Eva Mendes’ dogs prepared her for motherhood.
The 44-year-old actress feels her pet pooches helped her get ready to be a mother to Esmeralda Amada, four, and Amada Lee, two, who she shares with her partner Ryan Gosling.
She said: "You know what? It’s not that different. It really isn’t. The love that you have for your dog, and how you are with your dog, I think, is really similar to how you are with your children. I really feel that, and people will probably get really mad with me for feeling that way, [but] it’s just so beautiful."
Speaking about her late pooch Hugo, she added to People magazine: "He was so special. I would just talk to him and I would treat him like a person, like, I think, most dog lovers do. I just have that bond that will be there … He may be gone, but that feeling has never left me. It is one of the most special presences in my life. Hugo – who, again, I miss so much – he prepped me for motherhood. George, who I miss so much, prepped me for motherhood. It was the best training that I could have."
Meanwhile, Eva previously admitted being a working mother makes her feel "guilty".
She shared: "Oh my God, nobody warns you about the guilt that you feel when you do work! I don’t know how I find balance, because I think it is like a day to day kind of struggle, you know? I’m all for obviously taking care of myself – that’s how I can take care of them of course – but that guilt that is just kind of always there. It’s like, ‘Ugh, this is gonna be there forever now.’"
Eva Mendes’ dogs prepared her for motherhood
