Eva Mendes’ harshest critics are her own children.
The “Training Day” star, 50, revealed on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” Wednesday that her and Ryan Gosling’s two daughters, Esmeralda Amada, 10, and Amada Lee, 8, have never seen any of her movies.
“They don’t care,” Mendes said. “This was about a year ago. I tried to show them a scene from ‘Hitch’ that I was actually proud of because I’m scared of deep, dark water. I had to do this physical comedy stunt thing in the Hudson [River]. I was so scared. So I faced a fear that day and I did this stunt I was proud of it.”
“One time, one of my girls was scared and I’m like, ‘Ooh, opportunity to show off,’ ” Mendes went on. “I played it for them and I was like, ‘This is Mama facing her fear.’”
However, Esmeralda and Amada “were not impressed at all” after seeing a snippet of their mom’s 2005 movie with Will Smith.
“They were just like, ‘OK, cool, Mama, can we go outside?’ ” Mendes said. “They didn’t care.”
After 16 years in the business, Mendes stepped away from acting in 2014 to care for her children and focus on other business ventures.
But she did have a voice role in an episode of “Bluey” in 2021 — which caught her daughters’ attention.
“Now that impressed them!” Mendes told Fallon, 50, adding that the animated children’s series is her family’s “favorite show.”
She also revealed that she “asked” for her role as a yoga instructor in the show.
Mendes hasn’t acted in ten years, but Gosling, 43, has continued to be a massive Hollywood star. And unsurprisingly, his movie “Barbie” was a huge hit with his daughters.
“That was beautiful because the girls were such a huge part of that,” Mendes shared about her partner’s role in the 2023 Greta Gerwig flick, in which he starred opposite Margot Robbie.
“They were such a huge part of him saying yes and taking the role,” she went on. “There’s 30 Barbies sitting in the house and there’s one Ken, so he was like, ‘There’s something here.’”
Mendes has been doing press for her first children’s book, “Desi, Mami, and the Never-Ending Worries.” When she stopped by “Good Morning America” Tuesday, she revealed that her daughters are fans of the book.
“They love it — I think they love it. They are very harsh critics, though,” she told George Stephanopolous. “They’ve seen it in every incarnation. But at first they were just like, ‘Mmmh.’ I was like, ‘I hear you.’”
“But the other day I got so excited. My little girl, who just turned 10, was having a hard time and I swear to you I walk into her room and she’s reading the book. I’m like crying mom. But that really got to me.”
Earlier this year, Mendes revealed that she and Gosling — who have been together since 2011 — had “a nonverbal agreement” to put her acting career on hold to raise their kids.
“It was like, okay, he’s gonna work and I’m gonna work, I’m just gonna work here,” she said.
The couple mostly keep their daughters out of the spotlight, though they did bring them to the Paris Olympics over the summer.
