Eva Mendes reveals how she and Ryan Gosling balance family responsibilities in rare interview

Eva Mendes just gave some rare insight into her relationship with Ryan Gosling.

The couple have been together since meeting on the set of The Place Beyond the Pines in 2011, and have two daughters: Esmeralda, who was born in 2014, and Amada, who was born in 2016. Though they’ve opened up a bit over the past couple of years, Ryan and Eva are upfront about their desire to keep most details about their personal life private.

However, in a new interview with People, Mendes shared just a taste of what it’s like in the Mendes-Gosling household. “Ryan’s the cook. He’s an incredible cook,” she said. “I think that there’s a really nice balance to ‘You cook, I clean.’ And it just works for us.”

She continued, “Life is so chaotic. But the one thing I can control is my house, my kitchen. So when I do the dishes, it’s meditative for me. It really goes deeper than just cleaning up. It really gives me clarity. Clean sink equals clear mind for me.”

While discussing the more chaotic consequences of working from home – Eva Mendes is the co-owner of the cleaning brand Skura Style – the actor even shared a sweet anecdote about her girls, revealing that Amada refers to her older sister as Essie.

“It’s a mess!” Eva said. “I’ll be Zooming with various people throughout the day and I have no idea. I’ll see people kind of giggle, and I see my five-year-old, who just turned six, will be right behind me with her blankie and looking so cute.” Though Eva says she imposed a rule that a closed door means she shouldn’t be interrupted unless it’s important, she says her little ones aren’t always attuned to what that means.

“Of course, my six-year-old will run in and say, ‘It’s so important.’ And I’m just like, ‘What?’ She’s like, ‘Essie took my Barbie,’” Mendes recounted. “But it’s hard to be mad because it’s so cute.”

Honestly, it sounds like the best kind of chaos. 

This article was originally published on Glamour.com.