Eva Mendes reveals she doesn’t let her daughters use the internet

Mendes and Gosling share two daughters: Esmeralda, eight, and Amada, seven

Eva Mendes has revealed that she doesn’t let her and Ryan Gosling’s daughters use the internet.

The actor, 49, took to Instagram on 3 August to share one of the rules that she has for her and Gosling’s daughters - Esmeralda, eight, and Amada, seven. Mendes shared a video of herself shaking her head no and wagging her finger, as she pointed out that’s how she responds to her children when they ask to use the internet.

“When my kids ask me if they’re old enough to go on the internet, social media or anything requiring wifi,” she wrote in the caption.

When a fan in the comments asked when she will allow her children use the internet, Mendes candidly confessed that she’s still figuring that out. She also specified that she’s been doing research on how social media can impact children as they continue to get older.

“I honestly don’t know. I have to see where it goes,” the Hitch star responded. “For now, I’m observing them and keeping up with research about how social media can impact a child’s brain.”

She responded to another fan who praised her parenting decision, with Mendes noting that while she’s “just sharing what [she] feels now”, she thinks it’ll be harder to keep her children away from the internet as they get older.

Mendes clarified that her children are still given screentime, adding: “I let my kids use the iPad to make movies and watch films I’ve downloaded, but I don’t have internet access on the iPad.”

The actress was also hit with some criticism for her parenting rule, with one Instagram user writing: “We are in the internet century so eventually everyone will need or want to access the internet sorry.” While it appears the comment has since been deleted, Mendes responded to the remark by explaining why she doesn’t feel like the internet is a safe space for her children.

“In my house, children do not have access to the internet,” she responded to the remark, as reported by E! News. “It’s too dangerous. Just like drinking or voting or getting a driver’s license (etc..) isn’t allowed for children, the internet falls under that category for me. Especially social media.”

While Mendes and Gosling - who’ve been together since 2011 - are notoriously private about their family life, the couple have shared a few details about raising children together.

During an interview with Byrdie in July 2022, Mendes explained that she and her partner want to make sure that their children feel confident in themselves throughout everything they do in life.

“Hopefully Ryan and I are doing the work by just loving them, completely loving them, and doing most of that work for them so that they grow up feeling like they’re enough,” she said. “That’s the one thing that’s really important to me. Because once they feel like they’re enough, no matter what they do, no matter what they end up doing, that will feed into every area of your life. Especially into how attractive you feel, or any of that stuff.”

In a cover story interview with GQ in June, Gosling also shared some candid thoughts about fatherhood. He revealed that prior to his relationship with Mendes, he didn’t think much about becoming a father. However, that all changed when Mendes told him she was pregnant.

“Eva said she was pregnant,” he recalled. “I would never want to go back, you know? I’m glad I didn’t have control over my destiny in that way, because it was so much better than I ever had dreamed for myself.”

Elsewhere in the interview, the Barbie star clarified previous comments he made about the moment Mendes learned she was pregnant. While he maintained that he “wasn’t thinking about kids” before they met, Gosling said: “After I met Eva, I realised that I just didn’t want to have kids without her.”