15+ Eva Mendes Quotes That Nail The Whole Motherhood Thing

Parenting is hard no matter who you are. Even when you’re very wealthy and can afford paid help from a nanny, your job as a parent still isn’t easy. You’re still constantly worried and constantly trying to do “enough” and be enough. Of course, there’s no single right answer on how best to parent. Whether you’re working (because you have to or because you like to) or staying home, you’re still going to shift back and forth from feeling like Super Mom to feeling like the worst mom ever. Motherhood is one long, lifetime ride on the struggle bus. And it’s clear from Eva Mendes’ quotes about motherhood that the gorgeous and talented A-lister knows that.

Mendes and her co-parent Ryan Gosling could certainly afford professional parenting help so that she could continue working. However, soon after giving birth to her second daughter, she decided to step back from her work as an actress. Citing a lack of ambition to act and leave behind her sweet daughters, Esmeralda and Amada, Mendes retired from acting. Instead, she focuses all her energy on her girls. And she’s always ready to tell moms the truth about what her life looks like. Just like every other mama’s life, hers is messy, too.

With that said, these are our favorite things Eva Mendes has said about parenting.

Best (and Most Relatable) Eva Mendes Quotes on Motherhood

1. “People are so sweet — they really try to warn you, prep you, when you’re pregnant, but nobody can prep you. Nobody.”
2. “I applaud and look up to those women who can do it all, but I’m not one of them — and, thankfully, I have a choice not to work, and I realize how fortunate I am that it’s even a choice. I’ve been so happy to be able to incubate with my babies, but now they are four and six, I’m starting to feel like my ambition is coming back.”
3. “Obviously [I] protect them, but I just want to get out of their way because they’re already these amazing creative beings. I take great inspiration from them as well.”
4. “The stakes are really high, so yeah, I’m a helicopter parent. And then I heard the bulldozing, and I’m like, ‘Oh, yeah. I’m probably a bulldozing parent too.'”
5. “Any time I have an opportunity to introduce her or them — I have to say ‘them’ now, though my newborn just sleeps all the time — to my culture, whether it’s through music or through food, I do. That is a main priority, for sure.”
6. “I haven’t posted lately because my little one told me I was on the phone too much. 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 [a] 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.”
7. “They don’t appreciate it! No, they don’t! They’re not grateful! Oh my God, do they get grateful? Does that happen at some point?”
8. “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.
9. “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.”
10. “Sometimes it feels like we are running some kind of bed-and-breakfast with very drunk and aggressive guests … 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!”
11. “And nobody told me it was gonna really be a job. And a job that I needed an incredible amount of skill for, in different areas: a chauffeur, a cook, a personal assistant to an abusive boss.”
12. “In any other profession, you’d need to take a test or pass tests. The only test I had to pass was a pregnancy test. That doesn’t seem fair, right?”
13. “We’re getting the hang of it, the sleeping thing, but I’m exhausted, and it’s the best. Really, I’m so incredibly tired. I thought I was tired before at times, but no, nothing like this. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
14. “Just knowing that I’m not alone out there and that other moms have gone through the same thing can at least get me through the night.”
15. “We have an amazing support group: Ryan’s mom, my mom, Ryan’s, and my sisters. It’s a village that helped us. My heart goes out to women who do this alone. I basically come from a single-parent household; although I love my dad, my mom mostly raised four of us on her own.”
16. "It was the furthest thing from my mind. 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."
17. "I felt a lack of ambition, if I can be honest. I feel more ambitious in the home right now than I do in the workplace."
18. “Yes. I try not to Google too many things because it is frightening, but I do go to babycenter.com and read the comment sections from other mothers because I find so much solace in that.”
19. “We’re constantly playing Cuban music. I speak to them in Spanish, and my mom speaks to Esmeralda in Spanish. Well, now she speaks to both of them in Spanish. Any time I have an opportunity to introduce her or them — I have to say ‘them’ now, though my newborn just sleeps all the time — to my culture, whether it’s through music or through food, I do. That is a main priority, for sure.”
20. "It's definitely a concern. Not only are we in the industry, but the whole fame component is super scary when you try to raise your kids. What I try to emphasize is that I don't let them see me put attention to how I dress. They've never seen me get ready for something; they've never seen me at work. Which is fine for whoever wants to do it that way, but the way I keep it normal is by not letting them see me in these situations. I'm just Mom. And I'm more than happy to just be Mom."