Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling are doting parents to their children but becoming a mother wasn't always in the actress' vision.
Despite going on to give birth to Esmeralda and Amada, now seven and six, Eva didn't think she even wanted children - that was until she met her husband.
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In an interview with Women's Health, the mom-of-two said that becoming a parent was the "furthest thing" from her mind before she met The Notebook actor.
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"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."
She later reiterated her thoughts to People and added: "I never wanted babies before until I fell in love with Ryan, and it kind of worked out to where I was 40 and having my first baby."
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She added: "I think I was 42 for the second one, so it worked out in that way that I had a career and then I change my focus to my family."
© Photo: Getty ImagesEva now has two children with her husband Ryan Gosling
The couple - who first met on the set of the 2012 film The Place Beyond the Pines - keep their children out of the spotlight but Eva recently delighted fans by giving a sneak peek at life behind closed doors.
"Ryan's the cook. He's an incredible cook," she told People while promoting her partnership with cleaning brand Skura. "I think that there's a really nice balance to 'you cook, I clean.' And it just works for us."
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Eva admits she's a "control freak" when it comes to cleaning and she finds it therapeutic.
"Life is so chaotic. But the one thing I can control is my house, my kitchen," she said. "So when I do the dishes it's meditative for me. It really goes deeper than just cleaning up. It really gives me clarity. Clean sink equals clear mind for me."
Eva says she finds cleaning therapeutic at her family home
The star has taken a long hiatus from acting to focus on her family and other projects and says working from home is definitely a struggle.
"It's a mess!" she said. "I'll be Zooming with various people throughout the day and I have no idea. I'll see people kind of giggle, and I see my five year old, who just turned six, will be right behind me with her blankie and looking so cute."
While she has a rule that if the door is closed, the kids aren't to enter unless it's "really important," things rarely go her way.
"Of course, my six year old will run in and say, 'It's so important.' And I'm just like, 'What?' She's like, 'Essie took my Barbie,'" she revealed. "But it's hard to be mad because it's so cute."
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