Eva Mendes admits people thought it was a ‘big deal’ when she was pregnant at 40

‘In my 20s, I shouldn’t have even been around a child,’ Mendes says

Eva Mendes has spoken candidly about how the people around her felt about her being an older mother.

In an interview with People, the mother of two, 50, explained that she never would have had children in her 20s, and detailed why waiting to get older may have been the ideal decision for her, but not for others.

“When I was 40, it was a big deal for people when I was pregnant, and it wasn’t for me,” Mendes, who shares Esmeralda Amada, nine, and Amada Lee, eight, with Ryan Gosling, told the outlet.

“And then I was 42 and I was pregnant with my second one and people were like: ‘Oh my God, you’re going to be so tired. That’s why people have kids in their 20s.’ I was like, that’s the most sorry, asinine thing I’ve ever heard.”

Mendes continued to discuss why she didn’t personally have children in her 20s, explaining that it boiled down to her not being mentally equipped for them.

“It takes more patience. In my 20s, I shouldn’t have even been around a child. I was just foul-mouthed and smoking. I could not have raised kids in any other era of my life but now, for sure,” she said.

The Hitch actress added that her career also factored into her decision to have children later in life because she wanted to make sure that she was physically present for their younger years and wouldn’t be leaving them for long periods of time.

“It was the easiest decision I’ve ever made,” Mendes reflected. “I was older and I knew that my kids are going to be little once, and whatever I do or don’t do right now is going to affect them the rest of their life.”

Making the choice to leave her acting career was a conscious decision that she wasn’t “pressured” into making. Rather, she said she views the decision as one of “clarity”.

“Your career comes and goes but kids, yeah, that was easy for me,” she said. “They’re just formative years. I wanted to be there for all of it.”

The former actress also touched on what has changed since she’s become a mother to two children. “It all matters when you have two little people watching you all day long,” she explained. “It’s frightening but it’s good because it makes me try to be a better person every day.”

Earlier this week, in an interview with Glamour, Mendes talked about what it was like factoring her partner Gosling into taking her break from acting.

“For me… recently in an interview I said it was almost like non-verbal agreement Ryan and I had [to step back from acting]. That got… not twisted, but taken out of context because I meant it was almost a no-brainer. But there was actually obviously a lot of thought and conversation - especially on my end - of what I wanted to do with my life,” she told the outlet.

“It was very clear to me that I didn’t want to be away from the kids. Acting takes you on location for months. But I still wanted to work. So I had to get creative about what that work was going to be.”