Article updated on 27/03/24: Eva Mendes has spoken out her acting hiatus, giving some more detail on why she stepped back from the jet-set life of Hollywood.
The actor expressed no regrets about stepping away from her movie career to focus on raising her and Ryan Gosling's daughters, Esmeralda, nine, and Amada, seven. In fact, she said she was grateful for the opportunity.
'It was like a no-brainer,' Mendes said on the Today show. 'I'm so lucky if I could have this time with my children. I still worked, I just didn't act because acting takes you on locations, it takes you away.'
She also said that she and Gosling had a 'non-verbal agreement' that he would continue to act while she adapted her career to stay closer to home. 'It was like, ok, he's going to work and I'm going to work. I'm just going to work here.'
After Gosling's memorable performance of 'I'm Just Ken' from Barbie at the 2024 Oscars, Mendes alluded to their parental roles in a brilliant Instagram post. 'You took Ken all the way to the Oscars, RG. Now come home, we need to put the kids to bed💋' read the caption.
'That's what it's about,' Mendes told Today. 'You go, you do your job the best you can and then you come home.'
FIND OUT MORE ON ELLE COLLECTIVE
Mendes has touched on this topic before. In 2022, after explaining that the reason for her acting hiatus was to 'be home with my babies', the 48-year-old revealed that their daughters are being home-schooled.
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, she spoke of her family life with the Barbie star in Sydney, as he filmed his movie The Fall Guy.
Mendes shared that their daughters start the day with Welcome to Country, a ritual undertaken at events in Australia to honour the curators of the land.
'I don't do the home-schooling myself because I've tried that and it's not one of my strengths,' she told the news outlet.
'We travel a lot and one of my strong beliefs is that you try to always keep a family together, no matter what you're doing. Especially when the children are small.
'We're lucky enough to have someone we travel with that can continue their education at this point, and what we do is we try to incorporate the city we're in as much as possible.'
Mendes added that her daughters have recently started learning 'Aussie twangs' since living in Australia.
Article originally published on 10/10/22: Eva Mendes has set the record straight regarding claims she quit acting.
The 48-year-old, whose last on-screen role was for the 2014 fantasy thriller Lost River, hit back at the assumptions with a rare reference to motherhood and business.
Mendes, who shares two daughters, Esmeralda, eight, and Amada, six, with longtime partner Ryan Gosling, took to Instagram to address the speculation.
She began: 'I never quit acting.'
The mother-of-two then explained why she's had an acting hiatus, saying: 'I wanted to be home with my babies and fortunately my other business ventures allowed me to do that more than acting would.'
Mendes continued: 'Also, I was not excited about the stereotypical roles being offered to me at the time. Especially after working on the film LOST RIVER -that was a dream project. That’s a tough act to follow.
'Whats the point of this post? To shift that narrative.'
She concluded by repeating: 'I never quit.'
Mendes accompanied her message with flashing images of various media outlets speculating about her quitting acting.
The Hitch actor is clearly making a statement, and her fans have taken to the comments section to show their support.
One person wrote: 'I love this. Yes! Motherhood, one of the most important role we have as women [sic].'
Another commented: 'Love this post!!!! And since when is anyone defined by one part of their life??? Love that you never quit!! [sic].'
Mendes previously opened up in May about the beauty of motherhood in an interview with Today, at which point she described it as 'the most creative thing' she's done.
She said: 'I'm an actress, I've designed clothes, I've done a number of different things. But this is the most creative thing, is to create life with them.'
While she and Gosling are fiercely private about their personal life, Mendes explained her decision to take a break from acting to focus on being a mother to her daughters.
'I really took it back to when I was little,' she said.
'My mum was able to be there for me at home until I was about eight or nine and those memories for me, that just formed who I was, those years with her.'
Discussing how fortunate she felt to be able to stay home with her children, she gushed: 'And so I just felt lucky enough, I'm like, "Damn, I really want this time with them." And then now, you know, I'm obsessed.'
Referring to the hard times she had to occasionally travel away from her family, she recalled: 'Oh it was so dramatic, hugging, and then my older one who's seven said, "Don't leave us." And I was like, "Oh my God, I can't do this,"
'And then of course, I'm here, and they're fine.'
Hinting at her future as an actor, she said: 'I think that'd be fun at some point. But I think my list has gotten so short. I don't want to do anything violent, I don’t want to do anything sexual.
'I'm like, "What's left?"'
In August, The Gray Man actor Gosling opened up about juggling his career with fatherhood.
He told Heat magazine: 'I'm like a dad first, and part of the reason for doing the film [The Gray Man] was this opportunity for us to go to these interesting places and be there with my kids.'
Sharing a similar sentiment in January, he told GQ: 'Time, in general, is something I think about a lot now. My kids are growing up so fast I need to keep an eye on the clock in a way I never used to.'
Motherhood Quotes - 24 Of The Best Mum Sayings From Celebrities Like Jennifer Lawrence And Meghan Markle
ELLE Collective is a new community of fashion, beauty and culture lovers. For access to exclusive content, events, inspiring advice from our Editors and industry experts, as well the opportunity to meet designers, thought-leaders and stylists, become a member today HERE.
