Eva Mendes is giving some insight into her recent break from Hollywood.
During a recent appearance on "The Today Show," the actress, model and businesswoman let fans in on her relationship with her partner, Academy Award-nominated actor Ryan Gosling. Mendes admitted she "pretty much stopped acting after" starring in "The Place Beyond the Pines" in 2012, choosing to become a full-time mom instead.
"It was like a no-brainer. I'm so lucky, and I was like, if I can have this time with my children... and I still worked, I just didn't act because acting takes you on locations, it takes you away," she said on the show. "It was almost just like a non-verbal agreement that it was like, 'Okay he's going to work and I'm going to work, I'm just going to work here.'"
Gosling and Mendes met while filming "Place Beyond the Pines," in which they played a couple with an infant son. Their on-screen chemistry soon translated into a real relationship off-camera, and they welcomed their first daughter, Esmeralda, in 2014, and their second daughter, Amada, in 2016.
The couple is notoriously private about their life as a family, but they have made it clear their two daughters are what is most important to them. A source recently told People magazine that the "Barbie" star and Mendes moved "a bit further north" away from Hollywood, in order to do what's best for their children.
"For them, the most important job is their girls. Everything else comes second," the source told the outlet. "And their girls are thriving. They left L.A. to live a bit further north, away from Hollywood. They didn't want the girls to grow up around other celebrity kids."
The source also shared, "Eva and Ryan love their life," adding that they have managed to find a way to "create balance and boundaries" in order to make their relationship work. They explained the two actors "care so much about their marriage and just want their girls to live a happy life." It's unclear, however, if the two are actually legally married.
Mendes praised Gosling's performance of "I'm Just Ken" at the Academy Awards earlier this month, posting a photo of herself on Instagram wearing the actor's bedazzled pink jacket, writing, "You took Ken all the way to the Oscar’s, RG. Now come home, we need to put the kids to bed."
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"He went and he did his job. He just happens to be really good at his job, and he did it and he came home," she said on "The Today Show," before referencing her Instagram post, adding, "Because that's what it's about. You go, you do your job the best you can and then you come home."
When it comes to Gosling being good at his job, Mendes also discussed what it was like working with him on "Place Beyond the Pines," telling "The Today Show" that she's "never experienced anything like" Gosling's work ethic and adding, "Unfortunately — or fortunately — there is only one Ryan!"
Upon accepting the Kirk Douglas Award for Excellence in Film at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in January, Gosling looked back on his career, paying tribute to both Mendes and their children while reflecting on his life as a movie star.
"I got to meet the girl of my dreams, Eva Mendes," Ryan told the crowd at the event, E! News reported. "I have two dream children. I dreamed of one day making movies and now movies have made my life a dream."
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He continued, "So the way I see it, there's no way I've contributed half as much to cinema as cinema has contributed to me. But the idea that I might've given something back to the thing that has given so much to me is too great an honor for me to express."
