Eva Mendes covers the new issue of Women’s Health. Not a great cover, right? I’m not Eva’s biggest fan or anything, but she’s a beautiful woman who is extraordinarily photogenic. Why choose a photo where she’s, like, mid-sentence? In the interview, Eva talks about being a mom to baby Esmeralda, her diet, and how she really believes in therapy. Some highlights:
Esmeralda isn’t sleeping: “I’m actually enjoying the sleepless nights because it’s bonding with my little girl.”
Parenting advice: She says she hasn’t “earned the right” to give mom advice. “I want to respect all the moms out there. They’re going to be like, ‘You know what? You’re a few months in. Just shut up.”
Her workouts: “I realized a long time ago that I needed to have some kind of routine,” she shares of her fitness plan, which includes running and interval sprints. “I don’t love it, but I’ve made peace with that.” Mendes also lifts weights but “nothing too heavy, because my muscle bulks up pretty easily. I mix it up with yoga, or sometimes I’ll hike with my trainer.”
Her diet: “I haven’t eaten meat in about six years, because I don’t agree with factory farming here. This is just what worked for me, it’s important to say, but when I cut that out I immediately felt better. And also, after a year of eliminating it, my skin looked brighter and healthier overall.”
Mental health: “Having [a therapist] who’s totally objective and who points out my patterns— I find that really helpful. And I’m lucky to work with someone who doesn’t just sit there and nod her head, you know? I need to hear what you think! Tell me what’s wrong with me so I can fix it!”
Privacy: “I believe there is a public self and a private self. My sisters and my good friends are experiencing that now [with] Facebook and Instagram. When they freak out about a friend of theirs posting a bad picture of them, I’m like, ‘Well, imagine how I feel! Get used to it!'”
Sounds like she’s in a pretty good place and enjoying being a mom. I find it interesting that this is her second magazine cover and interview since giving birth – her first was with Violet Grey last fall – and she really isn’t promoting anything. She’s just talking about the baby, motherhood, diet and her privacy. Hm.
Also: Ryan organized a special party for Eva’s 41st birthday last week – he rented out the Moonlight Rollerway and they roller-skated the afternoon away with baby Esmeralda and friends and family.
Photos courtesy of Women’s Health.
I actually started to like her non famewh0re ways. She seems quite humble too.
LOL about the part of the pictures on fb. Never thought of it that way.
On Letterman last year she was stunning, charming, exotic, funny, charismatic — total surprise after people’s snark.
Great pics. Looks like Cindy C a little.
She’s promoting a new makeup range she’s the creative director of, Lost River and the spring collection of her clothing line. FYI
Kinda sorta related: I’ve been vegan for about 2 weeks now and my skin has improved so much!
I gave up meat a few years ago, as did my husband. I’m told my skin glows – and I’m in my 50s.
Ditto. I went vegan a year and a half ago after seeing the horrific abuses in factory farms and slaughterhouses. I now get loads of compliments on my skin too. That said, I also know a few “retired” vegans who had some health problems from not having done enough research; everyone needs their beans, dark green veggies, nuts, and healthy carbs (and no, just because Oreos and Sour Patch Kids are vegan doesn’t mean they’re healthy, unfortunately!)
Became a vegetarian 20 1/2 years ago and am doing fine. Wasn’t easy though. I loved meat. I miss tacos, pepperoni pizza, hamburgers,but I’ve become attached to alternatives I’ve found and developed some highly useful cravings in those departments. Whenever I felt the temptation hitting hard though, I’d visualize the animal I would be eating potentially, standing before me alive and well and ask myself whether I could inflict fear, harm or suffering to that being. The answer has always been No and so I’ve been vegetarian for 20 years and counting.
She comes across really grounded. I like her.
I have given up meat for the lent period as I usually do but I can’t give it up forever,i tried for two years and I just had to get back to it.
Yep, I’m lenting myself and I just can’t see my life without meat.
God, if it made my skin look like Lupita’s I would be a vegan in a heartbeat. But I’m not seeing signs of it.
I like her (Eva), she’s cool. And if it works for her. Then go guuurl
I could never give meat up forever either. I have really good skin, but when I eat to much salsa it breaks out. I hate vegetables but love fruit.
I enjoy her on screen, I think she’s really cute and fun and somewhat underrated as an actress. But her interviews … it’s the Jennifer Garner effect for me. Do your job, act, promote your work. And if you want privacy for your kids and yourself, do NOT promote yourself like this just for the heck of it. What I take away from this is that she doesn’t want to lecture moms (point for her) but is experiencing some form of schadenfreude towards her friends and family because now they’re getting a taste of what she has to go through as part of her job. I’m assuming these people have to eat sh*t in their professional lives as well and Eva can not relate. So really, she’s just happy someone else suffers too?
That’s not a bad interview at all but whenever a celeb decides to promote themselves like this for no good goddamn reason, I start nitpicking in the worst way because I’m not even distracted by a movie/album and I know they’re volunteering to do this. It’s a bad move.
Or is she gearing up for Lost River? What am I missing?
Go Eva! I haven’t eaten meat in 15 years (I was 12 when I gave it up), and I haven’t eaten egg or dairy products in 2 years… for the same reasons as Eva. But I can vouch for the superficial benefits too! And I’m really glad she’s talking about it in a casual context, because sometimes that’s the only way to avoid alienating people. Aziz Ansari’s new Netflix special actually goes into detail about factory farming, so I hope this conversation keeps gaining momentum.
I know it’s not a sustainable choice for everyone (mostly for economic reasons… not talking about the people who “just can’t” give up certain tastes, so they push the ethical issues out of their mind or refuse to learn). However… if you CAN do it, I highly recommend it! It will shrink your carbon footprint and your risk of heart disease, and she’s right about the skin clearing up. Going vegan worked better than Accutane, ProActiv or Retin-A.
Good it worked for you. When I went vegan, all hell broke loose, and accutane worked like magic. Different things work for different people.
I am happy it worked for you but not all people who eat meat are inhumane. We raise beef cattle and we make our living by doing that. Do people realize if no one ate meat animals would have taken over the world by now and there would be no room left for people. I can never get anyone to give me an answer to that. Where would we put all the animals. Its a natural instinct for them to keep breeding. I am 60 and my skin is beautiful. I drink a lot of water. Keeping hydrated is the most important thing you can do. I often get mistaken for someone in their 40’s. Our family has no heart problems. Parents lived well into their nineties. Just showing that meat eaters can do well also.
I can give you an answer to that. It’s called carrying capacity, or the maximum population of a particular species an ecosystem can support. Ecosystems don’t have unlimited resources, so animal populations cannot grow at an unlimited rate, leaving no room for people. Eventually, the population will run out of resources and members of the species will starve. Deer hunters often use this argument to explain why we need to hunt animals. It’s more humane than letting the deer starve. What they don’t mention, however, is that in the long run, the deer population would balance out and be sustainable at a lower number. Regardless, other animals will never use up all the resources, leaving none for humans, because we know how to get our share of resources (think farming and technology) much better than any other species.
I agree with Nona. There may be good reasons to eat meat (I had some just yesterday) but “animals would take over the planet” is the funniest hypothesis I’ve heard on the subject. And I bet at least 90% of meat eaten in North America has nothing to do with animals in the wild anyway. They are killed because humans bred(probably the wrong word, raised?) them to be killed, not because we just found them…out there… threatening our space. I don’t know if the reason you have good skin is your diet but I do think the vegan diet or higher protein (with meat fish and or eggs) diets will positively OR negatively effect different people based on their existing skin type. Perhaps the vegetarian diet is beneficial for those with oilier skin, someone said it cleared her skin up. It could also be that going veg means Eva and other ladies here ate something extra (eggs, tofu, brown rice, quinoa, yoghurt, sesame, legumes, etc?) which was good for their skin’s appearance and the lack of meat had no effect. There are studies on which diet is good for your blood type, (for optimal health fitness and beauty results) and I’ve always wanted to look into those.
I don’t think starving is humane. Dead animals lying around would bring a lot of unwanted predators. Our children would not be safe. We know all about wild scary predators as this happened to us last year and our grandchildren could not go outside. A cougar came which has never been known in our area. Rural life is not understood by a lot of people and I get that. We all lead different lives and diversity is part of being human and people will always eat meat and still thrive.
Right. I eat meat. I do research where my meat comes from and have stood in line for a local farm stand I know only slaughters a few animals a year humanly to get that. Should I be sorry for that? Am I less healthy than someone who doesn’t eat meat? No. It’s not for everyone. I do think it’s pretty foolish and “HUA” for people to get on their high horses and act like you’re a bad person or they’re better than you because you eat meat and they don’t.
And there is a ot of that. Even people who don’t say it do think it.
I won’t eat factory meat, veal or any meat that comes from an animal that suffered through existence only to be killed for food. But I will eat meat and that’s not a bad thing.
If we would allow the wolf populations to come back, they would balance out everything, the deer included, and as for dead animals lying around, I’ve noticed a lot of birds doing what comes naturally where that is concerned. I’ve certainly seen a few turkey buzzards around our region.
If we’d just get out of the way and leave the wild things alone, they’d take care of Nature themselves, like they’re supposed to.
I am with FLORC 100%. We eat meat but I am very carefully selecting our food, including dairy, eggs etc. I chose to educate myself and made the choice to spend more, while eating less meat. I don’t apologize for it, and I try very hard to not be judgemental about people who could afford similar choices financially but prefer to ignore the cruelty involved in “conventional” farms raising animals for slaughter while stuffing them with antibiotics, hormones, keeping them in their own waste in tiny cages where they can barely move.
Would I give up steak (or milk, dairy and eggs) for good if I couldn’t find or afford humanely raised, pasture fed beef? I don’t know. I know I choose to spend twice as much on a steak compared to conventional meat even if it means fewer shoes, movies or whatever… I think it is better for the planet and our family’s health. I wish they would have classes in school to teach kids how food is grown/raised so everyone could make an informed decision… But obviously that is not the case.
We dont give antibiotics or hormones to our beef and they have hundreds of acres of pasture to roam around on. Not everyone treats animals like the shows portray. Anyone who wants to be a vegetarian can be. I am just saying that not everyone who eats meat is sickly or that everyone who raises beef is inhumane.
Maybe it’s due to my own personal trauma, but it really irks me when people claim to enjoy sleepless nights with their newborn. Maybe I haven’t had enough children yet to reach that stage of masochism, but I just can’t take that claim at face value. I guess everybody’s different.
I can’t shade her here, she’s clearly enjoying the moment. I didn’t mind being up with my first baby, I think adrenaline and the awe at the novelty of it all really got me through.
It was much, much harder for me to get up with the second one. I’m sure part of it was because I had a toddler who would also be up at the crack of dawn.
I liked being up with my daughter. Still do and she’s 18 months. But then again I wasn’t a huge sleeper before her so maybe that’s why.
It doesn’t irk me but good lord I do not relate in the slightest. Perhaps it helps when you have the means to order food (or hire your own chef to make it), and never need to clean your home or go to work again if you don’t want to, being so financially comfortable.
I read somewhere that Ryan hired a personal chef for Eva because she can’t cook. I wouldn’t be surprised if they have a housekeeper and a nanny too. Celebrities are not like us. They can afford the luxuries that no normal person can.
This, seriously. Celebs need to stop saying things like this. They’re trying to be relateable but it comes off as ‘i’m not really doing much anyway, can always get a nap later, it’s so boring in my house that I do nothing to keep up’. I don’t mind that they have money or staff but realize that others don’t and they’re comments are not a bridge but a wedge. Reminds of an article Drew Barrymore gave. I love her stuff but she talked about tie-dying clothes while her daughter slept, waiting until she could be a mom again. All I could think was how much prep and clean-up that project would take, no way that was all on her. No shade for having help or Downton Abbey levels of staff but don’t play like your just a normal mom.
Love the “Hey Girl!” splashed across the page here lol. Also, she looks great. Not a fan, but I do think she’s v. pretty when not wearing a turban. I wonder if she’s had work done.
Sounds like she has a friend for hire or a lifecoach. Or a blend of the 2. Not belittling therapists in that statement btw.
So, she’s promoting nothing, but still doing interviews? Is she banking off her baby?
The only reason there is any interest in her is because of her relationship and baby with RyGos. She has admitted she either sees or talks to her therapist pretty much daily. Nothing wrong with therapy, it’s a good thing. But she seems a bit odd IMHO.
I kind of love that this thread became about meat. While there is no one diet that is best for everyone, I think most people can agree that the majority of red meat or poultry we get here in the U.S. is not humane. Animals here are bred to slaughter, and more than most are killed in horrible, disgusting ways. I haven’t ate meat in a little over a year, and sometimes it’s hard, the smell of bacon and chicken is overwhelming, I know it’s best for my body, the environment, and the world.
Of course she loves the sleepless nights, she can hand the baby over to the nanny in the morning. I don’t relate to celebs at all.
I was a strict vegan for a year. I had to take an iron supplement, and that helped with the drastic nosedive my energy took (and yes, I was eating tons of veggie iron sources, but I couldn’t absorb the nutrient). Some people get loads of energy from this lifestyle, some don’t. I felt FAR less bloated and “clogged.” I recently added back seafood (mostly salmon) here and there. I listened to my body, and it was saying give me more omegas. I think it’s all about what YOUR body needs. Vegans mostly have their hearts in the right place in terms of advocating for animals and their treatment, but what some fail to get is that every body has unique needs (a concept related to the realm of bio specificity), and sometimes a wholly plant-based diet isn’t going to cut it for someone, no matter how much he/she wants to not contribute to the harm that befalls animals in modern times. It’s not about judgement. It’s about acceptance.
Due in three weeks…So sleepless nights with a newborn are just like a slumber party with your girlfriends?! Sweet.
Still side-eyeing “Esmerelda” here. You know, I just noticed, “Esmerelda” is about as close phonetically to “Eva Mendes” as any name i’ve heard.
I know. terrible.
I also love therapy, but it has not been easy at all. However, it did help save me from serious depression/being suicidal. And I think it’s a shame there’s so much stigma attached to it — not here on this thread, obviously, I don’t mean to suggest that — but in general society. So, I appreciate her speaking out about it because I think that may help, at least a tiny bit, reduce the stigma.
You’re absolutely right.
I like her, she seems to be beautiful inside as well.