Eva Mendes on stopping acting to be a stay-at-home mom: 'I'm so lucky'

Eva Mendes hasn't appeared in a movie for a decade, but she has been enjoying her role as a stay-at-home mom.

In a recent interview with Today, the Hitch and 2 Fast 2 Furious star opened up about her decision to step back from acting and focus on being a mother to her two children with Ryan Gosling.

"It was like a no-brainer," Mendes said of hitting pause on her acting career. "I'm so lucky, and I was like, if I can have this time with my children — and I've still worked, I just didn't act, because acting takes you on locations, it takes you away."

Mendes added that she and Gosling, who have been together since 2011, agreed to a division of labor where he would continue to act and she would stay home with their kids, Esmerelda, 9, and Amada, 7. "It was almost a non-verbal agreement," she said. "It was like, okay, he's gonna work and I'm gonna work, I'm just gonna work here."

Raised by a single mother after her parents split, Mendes grew up knowing she wanted some kind of career on camera. Her breakout role came in Training Day, and she went on to appear in films including Ghost Rider, We Own the Night, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, and The Other Guys.

But everything changed when she met Gosling making The Place Beyond the Pines. "I've never experienced anything like that," she marveled. "The way he works, his commitment, his craft, how he wants to make everything as best as it can be and that means making his costars as best as they can be."

Mendes said it was partly how special the experience of working with Gosling was that made her want to quit acting. "Unfortunately, or fortunately, there's only one Ryan, so I pretty much stopped acting after that," she noted.

While raising their children, Mendes remains supportive of Gosling's career. Most recently, she celebrated his performance of "I'm Just Ken" at the Oscars on her social media pages. "He went and did his job," she said of his lauded live performance. "He just happens to be really good at his job, and he came home."

Mendes also talked about her new role as a co-owner and spokeswoman for Skura Style, a sponge business. Though she did confess that there's a particular film project that would "bring her back with a vengeance," even if she wouldn't reveal what it was.

Last May, Mendes also told The View she was hoping to return to acting eventually, even if her role as a mom made her think more seriously about what she wouldn't do on screen. "I have such a short list of what I will do, before kids I kinda was up for anything," she said. "I mean, if it was a fun project. But now I won't do violence, I don't want to do sexuality, the list is short."

Gosling and Mendes have been famously private about their relationship, which makes her openness on the Today show somewhat unprecedented. She last appeared on the big screen in 2014's Lost River, which Gosling wrote and directed.

Watch the video above for more from Mendes.

Related content:

• Eva Mendes celebrates 10th anniversary of movie where she met Ryan Gosling: 'Feels like lifetimes ago'
• Eva Mendes celebrates Ryan Gosling's Oscar nom for Barbie, calls out Ken doubters
• 'Yeah!' Eva Mendes is ready to make Hitch 2