Eva Mendes kept her pregnancy very private but the actress has finally opened up a little bit about the daughter you didn’t get to make with Ryan Gosling.
Mendes spoke with Violet Grey about why they decided on the name Esmeralda Amada, motherhood and why they are placing such a high importance on privacy:
On the name Esmeralda Amada:
“We were really excited about naming her. We both love the Esmeralda character from the Victor Hugo novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame and just think it’s a beautiful name. Her middle is Amada, which was my grandmother’s name. It means ‘beloved’ in Spanish.”
On her new adventure into motherhood:
“People always told me that [it was tough]. But I’ve learned that it’s way harder to be a baby. Everything is a struggle for her. For instance, I haven’t thrown up since the ‘90s and she’s thrown up twice since we started this interview. Motherhood is cake compared to what it’s like to be a baby.”
The difficulties of maintaining privacy:
“Whether we like it or not, privacy is going to be very difficult for Esmeralda. I think it’s unfair but that’s our reality. So Ryan and I decided early on to give her as much privacy as we could. And my pregnancy was the first opportunity to give her that. It’s such an intimate time for the mother, too. I know that it seems all very innocuous when you’re flipping through a tabloid at the doctor’s office or see a photo of a pregnant lady online, but I find the media’s ‘bump watch’ obsession to be both intrusive and stressful. So I made a decision to eject myself from it completely. I was like, ‘Annnnd I’m out.'”
