When Eva Mendes was smitten by Ryan Gosling after their first meeting

Eva Mendes spoke about meeting her partner and actor Ryan Gosling when they made their 2012 movie The Place Beyond the Pines.

“I’ve never experienced anything like that,” she talked about working with her now-partner.

“The way he works, his commitment to his craft, how he wants to make everything as best as it can be — and that means making his co-stars as best as they can be. Unfortunately — or fortunately — there’s only one Ryan, so I pretty much stopped acting after that,” she added.

The two, who are private about their relationship, share two daughters together.

The couple welcomed their first child, Esmeralda Amada, in September 2014, and then had Amada Lee in April 2016.

Mendes also spoke about taking a step back from acting. “It was like a no-brainer. I’m so lucky, and I was like, if I could have this time with my children. And I still work, I just didn’t act, because acting takes you on location,” she said. “It takes you away. It was almost just like a non-verbal agreement,” she added.