Eva Mendes didn’t want kids until she met Ryan Gosling

Becoming a mother is life changing, especially when you never see it coming. For Eva Mendes, welcoming her two little girls wasn’t something she saw in her future. That is, until, she met husband Ryan Gosling.

“It was the furthest thing from my mind,” she told Women's Health magazine about having kids. “[Then] Ryan Gosling happened. I mean, falling in love with him. Then it made sense from to have... not kids, but his kids. It was very specific to him.”

The gorgeous couple, who prefer spending as much time out of the spotlight as possible, were first linked in 2011 when they met on set of The Place Beyond the Pines and have been together ever since.

They welcomed their first daughter, Esmeralda, in 2014. She was followed by Amada two years later. “We’re just starting to get out of survival mode. I’m starting to feel like a person again,” she shared with the glossy, adding that she’s started working out again three times a week with her trainer.

Eva admitted exercise isn’t exactly her cup of tea. “I’m kicking and screaming the whole way through,” she said. Her passion is clearly with her family. “We have an amazing support group: Ryan’s mom, my mom, Ryan’s and my sisters. It’s a village that helped us,” she gushed of the help she’s had raising her kids. “My heart goes out to women who do this alone.”

Eva, 45, and Ryan, 38, have chemistry both on- and off-screen. Since meeting, they’ve worked together on Lost River, the actor’s directorial debut. Despite being in the spotlight from young ages, their personal lives are sacred. “Whether we like it or not, privacy is going to be very difficult for Esmeralda. I think it’s unfair but that's our reality,” Eva told Violet Grey in 2014. “So Ryan and I decided early on to give her as much privacy as we could. And my pregnancy was the first opportunity to give her that.”

Read more:
Ryan Gosling: "Fatherhood is not rocket science"
Feminist Ryan Gosling: I do have a little girl now