Eva Mendes just wants to have a relaxing summer with her family.
In an interview published on Tuesday, June 17, the actress, 51, spoke with New Beauty and was asked by the outlet how she’s spending her summer with her two daughters — Esmeralda Amada, 10, and Amada Lee, 9 — and longtime partner Ryan Gosling, 44. Mendes shared that while she doesn’t quite know yet what they are going to get up to, she’s hoping to just be by their side.
“I have no idea. We just go with the flow,” said the mom of two. “I’m not blaming my kids, but summer is their time to be kids, and I’m really taking it in.”
“Our little one turned 9 last week, and our oldest one is 10. I know these moments are fleeting,” Mendes continued. “I just want to be with them. Whatever I’m doing, as long as I’m with them and Ryan, of course, that’s where I’m happiest.”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Dave Allocca/Starpix/Shutterstock
Eva Mendes (left) and Ryan Gosling in 2013
In October 2024, Mendes revealed the one thing she does as a mom that she isn’t a huge fan of as she appeared on the Parenting & You podcast. In the podcast, Mendes spoke with Dr. Shefali about a pattern that’s been hard for her to break as a mother.
“I think one of the hardest patterns for me is yelling. Because I don’t yell when they need me, quote on quote, or I’ve never yelled, ‘Shut up!’ or anything,” the proud mom shared.
“In my mind, it’s not like a mean yell. But it doesn’t matter, I yell. And it’s this yelling that I find so cultural but it’s like I’m having a really hard time getting through and not yelling. The rushing and the yelling for me.”
Alexander Tamargo/FilmMagic
Eva Mendes in 2017
Asked if she could explain what she meant by the cultural side of yelling, Mendes said she feels like it originated with her mother.
“My mother was definitely, again, so loving and so amazing but it was definitely like raising us by fear. That whole thing. That I really talk about being conscious of,” Mendes explained.
“And I hope I’m not going to look back in 20 years and go, ‘Oh, shoot. I did that.’ Because I really don’t want to raise by fear. That’s the one…I’m getting emotional over [this] because it’s so not fair to the kids,” she continued, tearing up.
“A lot of times when people meet my girls and they say, ‘Oh, they’re so respectful and they’re so sweet.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, thank you,’ but I’m like, Oh no, I hope that they’re just mimicking what they see and I hope that I’m not unknowingly putting some kind of pressure on them through fear like I was raised in that way, through threats and fears.”
Read the original article on People
