Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes’ Sweetest Quotes About Love and Family

Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes might keep their family life on the down-low, but one thing remains certain— the A-listers are parenting pros!

The La La Land star and the Ghost Rider actress share daughters Esmeralda and Amada, whom they welcomed in 2014 and 2016, respectively. Although the family of four lead private lives, Gosling and Mendes have gushed over their little ones through the years. The Florida native opened up in 2020 about “never want[ing] babies before” falling in love with her Place Beyond the Pines costar. "I think I was 42 for the second one, so it worked out in that way that I had a career and then I changed my focus to my family,” she told Nova 96.9’s Fitzy & Wippa at the time, noting that she was “thinking of definitely going back” to acting after taking time off. "I really feel like I never want to send the wrong message to young women out there. It’s not an either/or situation. I feel like it’s time. The list is getting shorter and shorter of stuff that I’d do. I don’t want to do anything violent. I don’t want to do something risqué. I think the only thing that’s left is Disney!” In April of the previous year, the model told Women’s Health that kids were “the furthest thing from” her mind when she met Gosling. "Then it made sense for me to have … not kids, but his kids,” Mendes explained to the magazine at the time. "It was very specific to him.” [jwplayer KzOLcNwW-zhNYySv2] The couple started dating in 2011 and are “hands-on parents [who] don’t have any nannies,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly in April 2020, adding, "Eva has programmed her entire routine and career to ensure family comes first — then work fits in around it. Ryan is protective of Eva and a very doting dad.” The Golden Globe winner has become a big fan of cooking with his kids. "That’s his big thing,” another insider told Us at the time. “He encourages everyone to do it with him. It’s fun for the whole family.” The Blade Runner star is "completely infatuated" with his partner, a third source told Us in 2018. "His main goal is to make her happy.” Scroll down to revisit Gosling and Mendes' best quotes about raising their daughters. [podcast_block]

Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes might keep their family life on the down-low, but one thing remains certain— the A-listers are parenting pros!

The La La Land star and the Ghost Rider actress share daughters Esmeralda and Amada, whom they welcomed in 2014 and 2016, respectively. Although the family of four lead private lives, Gosling and Mendes have gushed over their little ones through the years. The Florida native opened up in 2020 about “never want[ing] babies before” falling in love with her Place Beyond the Pines costar. "I think I was 42 for the second one, so it worked out in that way that I had a career and then I changed my focus to my family,” she told Nova 96.9’s Fitzy & Wippa at the time, noting that she was “thinking of definitely going back” to acting after taking time off. "I really feel like I never want to send the wrong message to young women out there. It’s not an either/or situation. I feel like it’s time. The list is getting shorter and shorter of stuff that I’d do. I don’t want to do anything violent. I don’t want to do something risqué. I think the only thing that’s left is Disney!” In April of the previous year, the model told Women’s Health that kids were “the furthest thing from” her mind when she met Gosling. "Then it made sense for me to have … not kids, but his kids,” Mendes explained to the magazine at the time. "It was very specific to him.” [jwplayer KzOLcNwW-zhNYySv2] The couple started dating in 2011 and are “hands-on parents [who] don’t have any nannies,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly in April 2020, adding, "Eva has programmed her entire routine and career to ensure family comes first — then work fits in around it. Ryan is protective of Eva and a very doting dad.” The Golden Globe winner has become a big fan of cooking with his kids. "That’s his big thing,” another insider told Us at the time. “He encourages everyone to do it with him. It’s fun for the whole family.” The Blade Runner star is "completely infatuated" with his partner, a third source told Us in 2018. "His main goal is to make her happy.” Scroll down to revisit Gosling and Mendes' best quotes about raising their daughters. [podcast_block]

"Some good parenting advice I heard and live by," Mendes captioned a March 2023 Instagram video of her explaining her goal as a mom.

“[I] want my kids — when they get into trouble later on in life — I want them to be like, ‘I gotta call my mom,’ versus, ‘Ooh, I can’t tell my mom about this,'" the Women actress said in the clip, noting that she wants her children to be able to "come to [her] with anything."

The CIRCA Beauty creative director added that she thinks that connection is key to fostering honest and open communication with her offspring.

"I’m always trying to connect to them. Especially during the hardest times when I don’t want to and I’d rather be mad. 💙," she wrote in the caption.

During a July 2022 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Gosling revealed that Amada is never hesitant to express her opinions. "My youngest has a real power move," he explained, recounting a recent family visit to the The Louvre in Paris. "We were standing in front of the Mona Lisa and she goes, 'This museum?'" Gosling then mimicked his daughter's next move, which was a thumbs down. "I said, 'Why?'" he recalled. "She went, 'Because it is not good.'" He added the she occasionally flashes her thumbs down behind her back before leaving a room. "The 'Thumbs Down Walk-Away,'" he quipped. "It's like, Roman Emperor level." 

"When we were in London, we went from musical to musical taking advantage of being back in the theater, we went to all kinds of museums, we went to Windsor Castle — I had a ton of field trips planned for them, which we did," Mendes said in an interview with Byrdie in July 2022. "And now I feel like it's time to bring boredom back. I'm bringing boredom back, especially for kids, but for myself as well."

She added: "I really feel like when we're bored — not stimulated by a phone, or an iPad, or computer or television — that's when ideas come in. Sometimes it's fun, sometimes it's dangerous, and sometimes it's enlightening. I really want it to be the summer of boredom."

At the time, the actress also reflected on how she and Gosling raise their girls to be self-confident. "I think everything starts in the home — everything," she explained. "So hopefully Ryan and I are doing the work by just loving them, completely loving them, and doing most of that work for them so that they grow up feeling like they're enough."

"Time, in general, is something I think about a lot now," Gosling told British GQ in January 2022. "My kids are growing up so fast. I need to keep an eye on the clock in a way I never used to."

Mendes shared a rare video taken by her daughters in July 2021, writing via Instagram: “My kids shot this."

While filming a May 2021 headwrap tutorial, Mendes wrote via Instagram: "First, hide from your kids like I’m doing here. Then steal their unicorn brush because it’s all you have at that point. They take everything."

"We all parent our own way and I have no idea what I’m doing most the time," Mendes wrote to an Instagram follower who didn't agree with her decision not to spank Esmeralda and Amada in April 2021. "This didn’t come with a manual."

"My kids did this to me. Again. From head to toe,” Mendes captioned a March 2021 photo of her bright makeup. "I guess, when in doubt, be their canvas."

Giving Esmeralda and Amada her "full-on attention" is "challenging," Mendes captioned a February 2021 Instagram selfie, "but they need me now more than ever."

When an Instagram user accused Mendes of neglecting her Instagram account in January 2021 because she "had work done" and wasn't "happy with it," the actress replied, "I personally cannot juggle family and social media. So — big shocker — I choose family."

Mendes opened up in January 2021 about limiting her social media use when one of her daughters pointed out that she was “on the phone too much.” She tweeted, “I could tell she was taking it personally. And she’s a kid, of course she’d take it personally. They take things personally unless we go out of our way to make it clear to them it’s not personal. So we had good talk, I apologized and I promised her I’d be mindful. I realized that just because I’m always home with them doesn’t mean I’m always present.”

"Mom pandemic guilt in full effect," Mendes wrote via Instagram in December 2020, adding that she agreed to cut Maria Callas' face from a record cover for one of her daughters.

"I never wanted babies before until I fell in love with Ryan, and it kind of worked out to where I was 40 and having my first baby,” Mendes said during an October 2020 interview with Nova 96.9’s Fitzy & Wippa. "I think I was 42 for the second one, so it worked out in that way that I had a career and then I change my focus to my family.”

"Sometimes it feels like we are running some kind of bed and breakfast with very drunk and aggressive guests,” Mendes joked of parenthood to the Sydney Morning Herald in October 2020. "We really do feel like we are working in a hotel, and the guests are angry and bossy and demand food brought to them. And by the time they go to sleep, we’re left to just clean up and talk about how they’ve treated us that day!”

“Current mood,” Mendes captioned an October 2020 Instagram photo of Amada’s artwork. “But how does my 4-year-old know how to capture it so perfectly?"

"I don't talk about Ryan and all the wonderful things he does as a father because I keep that part private," Mendes replied to an Instagram follower in April 2020 who accused Gosling of being an absent father. "I feel it's best that I continue to disclose what I'm comfortable with but not involve him or my kids too much. It's not about being cagey or weird, it's just about staying private in a public space. Does that make sense? Hope so. Because this is my honest answer."

"Tired Mama," Mendes captioned an April 2020 Instagram selfie. "Stayed up laaate trying to make my baby’s 4th birthday extra special since she won’t see the family. Here’s to all you having a quarantine birthday. Sending extra love. Here’s to all you tired mamas. Sending extra love."

“No I haven’t become a master baker or a good cook during quarantine,” Mendes captioned an April 2020 Instagram post. “I haven’t seen a gym in two months. I haven’t written a novella. I’ve just been trying to be a fun mom and not lose my marbles.”

Mendes opened up in April 2020 about the “clear boundary” she sets for her mom and children, writing via Instagram: “I’ll talk about them, of course, with limits, but I won’t post pictures of our daily life. And since my children are so little and don’t understand what posting their image really means, I don’t have their consent. And I won’t post their image until they’re old enough to give consent.”

The actress tried keeping "things light at home with" her two daughters in March 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic. "Nothing like some old Cuban music to do the trick," Mendes wrote via Instagram at the time. "And yes, that’s my 3-year-old on the piano. I think she thinks the music is coming from her. And I’m not about to correct her.”

Mendes admitted that she has a “hard time with two little ones” responding to her Instagram followers’ comments. “I love connecting to you guys especially during this time,” the actress captioned a March 2020 Instagram upload amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Mendes explained in March 2020 why she dislikes being called a “super mom,” writing on Instagram at the time: “Women have a lot of pressure right now to be EVERYTHING. … Every mom is a super mom. You don’t need to be a mogul to be considered super in any way. … I just want other women to know they can create their own paths that don’t require them to be moguls and have empires. Let’s relieve ourselves of that pressure and fight for what we want, not what society tells us we should want.”

Mendes hilariously compared “Saturday in the city pre-kids” to “post-kids” in a February 2020 Instagram post, showing a chic outfit beside a shirt and sweats combo.

"My two little girls are already these little self-empowered women,” Mendes said during a February 2020 conference. “I'm like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I need to get out of the way and you guys lead.’ Obviously, [I’ll] protect them, but I just want to get out of their way because they’re already these amazing creative beings.”

“As a mother now, there are many roles I won’t do,” the fashion designer wrote on Instagram in January 2020. “There are many subject matters that I don't want to be involved with, so it limits my choices and I'm fine with that. I have to set an example for my girls now. But no worry, I got some side hustles. Ha!”

When an Instagram user praised the "tired" mom for her time-management skills in December 2019, Mendes replied, "Don't give me too much credit. I don't know what I'm doing. But thanks anyway!"

“So many skills you need to have for these little suckers!” the Florida native captioned a November 2019 video of herself discussing parenting with Kelly Clarkson. “And no manual! No prep course! But I’m crazy about them and I love that they drive me crazy in return.”

“My kid did this,” Mendes captioned a Halloween selfie in October 2019. “Another Halloween. Another Dorothy. And I’m another witch.”

“Sunday. Still in bed. Trying to hide from my kids. (not having success),” Mendes captioned an October 2019 Instagram selfie. “To all you mamas out there, hope you find a moment to sneak away from the madness today even for a few minutes. Calgon take me awayyyyy (the older moms will know what that means).”

"The hardest part  [of parenting] hands down is the amount of snacks I have to carry with me all day long, and the variety,” the actress said during an October 2019 Kelly Clarkson Show appearance. “They like something different so you need to keep it fresh, especially on long car rides. Those are the worst. Even going to the marker, I need to take food in the car to go [there].”

"We're very controlling," she went on to reveal of her and Gosling's parenting. "[We're] bulldozing parents."

"It’s so fun and beautiful and maddening,” Mendes told Access Daily in September 2019 of parenting with Gosling. “It’s so hard, of course. But it’s like that feeling of … you end your day, you put them to bed and Ryan and I kind of look at each other like, ‘We did it, we did it. We came out relatively unscathed.’ I’m so thankful I have the opportunity to be home with them.”

The actress added, “Right now, they have every bug. They just like a lot of arts and crafts, a lot of painting. We have instruments around. They pick them up, and we can’t say they actually play anything, but it’s just a playful environment.”

Gosling showed his appreciation for Mendes during his 2017 Golden Globes Best Actor speech for La La Land. “I just would like to try and thank one person properly and say that, while I was singing and dancing and playing piano and having one of the best experiences I’ve ever had on a film, my lady was raising our daughter, pregnant with our second, and trying to help her brother fight his battle with cancer,” Gosling said. “If she hadn’t taken all that one so I could have this experience, it would surely be someone else up here other than me. So sweetheart, thank you.”

Mendes told Shape in March 2017 that she is more in her element spending time at home with her two mini-mes: “What people don’t know about me is that I love being home. Instead of hitting the red carpet, I’d rather be with our girls.”

Gosling is OK with getting his hands dirty when it comes to life at home. “There’s a kind of chaos in it that I love. Maybe in my life, I sort of put myself in situations that were chaotic, outside of my life. And now I have it at home and I don’t go looking for it,” he told GQ in December 2016, later calling Mendes a “dream mother” to their children. “It’s a beautiful chaos that’s surreal and serene.”

Gosling has three important ladies in his life, and he’s totally OK with being the odd man out. “I think women are better than men. They are stronger, more evolved,” he told Evening Standard in June 2016. “You can tell, especially when you have daughters and you see their early stages, they are just leaps and bounds beyond boys immediately.”

“[Kids were] the furthest thing from my mind,” Mendes said in her May 2019 Women’s Health cover story. Then, “Ryan Gosling happened. I mean, falling in love with him. Then it made sense for me to have … not kids, but his kids. It was very specific to him.”

She added: “Every day is such a learning experience — they challenge you in so many ways. Like, I’m their mom. I have to rise up, and hopefully, most of the time I do, but sometimes it’s definitely maddening.”

Back in October 2015, Mendes said on the Today show that “it’s a given” Gosling changes their daughter Esmeralda’s diapers. The businesswoman also opened up about her eldest daughter in the interviewing, calling Esmeralda her “moral compass.” 

“I’ve never appreciated my family so much, they’ve been amazing. I don’t technically have a nanny, but I do have help. I like to clarify,” Mendes said on The Wendy Williams Show in September 2015. “I’m certainly not anti-nanny. You do what you need to do as a parent, but I’m so grateful that I have help with my family and [Ryan’s] family.”

Mendes opened up about her private pregnancy with Esmeralda while speaking to Violet Grey in September 2014. “Whether we like it or not, privacy is going to be very difficult for Esmeralda. I think it’s unfair, but that’ our reality,” she explained. “So Ryan and I decided early on to give her as much privacy as we could. And my pregnancy was the first opportunity to give her that.”

Speaking to Women’s Health for its April 2015 cover story, Mendes opened up about how she was enjoying being a first-time mom after welcoming Esmeralda. “I’m actually enjoying the sleepless nights because it’s bonding with my little girl,” she shared, before joking about how other moms would probably react to her comments, “I want to respect all the moms out there. They’re just going to be like, ‘You know what? You’re a few months in. Just shut up.’”

The Girl in Progress star opened up about what she’s most strict about with her children. “I’m strict about what they eat and what they wear and what time they go to bed and what they watch,” she admitted to Extra in March 2019. “So, yeah. I think [I can be strict].”

Mendes jokingly described her parenting style with the Blue Valentine actor as “controlling” on The Kelly Clarkson Show in October 2019. “We’re always laughing at these terms ... I think we would be ‘bulldozing’ parents. Have you heard of the bulldozers?”

During Mendes’ October 2019 appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show, the Ghost Rider actress opened up about what she’s taken away from being a mother of two. “Nobody can prep you for becoming a parent,” she admitted. “Nobody told me it was going to be a job, and a job that I needed an incredible amount of skill for, like, in different areas. A chauffeur, a cook, a personal assistant to an abusive boss.” 

She also joked that the “hardest part” of being a parent “hands down, is the amount of snacks I have to carry with me all day long.”

“I’m just so obsessed with my kids that I don’t want to leave them,” the Other Guys actress told E! News in September 2018. “They’re just still so little.”

While stopping by The Talk in May 2019, Mendes hilariously revealed the challenges she’s faced trying to teach her daughters Spanish. “I’m Cuban and we’re trying to teach the kids Spanish, and it’s harder than I thought. I speak Spanglish and that's what they're picking up,” she shared. “So it’s adorable but it's technically not a language. It’s Spanglish. Our little girl will be like, ‘Mommy, my boca [mouth] hurts because I think something got stuck in my diente [tooth].’ It's so cute, but that is not really going to go great out there.”

"I’m an actress, I’ve designed clothes, I’ve done a number of different things. But this is the most creative thing, is to create life with them,” Mendes said during a May 2022 appearance on Today.

"My mom was able to be there for me at home until I was about 8 or 9 and those memories for me, that just formed who I was, those years with her," she explained. "And so I just felt lucky enough, I'm like, 'Damn, I really want this time with them.' And then now, you know, I'm obsessed."

“I’m not an amazing cook — I leave that to Ryan,” Mendes told Forbes in June 2022, noting how their parenting is a team effort. “Hopefully it’s showing my girls that there are no gender-specific roles that one must take on and that we are partners in this and that we’re all partners in this, not just Ryan and I, but our children as well.”

She added: “If they see him and I switching off doing certain things that, again, aren’t specific to stereotypical gender things, I think that just creates balance.”

"I’m like a dad first, and part of the reason for doing the film [The Gray Man] was this opportunity for us to go to these interesting places and be there with my kids," the Drive star said in an August interview with Heat magazine, per the Daily Mail.

The actor also joked about how his little ones are sometimes too young to take in the incredible destinations they’re exposed to through his career. “You know it's funny, we went to France and we went everywhere — we went to the Louvre and all these things. And if I asked them now, 'What was your favorite part about France?' They will say, 'The fruit plate at the hotel.’