have them there at the end.”

Mendes and Gosling moved their family outside of the confines of L.A. to give their kids a quieter childhood, a source told People earlier this month. “For them, the most important job is their girls,” they said. “Everything else comes second. And their girls are thriving. They left L.A. to live a bit further north, away from Hollywood. They didn’t want the girls to grow up around other celebrity kids. Eva and Ryan love their life. It’s admirable how they’ve been able to create balance and boundaries. They care so much about their marriage and just want their girls to live a happy life.”

Another source told People that the famous couple are “hands-on parents and have little help,” and said they “very much enjoy family time” with their daughters.