Eva Mendes, Mom of 2, Admits Falling In Love With Ryan Gosling Made Her Want To Have ‘His’ Kids

Eva Mendes now has two beautiful daughters, but she didn’t always think about being a mom. It was actually being with Ryan Gosling that inspired her to start a family.

Eva Mendes wasn’t always certain that she would be a mother… until she met her partner. The Hitch star, 45, revealed in a new interview with Women’s Health magazine that she realized after falling in love with Ryan Gosling that she wanted to start a family with him, and only him. “It was the furthest thing from my mind. Ryan Gosling happened. I mean, falling in love with him. Then it made sense for me to have…not kids, but his kids. It was very specific to him,” Eva said. How romantic is that? Ryan and Eva are now the parents of two beautiful daughters: four-year-old Esmeralda Gosling, and two-year-old Amada Gosling.

Eva and Ryan got together while filming their 2012 movie The Place Beyond the Pines. After four years of being a mother, Eva confessed that she’s just now getting back to being herself. So, how do she and Ryan balance being huge movie stars, working all the time, with caring for their baby girls? “Family,” she told the mag. “We have an amazing support group: Ryan’s mom, my mom, Ryan’s and my sisters. It’s a village that helped us. My heart goes out to women who do this alone. I basically come from a single-parent household; although I love my dad, my mom mostly raised four of us on her own.”

She has incredible support from her loving partner. While accepting his Golden Globe in 2017 for La La Land, Ryan thanked his “lady” for raising their daughter while pregnant with another, during a very difficult time in her life. Eva’s brother, Juan Carlos Mendez, had recently died of cancer. He dedicated the award to Juan, as well. “It was like a dream,” she said. “But really, what I heard was that he said my brother’s name. It was the most beautiful gesture, and I had no idea Ryan was going to say it. Losing my brother was incredibly difficult.” Days later, Eva gave birth to Amada.