Eva Mendes schooled a troll who slammed her for 'getting old'

'I’m grateful every day that I’m ageing'

Thank God I'm getting old", said Mendes (Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)

Eva Mendes shut down a troll in style after receiving a comment on a recent Instagram post that said she was “getting old”.

The 45-year-old actor and businesswoman posted a photograph of her stylish new haircut on the social media site when the ageist comment was made.

In response to the statement, Mendes took the opportunity to school the user on what it meant to have reached mid-life.

“Yes, you’re right,” she replied. “Thank God I’m getting old. That means I’m still here.”

She continued: “I’m gonna be 46 soon and I’m grateful every day that I’m ageing.

"Was your comment supposed to make me feel bad? It didn’t. It makes me feel grateful. So thank you for the reminder that I’m still here.”

 

 

 

 

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⁣Back to work. Design meeting. ⠀ My coworker getting her kicks and teasing me about my “cute” new hair. Thanks to @giannandreahair for making my mom life a helluva lot easier. 🖤⠀ Saturday meeting aesthetic ...EM for @nyandcompany Reilly Blazer and Qiana Palazzo pant which I lorve so much. Avail online if you care. Thought I’d let you know since lots of you ask what I’m wearing. 🖤⠀ Sending you all some extra love right now and always. Thank you for always sending me so much positivity and love through your comments. I read most of them when I can and it makes me so happy that there’s so much love around. I send it all right back. Ten fold. 🖤

A post shared by Eva Mendes (@evamendes) on Feb 1, 2020 at 11:10am PST

Mendes also responded to another user’s comment which called the troll’s words “woman on woman negativity”.

“I hear ya on the woman on woman negativity sis,” Mendes replied. “Let’s make it all about love in 2020. So thanks for sending the love!!!! Sending it right back!!!!!!”

Ageism continues to be a pervasive problem in society, particularly in Hollywood.

Mendes' comment, which has since been deleted (Instagram)

A 2016 survey by Polygraph of over 2,000 Hollywood films revealed that women are increasingly sidelined as they get older.

Women between the ages of 22 and 31 were found to speak 38 per of all female dialogue, a figure which dropped to 31 per cent after the age of 32 and again to 20 per cent for actors aged between 42 and 65.

Their research found that the opposite applied when it came to male actors.

Mendes isn’t the first to challenge negative attitudes towards ageing in Hollywood.

Speaking in 2015, Maggie Gyllenhall said: “There are things that are really disappointing about being an actress in Hollywood that surprise me all the time.

"I'm 37 and I was told recently I was too old to play the lover of a man who was 55.

She continued: “It was astonishing to me. It made me feel bad and then it made me feel angry, and then it made me laugh.”

In 2014, Zoe Saldana added her voice to the debate: “When men – producers – say, 'You're old' to me that is the most laughable f**king ridiculous thing a moron could ever say.

“By the time you're 28 you're expired, you're playing mommy roles.

"We're not the ones putting ourselves in those places," she said. "We're allowing ourselves to be put in those positions. I just won't allow it."