Eva Mendes is taking a moment to remember her late brother.
Commemorating the loss of her older brother Carlos Mendez, who died of cancer in April 2016, the Training Day star, 51, posted a heartfelt tribute on Instagram Monday, March 24. The post consisted of a carousel of photos, including selfies of Mendes by a river in a lush forest.
Noting in her caption that Carlos “would’ve had a birthday this April 2,” Mendes marked “almost 9 years” since his death. “Then, less than 2 weeks later I gave birth to our second baby,” she added, referring to Amada Lee, 8, one of two daughters she shares with longtime partner Ryan Gosling.
She continued, “When his birthday nears, I start to look for signs that could be him. Of course, this can all be in my head, but I rather not believe that. It’s not as beautiful.”
In one of Mendes’ photos, she is holding a heart-shaped rock to her chest; another is a shot of a heart-shaped mark in the wood of a tree. She concluded her caption by writing that she was “starting to see hearts everywhere and [feeling] him a little extra right now. More to come, I’m sure.”
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In April 2024, the Hitch actress celebrated her elder brother’s “heavenly birthday” in an Instagram post with an animated photo of his crush, Teri Garr. In another post shortly after, she confessed that she had “a complicated relationship” with the month of April given Carlos’ death.
Her younger brother, Carlo Mendez, confirmed in April 2016 that Carlos had died, writing on social media that he “fought with all his might and power” and was survived by two children.
Mendes reflected on the timing of her sibling’s death and the arrival of her second daughter in a 2019 conversation with PEOPLE, calling it a “tough” situation. Amada’s arrival “was something to move forward,” she said at the time. “There was poetry to it all.”
The mom of two has focused on parenting since welcoming her first daughter Esmeralda Amada, 10, in 2014. Aside from voicing a character on the children’s series Bluey, she has stepped away from acting since 2014’s Gosling-directed, Lost River.
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