Ryan Gosling recalls the moment he knew he wanted children with Eva Mendes

Ryan Gosling has recalled the moment he knew he wanted to have kids with Eva Mendes.

The Notebook star, who usually keeps the details of his relationship private, told GQ in a new interview that he hadn't imagined himself as a father until Eva, 49, told him she was pregnant.

"I would never want to go back, you know?" he shared. "I'm glad I didn't have any control over my destiny in that way, because it was so much better than I had ever dreamed for myself."

Further on in the interview, the Canadian actor clarified, "I didn't want to overshare, but now I also don't want to misrepresent. I mean, it's true, I wasn't thinking about kids before I met her. But after I met Eva, I realized that I just didn't want to have kids without her."

On the set their 2012 movie, The Place Beyond The Pines, the actors were "pretending to be a family", but Ryan realised that he "didn't want it to be pretend anymore".

He added, "I realized this would be a life that I would be really lucky to have."

Ryan and Eva have been together since 2011 and they share two daughters; Amada, who was born in 2016, and Esmeralda, who was born in 2014.

While talking to GQ, the Barbie actor sweetly said of his partner, "I just lean on Eva (when it comes to parenting)... She knows what's important, always. She just somehow knows. So if I'm ever in my head about it, I just ask her."