Eva Mendes Says She’s a ‘Grateful Mama Bear’ After Kids Were Kept Private During Olympics Outing

Eva Mendes shocked fans when she and Ryan Gosling made a rare public outing with their daughters, Esmeralda and Amada, at the Paris Olympics. Photographers blurred the kids’ faces to respect their privacy, which made the Hitch actress a “grateful mama bear.”

Eva, 50, shared a sleepy selfie via Instagram as she gazed at the Eiffel Tower that sat far in front of her hotel room in Paris. The Girl in Progress actress shared her top-of-the-morning thoughts in the caption while reflecting on her European vacation.

“Morning in Paris. Sleep marks and all,” Eva wrote on Wednesday, August, 7. “The minute I see photographers when I’m out, my guard and my wall goes up. So I wanted to share this.”

A fan commented on the post, pointing out that the 2024 Olympics is filled with paparazzi due to the A-list attendees.

Eva replied to the comment and gushed that the media was “great about not posing the kids.”

“So I’m a grateful mama bear. Thx for a loving comment. Sending it right back” she wrote.

Eva and Ryan, 43, were one of the many celebrities who supported Team USA during the women’s gymnastics final on August 4. The couple did their best not to stand out from the crowd as the Sakura Style ambassador wore cream sunglasses and black top. Meanwhile, the Barbie star donned a layered white T-shirt and a multi-colored flannel and tied the look together with a green Olympics baseball cap and sunglasses.

Esmeralda, 9, looked cozy in a knitted Team USA. Olympic crewneck. Amada, 8, wore a yellow floral dress and matching hair accessories.

Although The Place Beyond the Pines costars are strict about sharing photos of their daughters, they don’t mind giving fans a glimpse inside their family life .

In fact, Eva opened up about the “nonverbal agreement” she and Ryan made when they began their journey together into parenthood.

“It was like a no-brainer,” she said during a March appearance on the Today show, referencing her stay-at-home-mom title. “I still worked, I just didn’t act, because acting takes you on locations. It takes you away.”

Earlier that month, a source exclusively told Life & Style that the family patriarch isn’t jumping at every open role so that he can “focus” on his little girls .

“Ryan’s in demand — but he wants to make sure he has all the time in the world for his girls,” the insider dished at the time. “He wants to take at least two years off and really focus on them.”

That said, Esmeralda and Amada help their dad with major roles, like his portrayal of Mattel doll Ken in the record-breaking Barbie film.

“[My daughters] were on the film, and they came to set when I filmed the number “I’m Just Ken”],” Ryan said during an April appearance on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon . “You know, it’s just like a lot of fake tan stains around the house. I wanted them to come to the dress rehearsal just to give it some kind of context for what had been going on.”