Eva Mendes’ harshest critics are her own children.
The 50-year-old star of “Training Day” revealed on Wednesday on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” that her two daughters and Ryan Gosling, Esmeralda Amada (10) and Amada Lee (8), have never seen any of her films.
“They don’t care,” Mendes said. “This was about a year ago. I wanted to show them a scene from ‘Hitch’ that I was actually proud of because I’m afraid of deep, dark water. I had to do this physically weird stunt in the Hudson (River). I was so scared. So that day I faced my fear and did that stunt, and I was proud of it.”
“One time, one of my girls was scared and I just thought, ‘Oh, this is a chance to show off,'” Mendes continued. “I played it for them and I just thought, ‘This is mommy facing her fear.'”
However, Esmeralda and Amada were “not impressed at all” after watching a clip from their mother’s 2005 film starring Will Smith.
“They were like, ‘OK, cool, mom, can we go outside?'” Mendes said. “They didn’t care.”
After 16 years in the business, Mendes retired from acting in 2014 to care for her children and focus on other business ventures.
But she had a speaking role in an episode of Bluey in 2021 – which caught the attention of her daughters.
“It impressed her!” Mendes told Fallon, 50, adding that the children’s animated series is her family’s “favorite show.”
She also revealed that she “asked” for her role as a yoga instructor on the show.
Mendes hasn’t acted in 10 years, but Gosling, 43, remains a major Hollywood star. And not surprisingly, his film “Barbie” was a huge hit with his daughters.
“It was beautiful because the girls were such a big part of it,” Mendes said of her partner’s role in the 2023 Greta Gerwig film, in which he starred alongside Margot Robbie.
“They were such a big part of him saying yes and taking the role,” she continued. “There are 30 Barbies in the house and there’s a Ken, so he thought, ‘There’s something here.'”
Mendes has been doing press work for her first children’s book, “Desi, Mommy and the Neverending Worry.” When she stopped by “Good Morning America” on Tuesday, she revealed that her daughters are fans of the book.
“They love it – I think they love it. They’re very harsh critics, though,” she told George Stephanopolous. “They’ve seen it in every incarnation. But at first they just said, ‘Mmmh.’ I just said, ‘I hear you.'”
“But the other day I was so upset. My little daughter, who just turned 10, was having a hard time and I swear to you, I go into her room and she’s reading the book. I’m crying like mom. But this really got to me.”
Earlier this year, Mendes announced that she and Gosling – who have been together since 2011 – had made a “nonverbal agreement” to put their acting careers on hold to raise their children.
“It was like they were saying, ‘OK, he’s going to work, and I’m going to work, I’m just going to work here,'” she said.
The couple keeps their daughters largely out of the spotlight, but took them to the Olympic Games in Paris this summer.
