Inside Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes’ Private Relationship
Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling don’t parade their relationship around on the world stage.
So the couple’s trip to the 2024 Paris Olympics—an actual world stage—with daughters Esmeralda and Amada provided the rarest of sightings for fans who’ve been intrigued by the couple’s elusive ways when it comes to being photographed in the same frame.
While Mendes acknowledged that her “wall goes up” when she sees photographers, the Hitch actress appreciated that her family’s privacy was respected while they watched Suni Lee take home the bronze during the women’s gymnastics uneven bars final at Paris’ Bercy Arena.
“I love @nbcolympics didn’t cut away to the kids!” Mendes wrote on Instagram in response to a commenter Aug. 6. “And most sites blurred their faces so mama bear is happy about that. Anyway it felt so good to be there and feel unified with people.”
But Mendes knows that, while a united front is nice, true togetherness doesn’t rest on how many red carpets a couple walks or global sporting events they attend.
Because, in case you hadn’t noticed in the 13 years they’ve been together, Gosling and Mendes don’t step-and-repeat. The last time they did so was at the March 28, 2013, New York premiere of the film that brought them together, The Place Beyond the Pines—and Gosling, who’s turning 44 on Nov. 12, has been nominated for two Oscars since.
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Not that Mendes was ever the most splashily out there of actresses, but once she and Gosling became an item she started paring back considerably on public appearances and rededicated her social media to business pursuits.
And it turns out she was “never in love” with acting.
“I don’t mean this in a self-deprecating way, but I wasn’t a great actress,” she told The Times in October. “I had my moments when I worked with really great people.”
But she has made her mark in fashion and business since, and now that her daughters a little older, she’s been carving out more boss time for herself.
“Mami’s first fashion week in over 10 years!,” she posted to Instagram Feb. 24, along with a series of shots showing her all dolled up for Dolce & Gabbana’s show during Milan Fashion Week. “Yup, I haven’t gone to a fashion event since I’ve been a Mama. Time flies when you’re mommying.”
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Not that her 6.5 million followers haven’t been treated to an array of style and beauty shots in the interim. But it was some time before she re-cracked the window into her private world.
And that didn’t always go so well, people being awfully quick with their hot takes.
Not usually one to wade into the fray, in early 2021 Mendes clapped back at a commenter who had speculated that she wasn’t posting much because she’d had “work done” and was unhappy with the results.