Like most parents, Eva Mendes wants to protect her kids from the dangers of society.
That's why the Hitch actor, 50, and her partner Ryan Gosling, 43, have implemented 'extreme' measures on their children.
Now, the celebrity couple have pretty much kept their relationship on the down-low since first meeting on the set of The Place Beyond the Pines in 2011.
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Three years on, they welcomed their first daughter Esmeralda, now 10, and then in 2016, Amada, now eight, was born.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, Mendes said she is now heavily focused on being a 'conscious parent' to her children.
They are both homeschooled and aren't allowed to have phones or social media.
“I still have all this anxiety and I see myself passing it on to my children,” she said. “Subconsciously, I can’t imagine what they’re inheriting from me that I don’t want them to inherit from me.
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“Putting my kid on the internet and being like, ‘Oh, search something’, that to me is equivalent to telling her, ‘Oh, just go down the street in the middle of the night. You’ll be fine.’
“I know that sounds extreme, but that’s what I feel.”
Mendes, who is currently reading Raising Mentally Strong Kids by Dr Daniel G Amen and Charles Fay, added: “I explain to them what I didn’t have, what Ryan didn’t have when he was little, how hard we had to fight, the dark days of being paycheque to paycheque, and this and that, but they’ll never really know unless they experience that.
“The next best thing [to gain perspective], according to Dr Amen, is to really have them work on their self-esteem for themselves by doing things like working in the house.”
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Recalling what her mother was like with her, Mendes said: “She’d be like, ‘If you want real freedom, you have to find a way to make your own money.’
“That’s as simple as it is. I had my marching orders from my mom and I set out to do that.”
Also opening up about still feeling 'sexy' at the age of 50, the actor said: “It was totally fine. It’s just that number sounds crazy.
“I forget everything. I think that’s part of being 50. I think I’m looking down the barrel of hormonal changes.
“I feel really f***ing sexy at times.
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“The way my man looks at me is just … at times I’m like, oh my God.
“That might not sit well with people, but so much of how I feel is a reflection of what he’s giving me.”
Topics: Celebrity, Parenting, Ryan Gosling, Social Media, Mental Health
Anish Vij