If you didn't know that Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling are happily partnered with two kids, that's understandable. The couple has been intensely private about their relationship for the past seven years. They never appear on the red carpet together, nor do they post photos together on social media.
So what's up with the mysteriousness? It's simply that staying out of the spotlight works well for this high-profile couple, a source recently told People.
"They love and respect each other and try to give the other space to pursue what they love," the insider said. Ryan reportedly loves how "fiercely independent" Eva is, though it can sometimes be "challenging."
Now that the couple has two children together, they're preoccupied with raising their daughters. But they keep their family life as private as they've always kept their romance. You won't catch photos of Esmeralda Amada, 4, or Amada Lee, 2, on either star's social media pages!
"They are both in love with being parents, and can't get enough of it," another source said.
"Like any couple, they have disagreements. Now the children come first, and they share a love for them which neither had experienced before."
Ryan and Eva were linked to each other for the first time in September 2011, when they were spotted on a romantic getaway at Disneyland.
The lovers first met on the set of The Place Beyond the Pines in 2011.
And the rest is history. Since then, Ryan and Eva have enjoyed a steady romance — while refusing to reveal almost anything about it to the public.
They don't often open up about their relationship to the press, and Eva never accompanies Ryan on the red carpet. In the past, she's said she'd rather stay home with her girls.
Unsurprisingly, you won't catch these two making mushy social media posts about each other, either. They're rarely even spotted holding hands!
But after seven years of secrecy, they're still going strong. Ryan and Eva now have two children — Esmeralda, 4, and Amada, 2 — together.
In a September interview with E! News, the actress and clothing designer gushed about how much she loves her and Ryan's kids.
"I'm just so obsessed with my kids that I don't want to leave them," Eva said. "They're just still so little."
A source echoed the sentiment to People, explaining that Ryan and Eva are working to spend as much time as possible with their daughters.
"Neither wants to slow down on work interests but every day is a juggling act to be with their daughters," the source revealed.
"I don't feel like I have it balanced at all. I kind of have been figuring it out as I'm going along and it's just important to have a support system," Eva told E! News in September. "I have my family, I have Ryan's family, and that's just like, invaluable to have family around supporting you."
Eva and Ryan don't share photos of their children online; many photos of the family have the children's faces censored. The couple strives to give their daughters as normal an upbringing as possible, despite their celebrity status.
"They live in jammies, you know," she told E! News. "They're still in diapers — well, one of them's still in diapers, so they're just being babies as they should be."
The couple's elusiveness seems to be working well for them.
"Eva's the dream mother, and they're dream babies, and it's like a dream that I'm having right now," Ryan told GQ. "I'm dreaming it all. So I feel lucky."
Ryan's latest film, First Man, premiered on October 12. Meanwhile, Eva stays busy with her clothing line with New York & Company.
