Ryan Gosling Knew He Wanted Kids With Eva Mendes While Filming ‘The Place Beyond The Pines’

In a new interview with GQ yesterday (May 31), Ryan Gosling, who keeps his personal life private, revealed the most adorable thing about raising a family with Eva Mendes. Gosling, 42, said playing parents on-screen in 2012's The Place Beyond the Pines made him want to start a family with Mendes — and only Mendes — in real life.

He told the publication that he started to act in fewer indie films and more studio projects after the birth of their two daughters. This way, the actor could have one big project a year versus many little ones "to spend as much time as I could with them." When he goes on location for work, all four of them go as a unit. Mendes said they take a home-schooling teacher with them when they are on the road.

Gosling previously admitted that he "didn’t think about kids until she told me she was pregnant." Gosling is now clarifying his previous statement, telling the outlet that he didn't want to "overshare" at the time. "Now I also don’t want to misrepresent," he said in Wednesday's feature. "I mean, it’s true that 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. And there were moments on The Place Beyond the Pines where we were pretending to be a family, and I didn’t really want it to be pretend anymore. I realized that this would be a life I would be really lucky to have."

Gosling was asked when he first imagined himself as a father, and he replied: "[When] Eva said she was pregnant." However, he added, “I would never want to go back, you know? I’m glad I didn’t have control over my destiny in that way because it was so much better than I ever had dreamed for myself."

He said in his early life, "I was looking for her, you know?" Asked if he was conscious of that, he said, "No. But it all makes sense now." The La La Land actor also praised Mendes' wisdom, especially in parenting matters. He said, “I just lean on Eva. She knows what’s important, always. She just somehow knows. So if ever I’m in my head about it, I just ask her.”