‘The Gray Man’ Star Ryan Gosling on the Importance of Being a ‘Dad First’

Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes might keep their family life on the down-low, but one thing remains certain— the A-listers are parenting pros!

The La La Land star and the Ghost Rider actress share daughters Esmeralda and Amada, whom they welcomed in 2014 and 2016, respectively. Although the family of four lead private lives, Gosling and Mendes have gushed over their little ones through the years.

The Florida native opened up in 2020 about “never want[ing] babies before” falling in love with her Place Beyond the Pines costar.

“I think I was 42 for the second one, so it worked out in that way that I had a career and then I changed my focus to my family,” she told Nova 96.9’s Fitzy & Wippa at the time, noting that she was “thinking of definitely going back” to acting after taking time off. “I really feel like I never want to send the wrong message to young women out there. It’s not an either/or situation. I feel like it’s time. The list is getting shorter and shorter of stuff that I’d do. I don’t want to do anything violent. I don’t want to do something risqué. I think the only thing that’s left is Disney!”

In April of the previous year, the model told Women’s Health that kids were “the furthest thing from” her mind when she met Gosling.

“Then it made sense for me to have … not kids, but his kids,” Mendes explained to the magazine at the time. “It was very specific to him.”

The couple started dating in 2011 and are “hands-on parents [who] don’t have any nannies,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly in April 2020, adding, “Eva has programmed her entire routine and career to ensure family comes first — then work fits in around it. Ryan is protective of Eva and a very doting dad.”

The Golden Globe winner has become a big fan of cooking with his kids. “That’s his big thing,” another insider told Us at the time. “He encourages everyone to do it with him. It’s fun for the whole family.”

The Blade Runner star is “completely infatuated” with his partner, a third source told Us in 2018. “His main goal is to make her happy.”

Scroll down to revisit Gosling and Mendes’ best quotes about raising their daughters.