Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling have always kept their family life private, shielding their kids — 2-year-old Amada and 4-year-old Esmeralda — from the public eye (and from paparazzi) as best they can. Despite their successful parenting strategy, Mendes told Women's Health that kids weren't actually a part of her plan, but that meeting Gosling changed everything.
“It was the furthest thing from my mind," she told the outlet. "Ryan Gosling happened. I mean, falling in love with him. Then it made sense for me to have…not kids, but his kids. It was very specific to him."
Mendes says raising their children has ben a group effort with the help of "Ryan’s mom, my mom, Ryan’s and my sisters" and has given her even more empathy for single mothers.
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"My heart goes out to women who do this alone," she said. "I basically come from a single-parent household; although I love my dad, my mom mostly raised four of us on her own."
But for Mendes, the most important part of being a celebrity parent is privacy. It's something she and Gosling have enforced since day one, telling Violet Grey back in 2014 after the birth of Esmeralda:
"Whether we like it or not, privacy is going to be very difficult for Esmeralda. I think it’s unfair, but that’s our reality. So, Ryan and I decided early on to give her as much privacy as we could. And, my pregnancy was the first opportunity to give her that."
That doesn't mean the couple doesn't occasionally give fans a treat. When Gosling hosted Saturday Night Live in 2017, he gave Mendes and their daughters a shout-out during the end credits, and Mendes recently opened up about their bilingual home.
"Esmeralda mostly speaks Spanglish right now. It’s really cute," she told People Chica last year. "She’s definitely bilingual, and it’s really important for us to make sure that she’s not only just familiar with the language, but also with the culture. My mom, who lives 15 minutes away, makes it is easy because she speaks to the girls in Spanish and cooks them Cuban food. And we’re always listening to Cuban music. It really is a big part of our way of life. I wouldn’t have it any other way."
Not gonna lie, if Ryan Gosling was down, I'd change my mind to have his kids, too.