Eva Mendes has explained why she will not join partner Ryan Gosling on the Barbie red carpet, with the actress revealing that the longtime couple does not “do those things together”.
Mendes, 49, confirmed that she would not be attending the premiere of the upcoming film, which stars Gosling as Ken, on Instagram this week, after she was asked by a fan whether she would be on the red carpet.
The fan asked the question in the comments section under a recent video Mendes posted of herself and Gosling on the set of their 2012 film The Place Beyond the Pines, where the follower revealed that it is their hope they will get to see Mendes with her partner.
“I really hope Barbie will get through the awards season just to see you with Ryan … I know I’m selfish and probably a dreamer but I will never stop [dreaming] about it,” they wrote.
In response to the comment, the Hitch star thanked the fan for the “cool comment,” before revealing that she won’t be joining Gosling for the press tour of the film.
“You’re the best! What a cool comment, thank you. But we don’t do those things together,” Mendes wrote. “Like these photos I’ve been posting, I’m only comfortable posting because it’s already out there.”
In a follow-up post, Mendes also acknowledged that she and Gosling, who were first romantically linked in 2011, were only on the red carpet once together, to promote their film.
“Oh wait - for those who may catch me in a ‘lie,’ we only were on the red carpet together once when promoting this film,” she said.
The actress’s comment prompted praise for her boundaries, with many revealing that they “respect” her decision to keep her relationship private.
However, one fan asked Mendes to elaborate on her comment about not feeling “comfortable,” with the follower asking: “May I ask why you don’t feel comfortable doing those things together? You guys are such a beautiful couple.”
In response to the question, Mendes elaborated her meaning, with the Ghost Rider star explaining that her comfort refers to how she feels “exposing” her and Gosling’s “very private life”.
“By ‘not comfortable,’ I mean exposing our very private life that we value,” she said. “I’m still dying to do another movie with him though…”
This is not the first time Mendes has spoken candidly about her boundaries when it comes to Gosling and their two children, daughters Esmeralda Amada, eight, and Amada Lee, six.
In 2020, Mendes revealed in response to a fan who’d asked why she doesn’t share photos of her family that she has “always had a clear boundary when it comes to my man and my kids,” and that although she feels comfortable talking about them “with limits,” she won’t “post pictures of our daily life”.
“And since my children are still so little and don’t understand what posting their image really means, I don’t have their consent. And I won’t post their image until they’re old enough to give me consent. As far as Ryan and I, it just works for us this way, to stay private,” she added at the time.
Although Mendes prefers to keep her longtime relationship private, she recently revealed that she and Gosling actually knew each other before they worked together on the set of the 2012 film, and that the “magic started way before”.
