Eva Mendes may have stepped away from her acting career, but that's not to say she doesn't put up a character at home here and there.
The Hitch actress, 50, largely left her acting career behind over a decade ago, and has instead spent the last nine years focused on raising her daughters with partner Ryan Gosling.
The uber-private couple met and fell in love while filming The Place Beyond the Pines, which premiered in 2012, and have since welcomed daughters Esmeralda Amada, nine, and Amada Lee, seven.
During an appearance on the Today Show this week, Eva gave rare insight into life at home as a mom-of-two, including a hilarious anecdote about one of her girls, and what she really thinks of her mom's bedtime routine.
"I'll tell you something that my kid told me, like, three years ago," she said, before revealing: "She's like, 'Nighttime Mama' is kind of, like, different.'"
Detailing what her daughter meant when she said that, she continued: "'Well, Nighttime Mama, you just have to chill your life down at night,'" and added: "I was dying because I was like, 'I do have to chill my life down at night.'"
She further confessed getting through her bedtime routine with Emeralda and Amada can take her up to two hours, and noted: "You want to get all the things done and lined up so they're in bed at that time, so that you can have a life, but also so they can get their hours of sleep."
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During her time on Today, Eva also opened up about her decision to step away from acting and have Ryan – who since becoming a dad has earned Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor nods at the Oscars – take center stage.
© Dave Allocca/Starpix/REX/Shutterstock"It was like a no-brainer," she said, maintaining: "I'm so lucky if I could have this time with my children."
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She added: "It was almost just like a non-verbal agreement that it was like, 'OK, he's going to work and I'm going to work.' I'm just going to work here," and noted: "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."
© SkyFurther gushing about Ryan and his work ethic, Eva said: "I have never experienced anything like that. The way he works, his commitment to his craft, how he wants to make everything as best as it could be, and that means making his co-stars as best as they could be."
"Unfortunately, or fortunately, there is only one Ryan. So I pretty much stopped just acting after that."
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