Eva Mendes Talks Having Kids In Her 40s, Stepping Away From Acting And More

Eva Mendes is very happy to be a mom.

On Friday, the 48-year-old actress sat down with Hoda Kotb on the “Today” show, and was asked about her decision to have children in her 40s.

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“Something really crazy happened. I met Ryan Gosling, I fell in love with Ryan Gosling,” the mother of two said. “Then I was like, Oh, right, I want your babies.”

She continued, “But really consciously, I did want to wait till I was a little bit older … As a woman, I just wasn’t ready. And it’s such a personal choice for a woman, obviously,” adding, “Thankfully I had really healthy pregnancies, and I was happy I waited.”

Asked what it was about meeting Gosling that made her finally decide to have kids, Mendes said simply, “That’s when it made sense.”

Mendes also opened up about the joys of being a mother.

“I feel like parenting is the most creative thing I’ve ever done,” she said. “I’m an actress, I’ve designed clothes, I’ve done a number of different things, but the most creative thing is to create life.”

READ MORE: Eva Mendes Shares Sweet Video Taken By Her And Ryan Gosling’s Kids

Asked about choosing to step away from the spotlight when she had children, Mendes explained, “I really took it back to when I was little. Even though we were very, very lower-middle class, my mom was able to be there for me at home until I was about 8 or 9, and those memories for me, that just formed who I was, those years with her. And I just thought, I feel fortunate enough that I could’ve taken some time out from acting. I still worked, I just didn’t act.”

She added of being a mom, “Now I’m obsessed.”

When Kotb wondered what the thing Mendes missed most about acting was, she responded, “What have I missed? I don’t think I’ve missed anything.”

That said, when it comes to the possibility of returning to acting, Mendes said, “I think that’d be fun at some point,” though she pointed out that wanting to avoid violent or sexual content in movies might make landing on a project tricky.