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Eva Mendesis setting the record straight about her career decisions.
“I never quit acting,” she wrote in an Instagram post on Friday. “I wanted to be home with my babies and fortunately my other business ventures allowed me to do that more than acting would.”
Mendes also shared that she was unimpressed with the “stereotypical roles” she was being offered at the time followingLost River, which she starred in alongside her long-time partner,Ryan Gosling, in 2014. “That was a dream project,” she said of the movie, Gosling’s directorial debut and a semi-autobiographical story about his own upbringing. “That’s a tough act to follow.”
Mendes and Gosling first met on the set of their 2011 filmThe Place Beyond the Pines. They now share two daughters:Esmeralda Amada, 8, andAmada Lee, 6.
The couple has kept their family life deliberately private in the decade since they met, and Mendes has also been hesitant to address her so-called retirement from acting in the years that followedLost River.
Last spring, she toldThe Viewhosts that she would beopen to returningto the big screen, but only for a specific kind of project.
“I have such a short list of what I will do. Like before kids, I kind of was up for anything — I mean, if it was a fun project,” she said. “But now I won’t do violence, I don’t want to do sexuality, I don’t want to do… the list is short.”
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Gosling, on the other hand, has continued to star in high-profile movies, like 2016’sLa La Land, for which he won his first Golden Globe. Talking toHeatmagazine, the actor said he is a"dad first,“even with his busy career.
“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.”
While theHitchstar said she initially didn’t want to have children, meeting Gosling iswhat changed her mind.
Since becoming pickier about her film projects nearly a decade ago, Mendes has gone on to invest in her fair share of business ventures. Earlier this year, she was announced as a co-owner of thefemale-founded cleaning brand,Skura Style. While she gushed that it’s Gosling who is the cook of the house, she said that cleaning can be therapeutic for her — especially in a house with two messy young girls.
“Life is so chaotic. But the one thing I can control is my house, my kitchen. So when I do the dishes it’s meditative for me,” she told PEOPLE.
The preference for cleanliness goes back to her upbringing in Southern California.
“Growing up in a tiny, tiny apartment with a lot of people, we didn’t have anything,” she said. “But when the house was clean, it was like, ‘Hey, I just feel better.’ Everybody felt better. So for me, it’s really emotional.”
source: people.com
