Eva Mendes is normally very guarded in the press when it comes to her private life, but in an emotional new interview, the star has opened up about the pain of losing her brother for the first time.
The 42-year-old revealed that her older brother Carlos Mendes passed away just days before she gave birth to her second child with husband Ryan Gosling, Amada Lee.
The actress says she wouldn’t have gotten through that tough time without the love and support of her family.
“Losing my brother brought our family closer, and we were already close to begin with,” she says.
“So to just see everybody be there for one another and show up, I feel so lucky to have them,” she explains.
Eva says her brother’s death brought her already close-knit family even closer together.
Carlos tragically lost his battle with cancer at the age of 53.
And baby Amada, Eva’s second daughter, was born just 12 days after Carlos passed away, joining big sister Esmeralda (whose middle name is also Amada).
Eva and Ryan both had a hard time with the two emotional events so close together.
The brunette beauty admits she still hasn’t had the time to process her grief yet.
With two little girls in tow, both under two, she doesn’t really have much time.
“My older little girl is not yet 2 years old. My little one is still an infant, and right now it’s really about surviving those nights and trying to enjoy this time as much as possible with them, and start the bond between Esmeralda and Amada,” she explains.
“It’s a really, really special time. I’m loving it.”
“I live with angels!” Watch Ryan GUSH about his gorgeous family in the clip below. Post continues after the video.
The actress explains that both Esmeralda and Amada were named after special members of Eva’s family.
“My grandmother’s name is Amada, and Esmeralda Amada is the name of our oldest,” she says.
“We had a few names picked out for our new baby, and when she was born, we didn’t feel like those names were her. We came up with a few more, even that morning, and tried them out. We were like, ‘What about Viviana?'” she explains.
Eva revealed opened up about her personal life for Latina magazine.
But she says even though her eldest was already using the name Amada, they just kept coming back to it. “In true Latin fashion, we reuse names all the time. I used to know five sisters that were all Maria del Carmen, Maria Elena, Maria liliana,” Eva says.
“So we went with Amada because it was something we kept going back to. And it was an emotional time with the passing of my brother. We thought how beautiful to go with what made us emotional and with what felt like her. When we looked at her, we thought, ‘Aww, Amadita.'”
This story originally appeared on Woman’s Day Australia
Aside from her acting career, the mother of two has also been busy with her new clothing line.
