Eva Mendes got candid about her emotions in an Instagram post to her 6.5 million followers on Wednesday, sharing the value of letting it all out and parenting with empathy.
In the post, Eva opened up about her feelings with a heartfelt message: “Let me cry,” she wrote, followed by a crying emoji.
“When I cry, I don’t really like when people tell me to not cry,” she continued. “It’s usually said in a very loving way, so yes that’s beautiful, but I love when a friend encourages me to let it all out. So I do the same to my kids. I advise them to keep crying as long as they need to.”
Fans flooded the comment section with support, with one writing, “It’s so wonderful you care so much to do the right thing for your girls so they always feel like they can take up space no matter how they feel or are doing”.
Eva responded with even more vulnerability, revealing, “I guess I also feel like I was always ‘too much’ for some people when I was younger.” Another fan sweetly commented, “You’re an amazing mother!”
The 50-year-old shares two daughters, Esmeralda, 9, and Amada, 8, with her partner, Barbie actor Ryan Gosling. The pair met in 2011 on the set of the film The Place Beyond the Pines, where they played a family of three and even lived together in preparation for their roles.
The post also featured pictures of the Hitch actress in a brown knit top, showcasing her signature flowing brown locks and perfect pout. She also included two quotes from Raising Yourself, an organization that guides parents on how to teach their kids empathy.
One quote read “Let’s be a generation of parents who validate their children’s sadness as much as we do their happiness.” The next said, “One of the greatest gifts you can give your child is complete permission to feel their emotions. Their anger, their grief, their sadness, their joy.” It continued, “In other words, the safety to be vulnerable with you.”
Eva and Ryan are famously private about their personal lives, preferring to keep their two daughters out of the limelight. She wrote in an Instagram post that she has a “clear boundary”, saying “I'll talk about them of course, with limits, but I won't post pictures of our daily life.”
The couple have not attended a red-carpet event together since the 2012 premiere of The Place Beyond the Pines.
During the Oscars this year, many questioned why she didn’t appear at the event to support Ryan, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Barbie and went viral for his incredible performance of ‘I’m Just Ken’.
In response, Eva posted a picture to social media in a bedazzled pink blazer and black cowboy hat, taken straight from Ryan’s wardrobe for the night. She captioned the post with her signature sense of humor: “You took Ken all the way to the Oscars, RG. Now come home, we need to put the kids to bed”.