Details About Eva Mendes' Scary Experience With A Stalker

Retired Hollywood actor Eva Mendes' professional trajectory has led her to become a beloved and unforgettable woman in the film and fashion industry. She told Forbes in 2024 that her greatest role yet has been the mother to her daughters, Esmeralda and Amanda, whom she rarely ever shares publicly. When the outlet asked what she wanted her legacy to be, she said, "Hopefully by doing right by my family and working as hard as I can to be the best mom I could be, the best partner, the best daughter."

During Mendes' stunning transformation from actor to mom, she gave up her career in Hollywood to pursue a different lifestyle. However, the transition wasn't easy for her, especially when it came to dealing with frightening encounters with fans.

There are many tragic details about Eva Mendes that have challenged her path to becoming a Hollywood A-lister, model, and fashion designer. The "Hitch" star previously struggled with substance abuse during the height of her career and went to rehab in 2008. She's dealt with racism and type-casting during her time as an actor and coped with the devastating loss of her brother in 2016. On top of all that, obsessive fans became a problem for Mendes, who was a victim of stalking, until she put a stop to it in 2011.

Like many famous celebrities with terrifying stalker stories, Eva Mendes knows what it feels to be terrorized by an obsessed fan. The "Last Night" actor confessed to a Los Angeles Superior Court judge in 2011 that she had been continually stalked by a New York man since 2008. Long Island native John Luna was described in court filings obtained by New York Daily News to have sent Mendes a package containing strange audio recordings and written declarations of his love for the actor. In one of the notes, Luna wrote, per the filings: "To die for you would not have been enough. So to live through death so that I can be perfect for you, that would be much better. And I know you would do the same."

The stalker, who falsely believed he was in a relationship with Mendes, also reportedly showed up at Mendes' doorstep on May 31, 2011, and was met with her heroic attack dog, a Belgian Malinois named Hugo (via The Daily Mail). Mendes' 2011 court appearance was to request a restraining order against Luna, which she was granted, legally prohibiting him from getting closer than 100 yards from the star until 2014. "As a result of Mr. Luna's conduct directed at me ... including references in a letter that he knows I am willing to die for him, and his showing up at my house on May 31st, 2011, looking for me, I am in constant fear," Mendes wrote, per the court filings also obtained by The Daily Breeze. There have been no further publicized reports on the case since that time.