Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling are a notoriously private couple. But while Gosling has waxed lyrical in recent months about the joys of fatherhood, Mendes has generally stayed quiet on the subject of the couple’s two children, Esmerelda Amada and Amada Lee.

Now, though, she has opened up about the importance of letting her little girls express their personalities through their wardrobes.

Speaking to E! News at the launch of her newest collection for New York & Company, Mendes admitted that she is grateful that her children remain untouched by the fashion industry for the time being.

“Thank God there’s no fashion talk,” she said. “But I let them wear whatever they want… they have the right.”

Explaining that she is keen for her children to forge their own identities, Mendes continued: “If they want to wear jammies all day or if they want to go in a costume to the market, I let them do that stuff.

“I let them win that battle. That’s the easy one. I’m trying to get them to eat broccoli. That’s the one I want to win.

“But they can wear whatever they want.”

Eva Mendes on why she lets her daughters wear whatever they want