Eva Mendes is opening up about some of the changes she’s experienced during her parenting journey over the years.
Appearing on “The Drew Barrymore Show” on Thursday, Mendes explained that she had a clear sense of who she was as a parent when her children were young, but as they grew up she “felt lost.”
The “Hitch” star has two daughters, Esmeralda, 10, and Amada, eight, with his longtime partner, fellow actor Ryan Gosling.
“I was like, ‘Okay, when my kids are old enough to be independent, who am I?'” she said. “They’re only 8 and 10 years old, and they don’t need me every second.”
“It’s a little bit different,” she said.
But the actress said she now enjoys being able to talk about “anything” with her daughters.
“So it’s been very fulfilling,” she added.
Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling attend the premiere of their film, “The Place Beyond the Pines,” at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2012.
Sonia Recchia via Getty Images
Mendes and Gosling, who are notoriously private about their relationship and family, were photographed making a rare public appearance with their daughters at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
She wrote on Instagram after the competition that she had been watching some of the events with her family in the stands but was “being cautious.”
She responded to several of her followers on Instagram, thanking NBC for its Olympic coverage and saying they “didn’t switch it to the kids.”
“And most sites blur their faces, so mama bear is happy,” she added.
Mendes has frequently spoken about her decision to step away from acting to spend more time at home with her children.
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The children’s book author and co-owner of sponge company Skura Style told “Today” in March that she and Gosling had something of a “non-verbal agreement” that he and only he would continue acting.
“I continued to work but I didn’t do acting because acting takes you on location and it takes you far away,” she said at the time.
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