Eva Mendes Gets Emotional While Discussing Parenting Her Kids & Her 'Chaotic' Upbringing
Eva Mendes is opening up about parenting.
The 50-year-old actress, who shares daughters Esmeralda, 10, and Amada, 8, with partner Ryan Gosling, spoke about her kids in an interview on Parenting & You With Dr. Shefali.
“I think one of the hardest patterns for me is yelling. Because I don’t yell when they need me,” Eva said.
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“I’m never like ‘shut up.’ It’s not like a ‘mean’ yell, but it doesn’t matter. I yell. And it’s this yelling that I find so cultural.”
“I’m having a hard time getting through and not yelling. The rushing and the yelling, that’s the hardest thing to me,” she added.
Eva was born to Cuban parents Eva Pérez Suárez and Juan Carlos Méndez, and said that despite growing up in a loving family, fear also played a role in how she was raised.
“I hope I don’t look back in 20 years and go ‘oh shoot,’ because I really don’t want to raise by fear,” Eva said, sounding choked up.
“That’s the one—sorry, I get emotional over it—because it’s so not fair to the kids. I hope that I’m not unknowingly putting some pressure on them through fear like I was raised.”
“When I was in my 20s, for sure, I’m like, ‘I’m not gonna be like my parents,’ you know, that whole thing,” she admitted.
“And I’m shocked [by] how much I’m like my mother. I adore her. She’s on a pedestal… but yeah, my household when I was little was very chaotic, a lot of screaming, a lot of anxiety, a lot of turmoil, even though I had a loving family.”
“A lot of shame came up for me because I was like, ‘I have it so good. My mom, she fought to get here. I was the only one born in the States. How dare I even complain?’ she added.
Eva also addressed raising her kids in the spotlight.
“I think maybe it’s years of practice, taking so much criticism as an actress or an entertainer or a public figure that’s really helped me when it comes to parenting,” she admitted. “I’m like, ‘OK, I know this isn’t personal. I don’t feel judged.’”
Listen to the full episode…