Eva Mendes changed her mind about having children after falling for Ryan Gosling

Eva Mendes suddenly discovered the urge to have children - once she met her longtime beau Ryan Gosling.

The Hitch star and La La Land actor started dating in 2011, and Eva gave birth to their first child, daughter Esmeralda, in 2014, before welcoming a second daughter Amada, now two.

The actress, who met the Hollywood heartthrob on The Place Beyond the Pines set, had previously stated that she didn't have the "urge" to have children. But in a new interview, she shared how 38-year-old Ryan changed her opinion.

“It was the furthest thing from my mind,” she told Women's Health, explaining that before meeting him, she didn't picture herself as a mother.

And when asked what changed her mind, the 45-year-old laughed: “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.”

The actress and clothes designer rarely discusses the couple's relationship, with the pair keeping the impending birth of their first child a secret for months, but she happily opened up about family life during her chat with Women’s Health.

“We’re just starting to get out of survival mode. I’m starting to feel like a person again," she said, adding that she's thankful for having an "amazing support group" in Ryan’s mom and sisters, and her own mother and sisters.

"It’s a village that helped us," she smiled. "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.

“Every day is such a learning experience - they challenge you in so many ways. Like, I’m their mom. I have to rise up, and hopefully, most of the time I do, but sometimes it’s definitely maddening.”