Eva Mendes made the news this past week when, during an interview, she insisted that women should never wear sweatpants.
Of course, Eva Mendes wouldn’t dare wear them often, because if you’re going to be living with Ryan Gosling, a girl needs to do anything to keep that situation going.
However, the rest of the world didn’t agree with Eva Mendes.
There was tremendous outcry from those of us who wear the mom staple on a regular basis.
The outrage prompted Eva Mendes to post a note to her own sweatpants and to claim that he statement was a joke.
Ryan Gosling backed his ladylove.
Obviously sweatpants thing was a joke. Wearing them now. That's right, tweeting in sweatpants. Rats! Said too much! You win again Twitter.
— Ryan Gosling (@RyanGosling) March 20, 2015
However, the joke being what it was, and the outcry dying down, Time magazine’s Brian Moylan introduced another perspective.
And it was spot on.
Moylan said, “When I heard what Mendes had to say, what I heard was not ‘sweatpants’ and ‘divorce’ but something more along the lines of, ‘If you let yourself slide in your relationship, it’s going to spell trouble.'”
He continues, “The sweatpants could be anything. The ‘sweatpants’ are a guy who doesn’t bother ironing his shirt anymore before date night. The ‘sweatpants’ are no longer making the bed even though your partner prefers hospital corners. The ‘sweatpants’ are not waiting for your spouse to catch up on House of Cards so that you can finish staring at Robin Wright’s perfect hair together. The ‘sweatpants’ are not bringing flowers home or not having sex regularly or gaining 20 pounds or peeing with the door open or buying your partner a present just because.”
I think what Moylan said about Eva Mendes’ comments really captured an actual problem that many people who have been together for a long time will face.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFlPEdxGJ6k
This really is more likely what Eva Mendes meant, anyway.
He continued, “The sweatpants are familiarity and the contempt that they breed. Familiarity is one of the great things about being in a long-term relationship, the possibility to be so comfortable around another person that you can just be yourself. But it’s also dangerous territory. The problem is when your real self is sometimes a little bit less desirable than the ideal version of you that your partner saw in your first few months of courtship, when the emotion was high and those intoxicating love hormones in your brain were freely flowing.”
He added, “That’s why, sometimes, we have to give up our comfort and do something a little special for our significant other.”
So well said. It’s so amazing when a comment taken out of context can set the internet on fire, cause everyone to lose their minds, and come full circle to find new life as great relationship advice.
What do you think about this perspective of Eva Mendes comments?