Ryan Gosling reflects on moment Eva Mendes told him she was pregnant

"The Place Beyond The Pines" Premiere - 2012 Toronto International Film Festival
"The Place Beyond The Pines" Premiere - 2012 Toronto International Film Festival / Sonia Recchia/GettyImages

Ryan Gosling took a page out of The Notebook with these sweet words.

The Barbie star recalled the moment his partner Eva Mendes, who he met in 2011 while filming The Place Beyond the Pines, told him of her pregnancy with daughter Esmeralda, now 8.

"Eva said she was pregnant," he told GQ in an article published May 31. "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."

Ryan, 42, told the outlet he hadn't envisioned himself as a father until Eva, 49, told him she was expecting in that moment, but later clarified that's not exactly what he meant.

"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," the actor said. "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."