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There was a time that Eva Mendes was considered to be one of the most popular and gorgeous women in Hollywood. But ever since she got together with longtime love Ryan Gosling and had some babies, she is MIA in Hollywood. Mendes and Gosling met on the set of the indie movie The Place Beyond the Pines and it seems as if they have been inseparable ever since. She starred in a TV movie called Clear History a year later, which is never a good sign. The last movie we saw her in was Lost River in 2014. That’s four years with no movies out and no projects in the future. So, what happened to Eva Mendes? Did she just give up on Hollywood?
Sure, she has, for the most part, been cast in roles because she’s gorgeous but for the past couple of years in her career, she was doing cooler indie projects, so there was really no reason to stop that. These days, it seems like she is more interested in staying at home with her children than doing anything else, whether that’s by choice or because she can’t compete with Gosling’s career. Maybe it’s Hollywood that just doesn’t want to cast her any longer. It may be the end of Eva Mendes' career in Hollywood and it’s hard to believe that someone as beautiful and talented as she is could be gone from the silver screen. Check out these 15 reasons why Eva Mendes gave up that Hollywood lifestyle.
She Wants to Be Home With Her Family
Eva Mendes is a traditional momma. She wants to be the one raising her children and she has no interest in having a nanny. There are plenty of actresses out there that juggle career and family, but it seems as if Mendes is not interested in leaving her family at all. Gosling and Mendes have two daughters, Esmeralda and Amada, who are two years apart. She told InStyle magazine,
"I'm a very hands-on mom; I don't have a nanny. No matter how tired I am, I just do it.” She is pretty much the full-time parent in the house because let’s be honest, Gosling works a lot. It seems all she cares about these days is her children, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
"If I'm even like, 'Oh, what should I wear? Or, should I do this project? All I have to think about is my daughter and her face, and I know the answer immediately," she said on the Today Show. "[Esmeralda is] my moral compass in a way." She seems to have a conflict between being a modern woman and a traditional one. “I'm a modern woman in the sense of I take care of myself, I'm fiercely independent, and I'm really ambitious. Yet I have these old-school thoughts in my mind.”
Her Career Took a Backseat to Gosling's
When Ryan Gosling gave his Golden Glove speech for La La Land, it was all about Eva Mendes sacrifices that she had made in order for him to have the career that he had. But what about her career? Many people thought the speech was really sweet while others thought it was a little sexist. In his speech, he stated that she was at home taking care of his kids while he was having the time of his life.
“If she hadn’t taken all that on so that I could have this experience, there would surely be someone else up here other than me to today. Sweetheart, thank you,” said the actor. He stated that not only was she feeding their family and taking care of them she was also “raising [their] daughter, pregnant with [their] second, and trying to help her brother fight his battle with cancer.” Many people didn’t like the fact that she was sacrificing so much while he was having the career that she had once dreamed of having herself. He was furthering his career while she was at home “taking one for the team.” We don’t doubt that he appreciates her and loves her for all her sacrifices, but it’s pretty obvious that her career has been put on the back-burner so he can work while someone takes care of their children.
Her Box-Office Mojo Was Starting to Crumble
It doesn’t matter how pretty you are or how talented of an actress you are, if your movies aren’t making money at the box office, it’s going to start to affect your career. There was a time when she was working alongside Will Smith and Nicolas Cage where she was pulling in dollars at the box office. But her last few movies certainly didn’t do as well. The movie where she met Gosling was a turning point in her career. She may have met the love of her life during the making of The Place Beyond the Pines, but it didn’t do as well at the box office as everyone thought it would. It cost $15 million to make the movie and it only pulled in $21 million at the end of the day. She was also in the remake of Bad Lieutenant with Nicolas Cage, but it pretty much crashed and burned at the box office. Their budget for that movie was $25 million and it only made $1.7 million when it was released. Yikes! It did that terrible even after getting reviews from Collider stating that the movie was nothing short of great.
She was Never A High-Paid Actress
Although she was in some good movies, she was never considered to be on the A-list. When it comes to being rich and famous, she wasn’t one of the highest paid actresses in the industry. So, that’s going to determine the kind of connections she has in the industry. She is still in the supporting actress stage, she’s not a leading lady and could not open up a movie at the box office all on her own. There was a time when she was right on top, but she couldn’t consider herself a bankable actress at this point. She seems not to be picking the best choices in movies either. When she starred in Girl in Progress, she was trying to get into a serious role, but it didn’t really work out for her. "I was attracted to the fact that the character was such a mess of a woman and such a disaster of a mother, but really, truly trying her best," she told Collider.
"I wanted to play a really flawed, real human being, and I knew, within the first few pages of the script, that she was just that."
She would be considered a B-list actress who can’t open movies on her own, so it’s doubtful that she is surrounded by new scripts like her husband is.
She’s Not A Big Fan of The Glamorous Lifestyle
We would love nothing more than to get dressed up in a gown and head off to the Oscars, but not all girls feel that way. In 2013 Eva Mendes sat down with The Guardian to discuss her career. At one point, there certainly wasn’t a whole lot going on with it. She had stated in the interview that she wanted to get away from the image that had made her famous to begin with. We’re not sure why she would want to do this considering it’s all part of fame. She wanted to be involved in more serious and deeper roles, but we have to wonder if producers just didn’t see her that way. "I just made a decision," she told them.
"When it comes to being an actress I actually really love coming from a very raw place. Any opportunity I get not to wear makeup on set, I take. I really don't care about looking beautiful in a film unless I have to for the character.
I don't check the playback, I don't even know anything about lighting. I love anything that gets me closer to the role. So, I needed to turn down those things that could possibly pigeonhole me." Unfortunately, that could also be a great way to tank her career.
Robert Altman Didn’t Ask her Back for The Fast & Furious Movies
We were teased by Eva Mendes at the end of Fast & Furious 5 and many people assumed that she would continue on in the franchise. It wasn’t her choice to leave the franchise, Robert Altman just didn’t see a place for her in the future movies. Altman implied that she could be in the next one, but that’s only if someone else could figure out a way to put her in.
“Part of what we were looking at were the character dynamics and certain themes and the root of the family. I felt like Eva was perfectly used for the tag in 'Fast Five.' And talking to her, again I want everything to be organic.
She’s on this great track of doing these indie dramas and her character, I could never figure out a way anyway. So, the best way to incorporate her was the tag. And she was grateful enough to come in and do it, and she’s obviously a part of the family. Anything more than that, I couldn’t figure it out. Maybe somebody can figure it out from seven on.” It doesn’t really sound like he cares one way or another if she is in any future movies.
She Likes Her Private Life
It’s really hard to try to have a private life while still being a famous actress. Some people manage to do it while others get completely forgotten in Hollywood. Eva Mendes craves her privacy and she will do anything to get it. When she went into rehab, there were rumors that it had something to do with substance use while her reps were saying that she had “personal issues.” She never has publicly talked about her issues with substance abuse. She has only made two red carpet appearances with Gosling in the entire time that they’ve been together. She wasn’t even there when he won his Golden Globe. Surely, she could have gotten a sitter for the night. "What people don't know about me is that I love being home," Mendes told Shape magazine. Sure, she loves being at home, but it would probably have been nice to celebrate your partner’s achievement as well. She is desperate to keep her children’s lives as private as possible.
"Whether we like it or not, privacy is going to be very difficult for Esmeralda. I think it's unfair, but that's our reality,"
Mendes said in an interview with Violet Grey. "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."
She’s Had Some Issues Over The Years
In 2008, Eva Mendes shocked everyone when she went into rehab. No one could believe that the actress who had always been about healthy living would ever need to go into a substance-abuse facility. She certainly wouldn’t be the first celebrity to check into rehab over the years. But we have to wonder if she was really ever the same when she got out. Mendes’ representatives put out a statement for the actress saying,
"Eva has been working hard for the past year and made a positive decision to take some much-needed time off to pro-actively attend to some personal issues that, while not critical, she felt deserved some outside professional support. Out of respect for Eva's privacy, we do not wish to discuss further details."
She doesn’t seem to have had any further issue with substance abuse once she got out. She was one of the actresses that were able to turn her life around. She’s definitely a fan of getting help when you need it. “I love therapy! There's nothing like talking to someone who has no emotional tie to your life.” We’re not sure if this is one of the many reasons she has decided to stay out of the limelight. Only time will tell if we will see her in Hollywood again.
She’s Busy Doing Charity Work
Don’t get us wrong, there is nothing wrong with working with charities but there are tons of actors like Chris Pratt who are A-list actors who still make time to help out others. Being part of important organizations is very important to Eva Mendes and sometimes she is just too busy being involved in these other ventures to bother with Hollywood. If you are not involved with putting some effort into being cast in movies, then it’s likely to happen that people will just forget about you in Hollywood. We’re not sure if Mendes even cares at this point, but it’s something to consider. If she doesn’t start to put some effort into Hollywood, then Hollywood will continue to pass her by. She does seem to have a busy schedule when it comes to charitable endeavors. Being involved in these charities has likely changed her outlook on life and that might be why she’s not bothering much with Hollywood. One of her favorite charities is The Art of Elysium and many have said that she considers herself to be a humanitarian. “Even if you buy a fur glove with the little trim, and you think 'it's just a little trim,' that animal got clubbed."
She’s Transitioning
We hate to say it, but the truth of the matter is that Eva Mendes has been offered a lot of roles over the years because she was a bombshell. There’s no doubt about it, she’s a gorgeous woman, but now that she’s 44, it’s unlikely that she will be cast in the same type of roles that’s he was before. It’s also unlikely that Mendes cares about any of that. She is much happier in the role of a maternal and nurturing person. In 2014, she told Ellen DeGeneres, "I'm, you know, breastfeeding. I've always heard it. It really does help to shrink your uterus back to normal size. It does! I know it's a really weird thing to say, but it does. It's the best. So breastfeeding is really helping and then obviously you want to be healthy for the baby because she's eating kind of what I'm eating, so you want to make good choices."
She also is no longer interested in showing off her body in the industry. "I'm in no rush to go back to my size," she told E! News. "I'm having a good old time taking advantage of the post-pregnancy thing. As long as I fit in it and feel alright and it doesn't have baby vomit, I think I'm pretty good."
She Has Dealt With Tragedies
During his Golden Globe speech, Ryan Gosling mentioned how his wife was dealing with her brother’s cancer diagnosis. "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." It couldn’t have been an easy thing for her to go through and what was worse was that he passed away in 2016 just a week after she had her second child. Just because you’re a celebrity, it doesn’t mean that you won’t face your own personal tragedies in life. Her brother Carlos died around the same time that Eva gave birth. "We had a funeral service for him and that same week I had the baby," Mendes recalled to Latina magazine.
"It was really, really intense and obviously beyond heartbreaking, but also kind of beautiful."
It must have been truly powerful to bring life into the world and also say goodbye to one all in the same week. It just goes to show how much she has sacrificed while Gosling goes off to work.
She Is A Celebrity Spokesperson
She may not be making movies right now, but she is definitely keeping busy. Over the years she has had the opportunity to work with a lot of international companies as a celebrity spokesperson. A couple of years ago she worked with Estee Lauder for their New Dimension Transformative Skincare collection. She was seeing changes in her skin over the years and it seemed as if Estee Lauder knew exactly what she was going for. "It's beautiful, really, and better than the alternative, I tell you!" she said about the aging process.
"For me, it's going with the changes. A lot of them are positive as you get older. It's about concentrating on those positive changes and finding the right products to help transform you."
That’s not the only company that she has been involved with. She also became the image of Thierry Mugler’s Angel perfume in 2011. We can totally see why, she’s stunning so she’s great for modelling campaigns and that’s how she started in the industry. As if that’s not enough, she has also worked with the clothing line, Peek & Cloppenburg, Revlon, Calvin Klein, Magnum ice cream, Campari, Reebok, Pantene, and Morgan which is probably why she has no time for Hollywood.
She Has A Clothing Line
You may not have been aware that Eva Mendes has her own clothing line. Seriously, who doesn’t these days? She has been designing her own clothing since 2013 and she works with New York and Company to get her product out to the world. How cool is that? She told People magazine that they launch new collections in her clothing line every six weeks.
"We're just constantly making adjustments and really paying attention to what the customer wants,"
Mendes added. This is not designer wear for celebrities, she wants to make sure that her items are affordable. That’s also the case with the beauty line CIRCA that she directs. All items range between $7-15. "Growing up, I was from a very lower-middle-class family, and I really got all my makeup and products from drugstores, but the quality of the products just wasn't there," Mendes said at CIRCA'S launch at a Manhattan Duane Reade. Both Jessica Alba and Jessica Simpson are entrepreneurs and have left Hollywood. It looks like Mendes is also going in that direction. She may want to be more of a business mogul than a Hollywood actress.
She Attempted to launch A Home Decor Line
Maybe clothing and skincare are where Eva Mendes should focus because not all of her business ventures have been successful. She tried to launch a home décor line in 2009 with Macy’s. She called it Vida by Eva Mendes and it was décor that was Latin-inspired and had worked around five different flavor concepts such as a vibrant floral pattern. She sent a press release to MTV stating,
"Vida is about easy luxury. The colors, fabrics, and textures that I live and love, brought to life in a stylish, comfortable, and affordable way. I'm excited to partner to see my passion for design come to life."
She worked with partner George Augusto who happens to be an ex of hers and there’s no indication of what he actually did for the line. It is no longer offered at Macy’s and her downfall may have been the fact that it was overpriced despite her claims that it was affordable. A set of sheets cost $130 and bedding sets were around $500. It turned out that Mendes wasn’t cut out to have a home décor line and the whole thing was eventually dropped. Her other ventures seem to be successful.
She Doesn’t Want Stereotypical Latina Roles
When it comes to being cast in roles in Hollywood, Eva Mendes has been a little miffed that a lot of the roles she is offered are stereotypical “Latina” roles. She doesn’t understand why she can’t be cast in the same roles that say Drew Barrymore or Reese Witherspoon are cast in. The roles she has been offered in the past are the ones that she wants to steer clear of and that might be why we don’t see her acting anymore. She just might not be offered anything else. Some directors want to cast her in certain roles based on how she looks or her heritage. She’s always been really private and that’s evidenced by her lifestyle these days. But that doesn’t stop her from speaking her mind. During an interview with David Coleman, she stated,
"What makes it frustrating is when a director or a studio head doesn't see me for the same part that they'll see, let's say, Drew Barrymore for. No, we want more of an American type of girl. And it's like, America has opened up. I'm an American girl, born and raised."
We hope she makes a comeback and helps Hollywood move forward when it comes to these types of stereotypes.
References: independent.co.uk, dailymail.co.uk. indiewire.com
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