Once upon a time, Eva Mendes was one of the biggest names in Hollywood. She played a major role in Training Day, and the success of that film helped her land roles in other major productions such as 2 Fast 2 Furious and Hitch. And even when the movie wasn’t all that good (like that Nicolas Cage Ghost Rider film), Mendes was always the best part of the film.
She doesn’t act as much these days, but there’s a good reason for that: she’s enjoying being a wife to Ryan Gosling and mother to his children. Many would think that marrying one of Hollywood’s hugest hunks after getting rich and famous means that the starlet has had an easy life, but the truth is quite the opposite, and she’s been carrying a lifetime of trauma on those thin shoulders.
Don’t believe it? Keep reading to discover the saddest things about Eva Mendes’ life!
Eva Mendes’ brother died of cancer
Growing up, Eva Mendes was very close to her brother Carlos. The two took for granted that they would have a lifetime to enjoy each other’s company, but that sadly wasn’t in the cards. Carlos ended up dying in 2016, passing away due to throat cancer at the relatively young age of 53.
Making this untimely death even more tragic was that Carlos died only two weeks before Eva Mendes gave birth to her second daughter. That meant that he never even got a chance to see his new niece before he died, but Eva honored his memory by naming her daughter Amada, which means “beloved” after how her family viewed Carlos. As for Mendes’ husband Ryan Gosling, he did his part by honoring Carlos during a 2017 Golden Globes acceptance speech.
A struggle against Hollywood racism
While Eva Mendes became a major Hollywood star, she didn’t exactly take a straight route to get there. Before her breakout performance in Training Day, she was most known for starring in quirky horror sequels like Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror and Urban Legends: Final Cut. It’s possible that she could have had a breakout far sooner, and according to her, the only reason that she didn’t is that she was the victim of constant racist casting practices in Hollywood.
In 2024, she told The Times “That’s all they would say at the beginning — ‘She’s too ethnic for this, too ethnic for that.’ It was so crazy.” In a different interview with Newsweek, she revealed that she was usually cast alongside Black actors due to her skin color, something that had some ups and downs. “Certainly I’ve benefited, because I’ve got to work with Ice Cube, Denzel and Will,” she said. “But it’s lame. I wish the mentality wasn’t so closed.”